The Author
Sally J. Walker
Born to poor farm folk in the little rural community of Exira, Iowa, Sally attended many schools in western Iowa and the Omaha, Nebraska, area. She eventually graduated from Papillion (NE) High School, then nursing school at the University of Albuquerque, and received a BFA in Creative Writing from the University of Nebraska at Omaha — accomplished while working full-time as a Critical Care/ER nurse and raising three daughters with her engineer husband.
Sally founded in 1985 and has conducted the weekly meetings of the eclectic Nebraska Writers Workshop to feed her own hunger for in-depth knowledge and skills. The Workshop has grown from a few tentative members to over 50 confidently publishing and produced writers.
Under the mentorship of UCLA's renowned Lew Hunter, she has written 33 screenplays with Hollywood representation. From 2000 through 2018 she worked as Editorial Director at The Fiction Works. In fall 2017 she became Adjunct Professor of Screenwriting at Metropolitan Community College, Omaha.
Heritage
Scots-Irish
When husband Lyle became an obsessive student of the bagpipes and his Scottish heritage, Sally made it a family avocation by supporting her girls in Highland and Irish dance lessons. Traveling to 4–6 games a year all over the Midwest, her own interest in all things Celtic naturally evolved — right up to competing in Highland Dance herself at the Adult level.
She eventually discovered her own Scottish roots on her paternal grandmother's side (Clan MacKenzie) and the Scots-Irish heritage on her maternal grandfather's side.
Heritage
Westerns
Sally developed a profound interest in all things western early in life, due to her father's devotion to TV and movie westerns. Her first stage play in the Third Grade was a western. She read every Zane Grey novel and penned her own western novella at age 12.
When BONANZA was at its zenith, 16-year-old Sally corresponded with writer N. B. Stone Jr., who coached her through her first teleplay while on location for RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY. An active horsewoman for 25 years, her first professional writing membership was to Western Writers of America. Desert Time's Second Edition was nominated for the 2020 National Cowboy Hall of Fame's Western Heritage Award in Literature.
Professional Memberships
Organizations & Affiliations
- Romance Writers of America (RWA) — 18 years
- Western Writers of America (WWA)
- Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI)
- Nebraska Film Association
- Clan MacKenzie
- President, State-wide Writers Organization 2007–2011
- Editorial Director, The Fiction Works 2000–2018
- Script Supervisor, Misty Mountain Productions
Faith
Sally's Christianity
Sally was raised in a basically "unchurched" family. A friend gave her a Bible at age twelve. She was baptized by immersion at the First Christian Church in Exira, IA, and later turned to the Episcopal denomination at the greatest crisis in her life. She and husband Lyle celebrated their marriage and raised their girls at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Omaha, and since 2008 have been communicants at St. Martha's in Papillion.
Get in touch
[email protected]