“Both my parents were writers, so I think I was born with printers’ ink in my veins,” she said.

Ms. Nielsen’s mother, Marjorie wrote almost 20 inspirational books and several volumes of poetry. She was also one of the early members of the Tower Poetry Society – one of North America's oldest poetry collectives.

Ms. Nielsen’s father worked as a religion editor for the Hamilton Spectator for more than 22 years. He penned many successful plays as well.

“I grew up listening to two typewriters at different ends of the house, both my parents working away,” she said.

As a teenager, Ms. Nielsen followed in her father’s footsteps and worked as a reporter for the Hamilton Spectator. More recently, she has contributed articles to the paper as a member of the Community Editorial Board.

Ms. Nielsen also had the opportunity to help her father complete a special project.

“After my mother’s death, my father wrote a moving memoir called Remembering Marjorie,” she said. “Near the end of his life, he gave me the manuscript, which I edited and published.”

Later, Ms. Nielsen also selected and printed excerpts from her parents’ love letters, written during their courtship and 60-plus years of marriage.

“Many of the letters were exchanged during the Second World War, when my father was in the RAF,” she said. “The book was called Romantic Pilgrimage.”

With her parents having always encouraged her with the examples of their rich writing lives, Ms. Nielsen has published her first book, Green Light.

The book is made of 50 poems about nature, relationships and spirituality that Ms. Nielsen has written throughout her life

“When people ask what the book’s about, it’s sort of like a whole potpourri of things,” she said. “But it’s a lot about nature –not just describing it, but reflecting on it and how it inspires me.”

Ms. Nielsen says the book is something readers can interpret in different ways.

“Hopefully, it’s something they can enjoy and find inspiring,” she said. “Hopefully, it will encourage people who like to write to do so as well.”

Ms. Nielsen says there’s nothing like putting thoughts down on paper.

“I love the feeling of the pen on the paper,” she said. “It’s just something that I feel I have to do.”

Ms. Nielsen will be holding book signings at Coles Bookstore Dec. 5, at 1:30 p. m. at Burlington Mall; Dec. 6, 2 to 5 p. m. at Eastgate Square; Dec. 9, 6 to 8 p. m. at Lime Ridge Mall; Dec. 11, noon to 3 p. m. at Mapleview Mall; Dec. 12, noon to 3 p. m. at Dundas Plaza; and Dec. 15 and 16, noon to 2 p. m. at Jackson Square.