Horner-Miller Is it a dash? Is it a hyphen? A space between me
That woman Who needed Who wanted BOTH!
I may be small in stature but I need a big name to contain me.
Every time I write my name I embrace its length And celebrate.
I live in that space between A spectrum Or A continuum
Horner is my heritage. Rancher stock Adventurers Who chose the plains Of Colorado and New Mexico To heal their Son’s tuberculosis Who chose something Different than Tulsa, Oklahoma And family close Who chose the ranching life A radical difference Than their Oklahoma life
Miller is my choice. My dear husband Whose name covers me With his love and shelter Whose name aligns my Scattered parts together Whose name sounds Like life to my aching heart
A marriage at 59 years old The one to my soulmate Friends before the vows
Today I live between Horner And Miller.
A large name for A large life
I didn’t plan When I hyphenated! Three other marriages Taught me to hold Onto me! I just knew it was right
The space between The link between Two worlds Horner Ranch Country Girl Miller New Mexican Writer
Larada Horner-Miller is a poet, essayist and accomplished multi-genre author who holds a bachelor’s degree in English, with a minor in Spanish and a master of education degree in Integrating Technology into the Classroom. She is the accomplished author of six award-winning biographies, historical fiction, memoir, and poetry works plus three self-published cookbooks.
Her sixth book, Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better?, is available in paperback and four e-book formats. Larada offers the reader the opportunity to look back at 2020 and the global pandemic through her prose and poetry through reading, then reflecting and responding. She addresses all the emotions she felt during this overwhelming time and leads the reader through to a self-access: bitter or better?
Her fifth book is the authorized memoir and biography of world-renown square dance caller Marshall “Flip” Flippo. Just Another Square Dance Caller: Authorized Biography of Marshall Flippo is available now in hardback, paperback and four e-book formats. Recently Just Another Square Dance Caller won two awards: Book Excellence Awards Finalist and Silver award for eLit. Book Awards.
Another recent book of hers, A Time to Grow Up: A Daughter's Grief Memoir has won many awards including being a 2018 Book Excellence Awards Finalist in the Memoir category at the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards and a 2018 Independent Press Distinguished Favorites Award in the Memoir category. Horner-Miller has also been a past national presenter at the Women Writing the West Conference and is currently the creator of Memoir Workshops for others who want to share their family’s legacies through words.
Larada and her husband, Lin, enjoy being nestled in the mountains above Albuquerque, New Mexico, near the village of Tijeras. When not writing books, this passionate, energetic, and enthusiastic woman loves to spend time kicking up her heels at square dancing gatherings, traveling, knitting, and reading.
As co-manager of her family’s southeastern Colorado ranch, she enjoys spending time exploring her family’s historic ranch and reminiscing with her brother and his children about their mom, dad, and granddad.
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