She wrote about the history of Dartmouth and Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

After her idea for Scaredy-cat was rejected, Payzant stated that "I knew from having been a school librarian that it would be popular at the annual anniversary of the terrible Halifax disaster of 1917."

By 1997 it was in its fourth printing and was added to the Nova Scotia Department of Education School Book Bureau list.

[3][4] Payzant wrote biographies of her parents (Rob and Francie) and her husband (Pete).

Over this period she wrote more than 200 articles on topics as diverse as travel, gardening, and Dartmouth history.