She recently took a three-day Ultimate Travel Writers Workshop in San Diego to prepare her for pursuing a "second career" as she closes in on retirement. She has been published in Statement: the Journal of the Colorado Language Arts Society in the Fall 2012 issue; Her blog written when she taught a half-year in England a couple of years ago is called Trading Lives: An American Teacher in England dedra-montoya.blogspot.com. Since taking the travel writers workshop, she "sees" stories everywhere and writes/researches every moment she gets!