Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I spent my earliest years in Northeastern Kentucky. By the time I was a teenager, my family had moved across the river to Southern Ohio. I was one of five children and we lived on a farm in a very rural area. We had a commercial poultry business with over 30,000 chickens. We each had daily chores and quickly learned a very strong work ethic.
Our nearest neighbor was nearly a mile away; there were no cell phones and telephone companies hadn't yet been deregulated. Long distance calls were expensive and only made in an emergency. Our phone was a phone party line that we shared with a dozen other neighbors. I rode a school bus 13 miles to school every day and it was long distance to call any of my classmates. I loved school - it was my escape!
Summertime was spent working on the farm and occasionally hanging out at the area lake where all my friends went daily. There were no local libraries, but the bookmobile from the county came once every two weeks. I would check out enough books to last until the bookmobile made its return. Once I began reading a book, my mother would be hard pressed to get me to do anything around the house until the book was completed.
Although that would seem to have been a miserable childhood, I have fond memories of family, classmates and more innocent times. Having lived and had responsibility at such an early age taught me a wonderful work ethic and gave me a "never give up" attitude. It also provided me with many stories and insights to fall back on in my writing.
When did you first start writing?
Initially,I thought I first started writing in 1992. I had a large family (at that time nine children). One day one of my friends was having a terrible time controlling her children (she had four). She made the comment, "I don't know how you do it."
That afternoon, I was thinking about her comment and realized that I did have a lot of information and experience to share. Perhaps even some funny things that would let other mothers of young children realize that that stage of life isn't forever. Things and circumstances change and yes, you can do it. You can make it.
Looking back, I now realize that I began writing much earlier than that. I had been gifted at an early age with writing skills. Math was another subject. Throughout high school I had been the news reporter for every club that I had been in. I wrote columns for each club every month for the school newspaper. I don't know how that fact escaped me all those years, but it has continued throughout my life.
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