Hawthorne has written book and lyrics to several children's musicals for school or church, including It's Cool in the Furnace (about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego), as well as advertising copy. She worked for B&R Productions, a Nashville music publishing and production firm, in the 1970s. In 2013, she published her first novel, Shorter's Way, followed by Waterproof Justice (2015).