Karen started writing songs when she was 16 years old, after writing a lot of poems that evolved into songs.  A couple of friends showed her some chords on the guitar and in a very short time she was performing in front of folks in all kinds of places. When she was a senior in high school, she won the talent show! Karen continued to write and sing her songs for a number of years, having a couple of songs played on the local Christian radio station. Her writing went dormant for almost 20 years while she focused on being a wife, mom and kindergarten teacher.

The first song she wrote once she began songwriting again was for a teacher who was retiring. The rest is history. She has gone on to write songs inspired by real life stories she has heard as well as her own life experiences. Recent projects include a compilation of original songs for children, Karen Newsum's Berry Good Songs for Children, and Grace for the Journey, a variety of songs about family life and the faith walk.

Karen has placed first place in the MOVA songwriter contest for Christian/Gospel and in the top 3 for many other songs. She has had songs played on The Old Time Country Radio Show in Lynchburg, Tennessee, Southern Charm in Canada, Hand in Hand Radio Show in the Caribbean,  Folk Renaissance Radio Show at Jacksonville State University, 30A Songwriter Radio in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, and Women of Substance Mother's Day Podcast.

Karen's song, "God Lift Me Up" was included on the M-T-M Nashville Country Radio Disc Compliation CD that has been sold all over the world.  She has hosted open mics, hosted a songwriter workshop for those who write Christian music for well over 10 years, organized many fundraisers and was the performance chair for Huntsville Traditional Music association for three years. Her journey as a songwriter has been wonderful and rewarding, appreciating the creativity and talent she has witnessed in the songwriter community.