One important stop for O'Keeffe is Danny's Pizza along Route 88 where she grabs a hoagie and introduces her husband, Andrew, and their toddler daughter, Tulliver, to life in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

This year O'Keeffe introduced her first novel, "Thirsty," to the area where the story is set - a fictitious steel town beginning in the late 1880s.

The main character is fashioned from her Croatian grandfather and his adjustment to life in Clairton as the steel mills began to crumble.

The book has sold out of its first printing and is entering its second. Amazing since the release date was Oct. 1.

A second book, a memoir of her adventures that lead from her 1985 graduation from Bethel Park High School to China, is being shopped around for a publisher by her agent. Another fictitious work is revolving in her mind.

With an Irish husband and their toddler daughter adopted from Vietnam, O'Keeffe lives a truly international existence. In her Shanghai neighborhood, the next door neighbor is from Spain and the family a floor above are natives of Israel.

For two days, Oct. 19 and 20, O'Keeffe ventured back to the halls of her alma mater to share her knowledge of writing and teaching and to relive some of her memories before the new high school is completed.

O'Keeffe spoke with about 100 students from freshman through the senior year who share her love of writing.

"Every single moment of every single day is a potential story," she told the students.

To write, O'Keeffe said, one must read. And she attributed a resurgence of reading to widely-read books such as the "Harry Potter" series.

Reread books, she suggested, first to read and thereafter to learn more about how the book was written.

"You don't have to major in writing in college," O'Keeffe said, adding, "Just keep writing as you go."

Nothing comes easily, including her first novel. She hand-wrote the manuscript at least 11 separate times before she had an acceptable copy.

Her advice for fledgling writers: attend a critique group, complete classes online, blog and never stop learning.

O'Keeffe writes from dreams, she researches and she reads.

A humorous essay, "Rabid German" came from what could have been an embarrassing situation when a German woman berated her for sitting with her legs crossed on a chair.

Other writings evolve. "Thirsty" began as a poem while she was in college and was published as a 200-page novel.

"Let your imagination take over," O'Keeffe said.

Her adventure in China will last until at least next spring when her husband's wireless communication firm may or may not divert them to another exotic place. Perhaps by then, she will be more fluent in the Mandarin dialect.