Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?
The first story I read was' Little Johnny Apple Seed'. I was in third grade when my Aunt gave me the book. A short story with pictures of a young man planting apples along a country lane. Years later when he returned all the farms had apples and used them as food and drink for them and their animals, and had planted more trees. I took this to mean we follow along our paths and plant what we want. I blew dandelions seeds where I walked, so I planted my ideas. And who should come, Rhyonna, a faery, I meet at Fountain Creek in Colorado Springs. She lived in a dandelion and demaned her story. At first, she danced off my composing table, finally I got her into a story. Rhyonna now plants dandelions on the web while she streams.
When did you first start writing?
My first writing was in the 8th grade, and I won a newspaper reward. We got a plastic cover sample of the story published, which I still have today. My story was titled 'What a Dog Would Do" and was about a dog lost and finds her way back home. We had dogs when we lived in the mountains. I heard stories of how bears did not attack dogs because they found their way home. Yes, I did see bears when I was a child, small brown bears. I knew if my dog got lost her smell was efficient, she was smart, and she could find me.
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