How it began

It all began when the Muse showed up on February 3rd at 2 a.m. in Florida and wouldn't leave.

Billie Spring spent thirty years as an IT contractor, moving from gig to gig across the country and all the way to Hawaii. At forty-seven, she was diagnosed with manic depression. Years later, after getting sober, the diagnosis was refined to bipolar disorder. Neither came with a miracle — what came with them was consistent psychiatric care, the right medication, and the willingness to keep showing up.

At seventy-six, she finally understood what all of it meant, looking backward. So she wrote it down.

Her memoir, The Blueprint and the Gypsy Soul, follows the Yatzeck Bundle — five inherited pieces that shaped her life — through a childhood of loss, fifty years of friendships that became family, and three years in Hawaii where the chosen family kept showing up at her door.

She lives in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Muse shows up when she feels like it.

The Picture: With musician Alex Wilson and author Nancy Olson, Milwaukee, 2024.