I have been a writer all my life, and I used to entertain myself with stories before I knew how to write.
At 15, I wrote for the Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell, MT, and since then I've written for newspapers and national magazines in the fields of Western history, horticulture, and equitation. I wrote technical manuals about computer systems for a major aerospace company in Seattle, WA.
One of my horticultural books, Wordsworth's Gardens, was a top ten finalist in the Washington State Book Awards for 2002.
Coming home to Montana freed me to write historical fiction set here in my home state.
And by July 15, my first historical novel, God's Thunderbolt: The Vigilantes of Montana will be available on Amazon.com and in selected bookstores.
The transitions from writing journalism to academic writing and back were challenging, but the biggest challenge came when I changed from nonfiction -- both technical and journalistic -- to fiction. No matter what kind of nonfiction a person writes, the change is primarily a matter of style.
But to change from nonfiction to fiction involves using a different side of the brain, a side I hadn't exercised in a couple of decades.
Once I committed to fiction, however, the characters started to speak and act, and now they come to mind without my seeking them out. I'm happiest writing about them and seeing them live on paper.
I live in the Flathead Valley in Northwest Montana, and my father in his early years was a cowboy. Around here the word "cowboy" is not an insult.
I'm president of the Authors of the Flathead, a supportive group of writers numbering some 125 people. Our motto is "Writers helping writers," and our Web site is:
http://www.authorsoftheflathead.org.The most fun I have in writing is historical fiction. I love the complexity of blending accurate research with imaginative speculation, historical figures with fictional characters, historical incidents with fictional conflicts, fact with feeling.
A great-grandmother lived into her 90's, and my mother lived to be 106+. I think I'll be around to write for a long time to come! What fun!
