What were you like growing up

What were you like growing up?

I loved the school setting, and I loved reading. I was shy, with little self-confidence at all. The people in books became as real to me as people I could reach out and touch. I believe my best friends lived in books—and those special books are still in my bookcase to be enjoyed every year. Very helpful lessons in living came from seeing how fictional characters solved their problems. They became my role models.

As a girl, who were your favorite authors?

I loved Louisa May Alcott who wrote Little Women; Doris Gates, who wrote Blue Willow and Sensible Kate; Frances Hodgson Burnett, who wrote The Secret Garden; and Madeleine L’Engle, who wrote A Wrinkle in Time. I was an adult before I discovered C.S. Lewis’s The Chonicles of Narnia, which also became favorites.

What is your favorite food?

Anything at all that’s chocolate!

What is your favorite color?

Orange! Orange shirts, orange flowers, orange popsicles!

Did you always want to be a writer?

At the age of ten I wrote a sequel to Little Women called The Four Sisters because I didn’t want the book to end. But I didn’t dream of becoming a writer until I was nearly thirty. I really only wanted to grow up, get married, and have lots of children. In case no one married me, I decided to get an elementary teaching degree so I could be surrounded by children at school. I did get the teaching degree, but I only taught a short time before my first daughter, Jenny, was born, and then I stayed home. When my second daughter, Laurie, was born, I took a writing class through the mail and discovered I absolutely loved writing for children and early teens. I sold my first novel, Just Like a Real Family, right after my third daughter, Jacqui, was born. I have about thirty books published now, with five or six coming out in the next couple of years.

Where do you get your ideas?

In earlier years, I got many of my ideas from watching my girls deal with school and friendship problems. For mysteries, ideas came to me from visiting places in Iowa. The Haunting of Cabin l3 is set in Backbone State Park, Danger at Hanging Rock is set at Effigy Mounds National Monument, and the Carousel Mystery Series is set in Story City—all Iowa settings. Now that I live in Texas, I’m guessing my mysteries will start to include Texas settings.

Do you have any hobbies?

This isn’t really a “hobby,” but my favorite thing is spending time talking and laughing with my husband, grown children, and grandchildren. Nothing beats that! In my spare time, I love to read, run, hike, canoe, visit museums and historical sites, plus read about the Civil War and England.

Do you get writer’s block?

If I do, it’s usually because I brought it on myself! I tend to make deadlines too close together, or agree to too many projects. That kind of pressure can freeze up my brain. The best cure for writer’s block I’ve found is to walk away from the computer, take a stroll, go for a run, play with the grandkids—in general, lighten up and loosen up. Then the ideas start to flow again.