NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

9/20/2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES - As long as she can remember, Dee Scriber has enjoyed getting out a pencil and paper and jotting down her thoughts. Scriber hopes she can encourage others to write just for the joy of it and has established a scholarship in creative writing through the Northwestern State University Foundation.

The 94-year old Scriber is the author of four books, "Our Little Corner of the Trailer Park," "A Scrap of Paper and A Pencil Stub," "A Wee Book of Many Mini Stories" and "My Bucket's Got a Hole In It and My Bicycle's Got a Flat."

She recently spoke to a creative writing class taught by Associate Professor of English Dr. Julie Kane, enthralling the class by reading from some of her works.

"Writing is the most creative thing anyone can do," said Scriber. "It is one of my favorite kinds of writing. I would like to give young people an opportunity to express themselves."

Scriber vividly remembers events that happened during her youth such as World War I, Charles Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic and the Great Depression. But she also stays current. Four years ago, she got her first personal computer and learned how to use it. Scriber has even written about her struggles with the computer she calls Mr. Scramble Brains.

"I have always enjoyed words and putting my thoughts into words," she said.

And Scriber has plenty of thoughts to express. Her essays range from thoughts on a vacant piece of land that once had a home to the adventures of a heroine seeking to solve a crime and finding trouble along the way.

"I always keep a notebook and pencil with me because you never know when a thought, a sentence or word will come to you," said Scriber. "When I am working in my yard, my mind gets blank and something may occur to me."

An Arkansas native, Scriber's first job was selling bibles in Hot Springs. She moved to Shreveport when she was 21 and soon met her husband. Scriber worked in a variety of jobs before she and her husband retired.

"But we didn't stay retired long. We found we got on each other's nerves," said Scriber.

Scriber and her husband got a mail route. Each day, they would gather mail from Campti, St. Maurice, Colfax, Clarence and Boyce and deliver it to Alexandria. The next morning, the pair would deliver mail from Alexandria to each community. In the meantime, the Natchitoches Times agreed to publish a column, which Scriber wrote. She would write the column at night while she and her husband were on the mail route, using a small light her husband rigged up.

"I am grateful to Evelyn Roe, who was the editor at the time for agreeing to publish my column and convincing (publisher) Mr. (Lovan) Thomas to agree to it," said Scriber. "It was the first time I had anything published."

Getting a collection of columns published as a book, "Our Little Corner of The Trailer Park," was more difficult.

"I had so many rejection slips to paper my bathroom," she said. "But some of them are from magazines that are no longer published so maybe there's something they didn't know. I said I would give one-quarter of my profits to God if l get published. I guess that shows how he finagled me."

Scriber freely admits her work is a mix of non-fiction and fiction.

"What I write is all based on truth," she said. "A lot of times, I can't quite stick to the truth, so I stretch it a little."

Now, Scriber is working on her next book, "The Warped and Weird World of Dizzy D."

For more information on the Scriber Scholarship, contact the NSU Foundation at (318) 357-4414. Contributions can be made to the NSU Foundation, College Ave., Natchitoches, LA 71497. Donors should indicate that the donation is for the Scriber Scholarship.

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