411 on Books, Authors & Publishing

AN UNLIKELY WRITER

           I fell into writing by accident. My love, my passion, drew me to drawing and painting—and to earn a living at it. Without a college education, my future had more to do with natural talents. Whether or not I had it in me to pursue my dreams or work for an employer in community service. I chose the latter which eventually led me to writing later in life than most—in my early 50’s.

My parents weren’t wealthy and couldn’t afford to send me to college. It’s a tale that most of us who grew up in the ’60’s and’ 70’s have. We are the generation of the hands-on working class that most people know as the post WWII Baby Boomers. I’m a part of that group and in our current culture wars, feel it every day.

While many in my high school senior class were taking SAT’s for college entrance, I didn’t have it in me to continue education or attend a community college. At that time, community colleges were free with very little money required for books and the like. I haven’t researched colleges these days, but I would imagine there are larger bills facing the student for local college education.

I spent most of my high school training in the art room. An above average student, my interests drove me to hours with a paint brush and creating landscapes in oils. What better place for an artist to end up but the art room? I loved it there. Preferred to be in my own quiet world than any place else. My instructor was one of the premier artists at the time in the city of Modesto, and probably still dabbles in his paintings of sports celebrities in action. Mr. Streeter had an eye for color and a talent for encouraging the rest of us who took art seriously. Not only did he instill a work ethic in art, but I used that same ethic in everything I did after graduating. What he taught us made me into a bit of a teacher myself.

The writing part of my creative juices hid from me while I ran my sheep and border collie mail order catalog, and business, Ewephoric, in 1985 and beyond. It was our 4-H club families who begged me to write a book on how to raise sheep. Teaching kids animal husbandry with sheep and to excel in the show ring came from my art. In 2009 that book request became a reality when Among the Sheep was published through an Amazon company. Writing the memoir/how-to-sheep-book was such an enjoyable experience! So much so that I felt it was time for me to dive into writing fiction. Stolen Obsession is the first book of a series starring Annalisse Drury, who longs to be in the country and encounters many human hardships to attain that goal. I still run Ewephoric and my fiction is a large part of the business today.