Mugwump as Writer: The Low Down and Dirty

Corinne Corley was born a decade too late to die in infancy, and a decade too early to recover gracefully. Shocked into senselessness at an early age from what was later discovered to have been a rare reaction to the measles virus, Corley has always known she was one of the .000009 %.  She learned to read, write and rhyme before the age of four because, as her mother said, she wasn't expected to ever marry, so she had to learn a trade.

Cursed with a big vocabulary, Corley started publishing essays at the age of 13, her first being "God as an It", following the wild success of which she penned, "The Virtues of Suffering".  Both appeared in Christian Board Of Publications youth magazines, of which, it must be said, her sister was the editor.  Nepotism, anyone?

From a Catholic Democratic family in North God's Country, also known as St. Louis County, Corley's connections had nothing to do with being selected as the High School Correspondent for her Catholic school, writing articles for the now-defunct, Conservative St. Louis Globe-Democrat.  On the tails of this success, she served as editor for Panis Vitae, her high school's literary magazine, and can take sole credit for listing H.D. Thoreau in the credits, attributing to him her favorite quote, "Only that day dawns to which you are awake." 

By the time Corley launched head-first into college, she had foolishly decided that she was a Poet.  Several of her poems appeared in magazines throughout St. Louis, including a famous trio "Red, Green and Blue", that appeared in the inaugural issue of Eads Bridge. 

In her twenties, Corley discovered Scotch, dating men who were really gay, and personal finance.  She allowed herself to be persuaded to work first as a lobbyist, and then to go to law school.  For several years, she immersed herself in workshopping, newsletter authorship, and writing Letters to the Editor, before succumbing to adulthood and spending the next three decades proving herself to be marginally employable as an attorney.

Seven years ago, Corley started writing a weekly post to a listserve of one-thousand captive audience members, which turned into a weekly blog called "Saturday Musings" (www.themissourimugwump.blogspot.com, copyrighted, don't steal this).  In late 2012, she realized that she had Missed the Boat by sacrificing her writing career. Fortunately, her son is a writer, so she can live vicariously through him. She now facilitates writing workshops to keep others from making the same mistake she did. Her new motto is Just Write, You Can Always Wait Tables.

Corley lives in Brookside with her potted plants, her epileptic dog, and the memory of her son's cats, one of which died in 2012 at age 17, and the other of which wanders the 'hood, comes home for breakfast every morning, and sleeps in a wooden chair on her porch  She flies the American flag, votes Democrat, and recycles.  Patent pending.

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The Missouri Mugwump™

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I've been many things in my life: A child, a daughter, a friend; a wife, a mother, a lawyer and a pet-owner. I've given my best to many things and my worst to a few. I live in Brookside, in an airplane bungalow. I'm an eternal optimist and a sometime-poet. If I ever got a poem published in The New Yorker, I would die a happy woman. I'm a proud supporter of the Arts in Kansas City. I vote Democrat, fly the American flag, cry at Hallmark commercials, and recycle.