She was devoted to painting, music and literature and was a prolific contributor to periodicals under the pen name "Minnie C. Ballard" ever since she sent her first poem to William Cullen Bryant, who gave it a place in the Evening Post. Her first published productions made their appearance when she was 21 years old. Since her appearance in the poets' corner of the Evening Post, she contributed occasionally to some thirty periodicals. Ballard published Idle Fancies (Troy, Pa., 1883), for private circulation, and a new edition for the general public (Philadelphia, 1884). She contributed to the Philadelphia Times, The Cincinnati Enquirer, the Louisville Courier-Journal, Godey's Lady's Book, Peterson's Magazine, and the St. Louis Magazine.
