She began her writing career as a journalist, contributing travel articles to The Christian Science Monitor and The New York Times.
[5] After her schooling was finished, she moved to Manhattan and began writing book reviews and newspaper articles.
[4] They bought a farm, and a discovery of old artwork during the restoration of the farmhouse prompted Yates to write Patterns on the Wall.
[7] In 1970, she was given the Sarah Josepha Hale Award "in recognition of a distinguished body of work in the field of literature and letters".
[9] In the 1990s, the New Hampshire Association for the Blind began the William and Elizabeth Yates McGreal Society.