Susie Winfield, Author: Prolific Writer Has Determined Pizazz!

Energy Defies Description: Views Life on Her Terms

Interviewing can take several formats: camera, print, video, or podcast. Susie preferred this one to be a print interview. I strive to keep my interviewees happy, so, I’ll comply. It also works out well for me. Interspersed throughout are quotations in Susie’s words. Her quotations are memorable. She says it much better than I could. A few of my comments are in parentheses.

“My love of writing has helped me through my battle with MS more than any kind of therapy I have received.” ~ Susie Winfield

Susie’s love of writing transcends much and provides an excellent opening. Although her favorite course, English composition, could never be equaled, many other subjects, objects, and courses interested her. Now, two years under fifty, she retired from the US Government Service IRS on disability after working for twenty-five years. “If you knew Susie like I know Susie.” (1) You’d be sure she’s anything other than hard to know, a mystery. She describes herself as a 48-year-old African American Christian woman, raised Democrat… Trailing off with three dots might make you wonder about that. It could mean many things: she was raised one way, but it is something else now. She isn’t sure; she doesn’t know, so we’d better ask her.

Prolific writer dreams big
Publications
See What I See 2008
Purposeful Words 2024

“Fun fact: I love creating AI-edited photos of myself in various settings. It’s like having a photo shoot without leaving my apartment.” ~ Susie

Susie dreams big and carries through to make them a reality. Some of her writings aim to help aspiring writers overcome their fears and pursue their dreams. As a child, she began writing to deal with personal issues. That helped her through many rough times, including eighteen months in a nursing home following her stroke. Her first challenge came from trying to make phone calls because the nerves in her fingers acted strangely. After starting MS treatment, she began to improve. A laptop gift from her sister-in-law made a significant improvement as she continued to make forward progress.

“Based on my old YouTube videos from Susie’s on the Scene, there isn’t a shy bone in my body. But I am a bit vain, and my physical appearance is not as cute as I would like. I will take a random photo when I look my best.” ~ Susie

Traveling

Susie wants to travel to Mexico to use her limited Spanish. She has only flown once and would like to take a train ride. It’s a hassle to get around in a wheelchair, but she plans to move around more soon. She uses a car as her primary mode of transportation.

“Documenting travels would be fun and informative for my audience. “~ Susie

Multiple Sclerosis: Living with MS

“I went from learning to walk again after a stroke (2020) and partial foot amputation (2021) to not being able to sit up and feed myself”.

She readily admitted to researching to discover what DMT (2) was. She doesn’t take any drugs that could cause hallucinations. She thought of trying something with THC (3) but hasn’t built up the nerve. Her first prescription was the DMT Avonex. Now she takes Betaseron, also a DMT. It is hard for Susie to tell what the side effects are and what are just the typical complications of MS.

Home, Family, and School

Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, but lived briefly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At thirty years old, she’d never been away from home. Susie and her husband have been married for four years. They met in middle school, dated briefly in their 20s, and rekindled their romance in 2019. They have no children together, but he has three, and she has one. They both come from large families—she has eight siblings, and her hubby has seven—so they didn’t need to make more kids. Their very active grandbaby keeps them busy.

(In a video from Susie’s on the Scene, Susie’s husband sings, “Happy Birthday” to her. He seems like a fun-to-be-around man. They must have a terrific time with that active grandbaby! It always made me wonder who was having a better time, the children or the adults. Then, someone shared this poem with me. JKN)

“I’ve seen the lights of Paris,

And wow, those lights in Rome.

But the best lights I’ve ever seen

Are the taillights of the car

That takes my grandkids home.”

Anonymous

(That tells me volumes and confirms what I always suspected. I knew my tiredness when teaching and being around children for six hours. Parents must be exhausted. It made me feel good, sighing in relief and sending them home to their families. JKN)

Both of their mothers are deceased. Susie’s dad lives around the corner, and his dad lives in Washington, DC. Susie and her husband live in an apartment a mile from her former high school. They’ll soon either rent or purchase a house.

Susie studied nursing, business administration, English/writing, computer technology, and criminal justice and earned an associate degree in Information Technology. She liked school, but the lack of money kept her from finishing what she started. Finally, figuring out how to get her company to fund some of her education, but she quit after two semesters.

(This final quote from Susie solidifies the comment I made earlier, “Susie dreams big but follows through on her dreams, and they become a reality” (JKN)

“I dream of opening a facility to help rehabilitate the newly disabled and teach them to be as independent as possible while learning how to live in their current bodies.” ~ Susie

There’s no doubt in my mind that Susie will accomplish that dream. She knows exactly what she wants and is determined to “git-R-done!” That’s a line from

Larry the Cable Guy of my favorite comedy trio, Jeff Foxworthy, Ron White, and Larry the Cable Guy. Yes, Larry’s a Southerner, and that is not meant to disparage anyone from the South. My best friend lives in Williamsburg, Virginia, and is from North Carolina. I end this interview by saying, “Susie knows precisely what she wants, and determination might be her middle name!” (JKN)

(1) “If You Knew Susie Like I Know Susie” was written and sung by Eddie Cantor in 1925. Dean Martin sang it again in 1945.

(2) DMT Disease Modifying Treatment

(3) THC Tetrahydrocannabinol

(1) If You Knew Susie

Song by

Eddie Cantor

If you knew Susie like I know Susie

Oh! Oh! Oh! What a girl

There’s none so classy

As this fair lassie,

Oh! Oh! Holy Moses, what a chassis

We went riding; she didn’t balk

Back from Yonkers

I’m the one that had to walk

If you knew Susie, Like I know Susie

Oh! Oh! What a girl!

If you knew Susie like I know Susie

Oh! Oh! Oh! What a girl

She wears long tresses

And nice tight dresses

Oh! Oh!

What a future she possesses

Out in public

How she can yawn

In a parlor, you would think the war was on

If you knew Susie like I know Susie

Oh! Oh! What a girl