Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I grew up in a very rural place outside of a little village in Michigan. These were the days before the internet and our television only got four stations, so I spent a lot of time making up stories just to have something to do. My grandmother was a romance novelist in the '80s. I wrote a historical romance novel in the seventh grade and distributed chapters to my friends. I had no idea what I was doing, so it just went on and on and on!
Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?
I don't remember what the story was about, but I remember getting my first reading book in school and being shocked and delighted to open it and find that I could read. It came as a huge shock because I hadn't connected what we were learning with why we were learning it. It was such a surprise and I felt so smart.
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