| About the Author 
Donetta Garman, bio
As a child Ms. Garman grew up in a small town in Colorado. Later, her family moved to a small ranch outside of town. This was a big change for Donetta as she was, as you will read in her book, afraid of everything. That included farm animals! Ms. Garman has lived in Colorado, Texas and Missouri. Jobs have included waiting tables, doing dishes, babysitting, working in a feed lot, cooking, stuffing brochures, selling real estate and working in an office for a division of Forbes Magazine, illustrating for other authors, free lance writing, newspaper reporting, newspaper ad layout and modelling. Most recently she owned several retail businesses and a tea room. Now she has turned her attention to helping others establish businesses, selling real estate, writing, church activities (she is a pastor's wife), antique selling and internet sales. Donetta has been published in Kansas City Magazine, The Missouri Otter, The Osage Chigger, The Clinton Daily Democrat, Sedalia Magazine, Catch On to Clinton Magazine and The St. Clair County Courier. She wrote several chapters that were included in the book Red Necht Livin and she wrote the biography for the back of a book written by her husband, Proud to be Red Necht. She also authored several promotional articles to promote the small town she lives in now, Osceola, Missouri. She resides in Osceola, Missouri, with her husband of twenty one years, Gar Garman (pastor of a rural Baptist church) on an idyllic spot in the Ozark foothills. She has a son, Jeremy and his wife Crystal in the Boston, Massachusetts area and a daughter, Sheridan, in Arizona. She also has two step-children, Jacquie Boisen of Grain Valley, Missouri and Gary Garman of the Denver, Colorado area. | | About Growing Up Ugly Growing Up Ugly is a moving memoir about coming of age and realizing that the beauty in this life we are all searching for is within our grasp, just for the asking. This poignant drama reminds us that life can take an unexpected turn at any moment.
“I vaguely remember my doctor telling me he was going to have me transported by ambulance to a hospital in Kansas City. They had a brain and stroke ward. I tried to answer, but I couldn’t.”
Join new author, Donetta Garman as she drifts in and out of consciousness and recalls some of the events in her unusual but loving childhood.
After a particularly traumatic birth, Donetta was left homely, clumsy and awkward. As she grew up she learned to cope with being “ugly” by laughing at herself and trying to help hold the family together. She writes, “As a child my favorite fairy tale was “The Ugly Duckling”. I would dream of the day when I would be the one winning beauty pageants, the day that no man would be able to resist me and that when I walked down the street, people looked at me in awe of my beauty. I fantasized about people loving me and standing in line to be my friend. I waited to become a swan.”
While her family climate was dysfunctional, the cohesiveness of the family unit was undeniable. Donetta’s brilliant and fun loving mother began the descent into mental illness, drug addiction and alcoholism. Her father, ill equipped to handle the seriousness of an emotionally unstable environment, taught Donetta and her siblings how to cope the best way he knew how, by working hard and playing hard.
The memoir Ms. Garman creates in Growing Up Ugly is infused with the intense love and resilience of a peculiar but fiercely devoted family. With the help of her family, children, husband, friends and God, Donetta finds that beauty really is only skin deep and there is a “swan” just waiting to escape in all of us. ___________________________________ "Donetta's story reminds us that everyone has a life story...a story worth sharing and a story worth hearing." - Crystal Garman
“Childhood memories become today's cultivating teachings as Donetta recalls hers while drifting in and out of consciousness after a medical emergency. Now it is captured in writing so we may grasp hold of her empowering story of recovery and triumph!” - Rindy Sciacca
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