I'm an essay writer and a photographer. I make my home on the edge of a forest in Nederland, Colorado -- a small town in the Rocky Mountains. Most of my work, both written and visual, is inspired by travel abroad. I'm very interested in other cultures and have a love for a number of scientific disciplines, though I myself am not a very disciplined person and therefore have only a lay-person's knowledge. However, concepts in physics, cosmology, history and other fields often make their way into my writing. I also like melding fictional elements into my nonfiction (i.e. creative nonfiction), but in very obvious ways such as the form of a legend or extravagant metaphor. A common problem for readers of creative nonfiction writing is knowing how much to trust the author, wondering how much they fudge the truth for the sake of making a better story. Allow me to assure you that I write only what I truly experienced and make the "creative" parts quite obvious. 

My websites are cross-linked so you can see photos and travel blog posts which have associations with my essays.

You may notice the discrepancy in my last name. I write literary essays and fiction under my maiden name, and travel writing/photography under my married name.

I am currently at work on a biography! It chronicles the life of a self-taught expert in dementia who established the only dementia care home in Namibia, and discovered a correlation between people living with dementia and an increased risk of being accused as a witch in indigenous communities. My subject, Berrie Holtzhausen, works to empower individuals to fight against witchcraft accusations, and educates communities about dementia. You can read some background information about harmful practices of witchcraft in Namibia HERE on my travel blog, where I detailed my time involved with making an award-winning documentary film about Berrie, African Witchfinder.

Thanks for reading! Check out the home page for essays and excerpts.

Profile articles about me:

Life and Work with Shara Johnson at VoyageDenver

Meet Shara Johnson at ShoutOut Colorado

Meet Shara Kay Johnson at CanvasRebel