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About Willow |
My parents met and married in Washington, DC, during WWII, and that's where I was born. When I was three, we moved to Albuquerque, NM, where I had lots of cousins, aunts, and uncles. Our little house had been built where an orchard once stood, so we had peach and apple trees in our back yard, as well as an elm tree, a cottonwood tree, and a willow tree out front. I loved those trees and I spent a lot of time playing under them. |
As soon as I learned how to read, my nose was always in a book, usually an Oz book if I could find one. I also loved Wind in the Willows and Alice in Wonderland. |
When I was twelve, we moved to California, first to LA, then up to Livermore in northern CA, so that's where I went to high school. I took a test in high school that said I should be a novelist, but quite a few years went by before I took the suggestion. I was also interested in art and I took my first art class in college. I met my first husband at Occidental College and after we graduated and found jobs, he encouraged me to take more art classes. Although the marriage didn't work out, I still appreciate his belief that I could be an artist. |
When I was twenty-five, I read my first book on astrology and I loved it right away. In fact, I hoped to have a career as an astrologer, but it never worked out. I put some touches of astrology into Tirissa and the Necklace of Nulidor, because I see every day how the Sun, Moon, and planets affect our lives. |
Even with my love of astrology, I began to think about writing fiction and in my early thirties I started my first novel. After three years, I sent my masterpiece off for a critique, only to learn that the plot was so weak it couldn't be resuscitated. |
By that time, I was working in a small medical office. When I left that job, I decided to work for a flight school, where I talked the owner into including free flying lessons to make up for the teeny-tiny salary. My flight instructor, Eugene "Charlie" Chase, became my second husband. That relationship has lasted a lot longer than my flying career did. I got my private pilot's license, but after a really scary landing, I decided to give up a hobby where I might kill myself. |
Over the years I started writing other novels, but I could never really get excited about them. In fact, I never finished writing any of them after that first one. Then one day in my fifties, I remembered how much I had loved the fantasy novels of my childhood. I picked up The Lord of the Rings for the first time and by the time I was halfway through, I knew I wanted to start writing a fantasy novel. Ideas started bubbling up: I would write a story about a girl who loved trees--that was the first thing I knew about Tirissa. |
Along the way I started creating pictures on my computer, including a fantasy map. I knew the book couldn't have color illustrations (they would make the book much too expensive), so I wasn't sure what I could do with them. Just when I was ready to publish the book, I heard about book trailers, little one minute videos about a book. That was the perfect thing to do with my pictures! So finally my love of writing and art came together in Tirissa and the Necklace of Nulidor. |
More and more of the story came to me and before long I knew it would have a troll, some wood nymphs who would tell Tirissa that SHE was part wood nymph, and an evil wizard who would cast magic spells. |
2009 Willow All rights reserved |
A children's fantasy novel for ages 9-12 336 pages |