Since I learned to sound out words, I knew I wanted to be a fiction writer. My grandfather taught me to sound out words before I went to kindergarten. I remember having trouble with the word magenta, as I was giving it a hard g sound. I enjoyed making up adventures that my best friend and I would have at my grandparents’ camp. This colorful dream, skill and practice would materialize later.

My first experience with fishing was when I was ten or twelve years old. My dad and his friend took me fishing with them. Dad and Del patiently explained how to use those long cane poles and I did finally get the hang of it. Call it beginner’s luck but that day I caught more fish than both of them combined. They never took me fishing again.