Annette Drake

I grew up in a small town of 5,000 people in northeast Missouri. I spent a lot of time at the local library, pouring over horse books and stories of adventure. I also loved the classics - Raggedy Ann and Andy. My two older brothers and I would write plays and perform them for my parents. When I turned 30, I needed adventure, so I headed to Anchorage, Alaska. What a culture shock! A few years later, I wandered down to Washington state and that's where my home is now.

I've been telling stories my whole life. I remember writing a ballad about the Civil War when I was about 7 years old, strumming along on my brother's discarded guitar. My first big break happened in eighth grade when a short story I wrote was published in the school newspaper. I was a celebrity author! For about 15 minutes. Then my normal life returned. After that, I dived into journalism and received a bachelor of arts at what is now Truman State University. I worked for small newspapers in Missouri and Kansas until the early 1990s when I went back to school and transitioned to the medical field. I relegated fiction writing to something I did late at night when my children slept.