Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I grew up in north central Oklahoma. It is flat country, wide open spaces full of wheat fields under a constantly blue sky. The wind blows - a lot.
I spent as much time as I could outside as a child. Video games hadn't been invented yet, and there wasn't all that much on TV for kids. My imagination went wild as a child; I was always 'imagining' something, usually that I lived on a horse ranch, and had a half dozen dogs. I climbed trees and wrote stories.
Would my life have turned out this way if I'd grown up anywhere else? Probably.
When did you first start writing?
I learned to read before first grade, and as soon as I was taught to print my letters - second grade? - I was writing stories. My first one, "Chippy the Squirrel" was highly praised by my teacher. That praise unleashed a flood of words that has continued to flow.
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