Christy Summerland

I grew up in a house my father built around a mobile home, on a dirt road in Northwest Arkansas. I spent a lot of my time as a child running around in the woods and climbing trees, and I still love the entire rural experience. In fact, I probably would have been a lot happier in my teenage years if we'd stayed on the mountain. Then again, living in the city opened me up to a lot of different people and experiences, including music. But growing up in the country does tend to make me want to relive it a bit, so there's always at least one character in every story who comes from a small town. Not having a lot of television as a kid also helped, because when I wasn't in the woods, I was glued to my mother's typewriter.

As a kid I would read a lot of books and then rewrite them on the typewriter. My mother would read them as if I'd come up with something original. It took me a long time once I became an adult before I could actually finish a novel though, due to a combination of lack of confidence, college and my mother's health. I'm glad I was finally able to take that step, because it's opened me up in ways I hadn't anticipated.