The book, Goodbye, Walter: The Inspiring Story of a Terminal Cancer Patient, is being published by Mapletree Publishing Company and is due out in the fall of 2004.

Hogue, born in 1962, is the mother of five children. A goal she set in 1990 to become published led to a story in a national church magazine. She used the $40 she received to pay for a summer newswriting course—which set her firmly on the pathway to becoming a professional writer and editor.  She enrolled in college in 1993 and graduated in August 1997 from Arizona State University with a bachelor’s degree in print journalism and a minor in political science. She received several prestigious scholarships while attending ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Telecommunication and Journalism. In addition, she wrote for local newspapers, the college newspaper and reported the evening news live for the campus radio station while attending school.

Hogue landed her first full-time reporting position in December 1996 with the Daily News-Sun, and by November 1997, had been promoted to an editing position. Before that, she had already done much award-winning work as a part-time news assistant for The Arizona Republic and The Phoenix Gazette while attending journalism classes. In spring 2000 as Neighbors editor for the Arizona Daily Star, she implemented a plan she developed to produce and publish daily micro-local news specific to nine geographic areas. She later went on to accept a city editorship at the Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review newspapers where she doubled as a writing coach. She became the news editor of the West Valley View in spring 2003.

In addition, Hogue has taught journalism and writing courses for the University of Arizona. She has been invited to teach journalism at Estrella Mountain Community College beginning spring 2004.

Hogue, whose hobbies include Web design, hiking, photography, playing guitar and acting in independent film and commercials, plans to write more books and turn some of them into screenplays. She is fiercely devoted to her family and works hard to balance her career and home life.

You can e-mail her at .