What do you do if you have won many awards for drama, poetry and short stories over the years?

If your name is Dorinda Nusum you take the next step and publish a novel, which is exactly what the Bermudian former English resource teacher has done.

??Facing the Beast? is not your typical love story,? Ms Nusum says. ?It is about an architect who is taught a lesson about love by the two women in his life.?

Jeffrey Ensler is the central character who, as a child, watched his father abusing his mother. Now a successful architect, he finds himself facing another one of life?s beasts. Usually, he overcomes obstacles with the love and support of his girlfriend, Miranda, but this time Jeffrey?s obstacle comes in the form of Serena, an attractive, free-spirited artist who will stop at nothing to make him her man. Does true love win out or not? That is the question readers will have to read the book to find out.

While basking in the joy of seeing her first novel published, Ms Nusum credits two people with setting her on the road to literary success: former fellow teacher Mrs. Shangri-La Durham-Thompson when the two worked together at Spice Valley Middle School some years ago, and a college teacher who said, ?You?re not considered great because you read good books. You become great when you write them.?

?During my last year at Spice Valley, when I was the English resource teacher, I extended my love of English and drama by becoming involved in ?Spring into the Arts?,? Ms Nusum says.

?Working with one of my former favourite teachers, Shangri-la Durham Thompson, put me on an all-time high. She drew a shy girl out of her shell and selected me to host the ?Spring into the Arts? radio commercial with her. I will be forever thankful to her for forcing me to participate in her drama classes. She could tell I was full of potential and she forced me to bring it out. Although she might not be aware of it, Mrs. Durham-Thompson is responsible for making me the verbal, outgoing, ambitious, dramatic person I have grown to be.?

In fact, while at Spice Valley Ms Nusum wrote, directed and acted in plays which were often open to the public. Her play, ?Help a Sista Out? ? a political satire focusing on the public?s abuse of social service agencies ? was included in the Premier?s Concert, 2001.

Born to Madelyn Harvey and Eugene Nusum, the first-time author is a former student of Prospect Primary School and Warwick Secondary School. When she moved to Terre Haute, Indiana with her family she joined the high school speech and drama team, and won numerous prizes for speeches, drama and poetry interpretation. Later, she attended Jacksonville State University to pursue a degree in education, with a concentration in English/Language Arts. While there she joined the drama, sociology and writers? clubs, and graduated in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology as well as a teacher?s certificate in language arts. Thereafter, Ms Nusum taught seventh to tenth grade English at an Alabama high school until she became pregnant with her son Deonte and returned home for his birth.

?It was important for me to give him Bermudian roots as I very much appreciated and value mine,? Ms Nusum says.

With no job to return to here and no guaranteed income, she nevertheless took the bold step ?on faith?, hoping that things would work out for her and her expected son.

?To my surprise, I was offered a job as an educational therapist at Clearwater Middle School one month after returning to Bermuda, and stayed there until near my due date,? the author says. ?After Deonte?s birth I was quickly blessed with another job teaching English to M2 students at Spice Valley Middle School. Returning to my old alma mater was a new experience for me, and finding common ground with those teachers I had admired as a student (Earl Hart, Gloria Francis, Melanie Baxter-Burrows, Derek Adams and others) was a joy.?

Like her mother before her, who left the Island to give her family a better life, Ms Nusum also made the tough decision to leave Spice Valley and return to the US in the best interests of her young son.

?It was difficult living in Bermuda as a single parent,? Ms Nusum remembers. ?The outrageous cost of day care, rent, groceries and more was hard, so I returned to Dayton, Ohio where my mother works as a social worker, and where living a more comfortable existence was more attainable,? Ms Nusum says.

Now working as a language arts instructor in a correctional facility, she teaches children aged ten to 21.

?Many of my students are murderers, rapists, arsonists and dropouts, but even though I teach a challenging group, teaching at a correctional facility is one of the most enlightening and rewarding jobs I have ever had,? she says.

Recently married to Ohio native Demetrius Buycks, Ms Nusum?s family has also been extended by a foster child, Giavani. Her husband works at a local board of education.

As for her future plans, the newly-published author is certainly not resting on her laurels.

?I am currently in the middle of my second book,? she says. ?My goal is to make writing books my full time occupation. Most of my prayers have been answered, and I believe this one will be also. Once established as a writer, I plan to return home to Bermuda.?