I was born in the foothills of the Cascade mountains in Washington state. It was thirty years before the end of the last century. There were no cell phones, video games, no Internet; computers had hardly been heard of, much less laptops, Kindles, iPads, and tablets.
In between school and supper time, we played outside. We rode bikes, ran, played hide and seek, played on swing sets, roller skated (yes, I said 'skated', we didn't hear of roller-blades until I was a teenager)...it seems like we were always moving, even a bookworm like myself. If it wasn't pouring down rain, and sometimes even if it was, we were outside.
Reading was always a big part of my life. From the earliest time I can remember, my parents read to me, and taught me how to read. Once I started, I never looked back. Based on testing before starting school, I started in the 2nd grade with 3rd grade reading. I used to get in trouble regularly because I would use a flashlight to read in bed when I was supposed to be sleeping. (The invention of the Kindle has helped with that, although my husband still complains when I'm reading something funny. Apparently, in trying to be considerate and not laugh out loud, I shake the bed by laughing silently. He's gone so far as to ban reading Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams in bed completely!)
With my love of reading came the desire to create my own stories. My early attempts at writing were, sadly, not Pulitzer material. I like to think that I've improved dramatically since the beginning of my writing career but I'll let you be the judge. I write best when I have a prompt of some kind; sometimes it's a song, or a picture, or a snippet of conversation overheard while riding a bus. The novel that I'm currently working on was inspired by watching the breeze play with the tree leaves surrounding our campsite last summer.
What else do I enjoy doing besides reading and writing, you ask? Quite a few things! I like playing the piano, unfortunately I've let practicing slip a bit so that skill is a little rusty. I love camping. I'm slightly old-school about that, though; I don't consider it 'true' camping if you're not camping in a tent (except in Yellowstone National Park, which is a story for another time). I really enjoy being creative; besides writing, I also create floral arrangements, and wall decorations; I crochet, sew, and knit; and I occasionally try my hand at drawing - although, when it comes to pictures, I usually prefer to color them rather than draw them.
Based on my love of doing craft-y type things, I recently started my own business called Truly Yours by G where I create and sell wedding decorations.
I'm a huge sci-fi/fantasy fan - movies, television, books, doesn't matter, I love them all. My love of the sci-fi/fantasy genre began in grade school when I read the Chronicles of Narnia for the first time. Those books were quickly followed by The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings books and I was forever changed. There was Star Wars, Star Trek (movies AND television series, all them..even Voyager), Stargate, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Quantum Leap - I love them all. A few years ago, however, I was introduced to the fandom that would leave it's mark on my very soul (okay, maybe not quite that bad, but, believe me, it's close) - Doctor Who. Doctor Who is not just a cheesy science-fiction show from the United Kingdom, it's a way of life. There's the current, re-booted television show, then there's all the classic episodes to get caught up on, books, radio-plays, spin-offs, conventions, cosplay, role-playing, fanfiction (don't judge me, it got me writing again), and the list goes on and on.
It's fortunate that my husband shares a lot of the same interests as I do; and so does our daughter and her husband. We have family outings to sci-fi conventions, music concerts (everything from George Strait to Disturbed, we all have very eclectic musical tastes), camping trips, and touring historical sites and museums.
My husband and I will be celebrating our fifteenth (15th) wedding anniversary this year. My daughter will be twenty-three (23), and is celebrating her first year of marriage today (May 12, 2014).
It always amazes me how time just races past and yet so many world changing events happen. In my lifetime, I've seen the end of the Cold War, the Berlin wall come down, Elvis Presley died, John Lennon was shot and killed, the space shuttle Challenger blew up, Mount St Helens erupted, the United States elected the first African-American President - twice, same-sex marriage is legal in several states - including my home state of Washington, two states have legalized marijuana - again including my home state, computers have become small enough to fit in our pockets and the invention of the internet globalized communication.
So many wonderful things have happened in the first part of my life, and I can't wait to see what will happen in the rest of my life.
In between school and supper time, we played outside. We rode bikes, ran, played hide and seek, played on swing sets, roller skated (yes, I said 'skated', we didn't hear of roller-blades until I was a teenager)...it seems like we were always moving, even a bookworm like myself. If it wasn't pouring down rain, and sometimes even if it was, we were outside.
Reading was always a big part of my life. From the earliest time I can remember, my parents read to me, and taught me how to read. Once I started, I never looked back. Based on testing before starting school, I started in the 2nd grade with 3rd grade reading. I used to get in trouble regularly because I would use a flashlight to read in bed when I was supposed to be sleeping. (The invention of the Kindle has helped with that, although my husband still complains when I'm reading something funny. Apparently, in trying to be considerate and not laugh out loud, I shake the bed by laughing silently. He's gone so far as to ban reading Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams in bed completely!)
With my love of reading came the desire to create my own stories. My early attempts at writing were, sadly, not Pulitzer material. I like to think that I've improved dramatically since the beginning of my writing career but I'll let you be the judge. I write best when I have a prompt of some kind; sometimes it's a song, or a picture, or a snippet of conversation overheard while riding a bus. The novel that I'm currently working on was inspired by watching the breeze play with the tree leaves surrounding our campsite last summer.
What else do I enjoy doing besides reading and writing, you ask? Quite a few things! I like playing the piano, unfortunately I've let practicing slip a bit so that skill is a little rusty. I love camping. I'm slightly old-school about that, though; I don't consider it 'true' camping if you're not camping in a tent (except in Yellowstone National Park, which is a story for another time). I really enjoy being creative; besides writing, I also create floral arrangements, and wall decorations; I crochet, sew, and knit; and I occasionally try my hand at drawing - although, when it comes to pictures, I usually prefer to color them rather than draw them.
Based on my love of doing craft-y type things, I recently started my own business called Truly Yours by G where I create and sell wedding decorations.
I'm a huge sci-fi/fantasy fan - movies, television, books, doesn't matter, I love them all. My love of the sci-fi/fantasy genre began in grade school when I read the Chronicles of Narnia for the first time. Those books were quickly followed by The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings books and I was forever changed. There was Star Wars, Star Trek (movies AND television series, all them..even Voyager), Stargate, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Quantum Leap - I love them all. A few years ago, however, I was introduced to the fandom that would leave it's mark on my very soul (okay, maybe not quite that bad, but, believe me, it's close) - Doctor Who. Doctor Who is not just a cheesy science-fiction show from the United Kingdom, it's a way of life. There's the current, re-booted television show, then there's all the classic episodes to get caught up on, books, radio-plays, spin-offs, conventions, cosplay, role-playing, fanfiction (don't judge me, it got me writing again), and the list goes on and on.
It's fortunate that my husband shares a lot of the same interests as I do; and so does our daughter and her husband. We have family outings to sci-fi conventions, music concerts (everything from George Strait to Disturbed, we all have very eclectic musical tastes), camping trips, and touring historical sites and museums.
My husband and I will be celebrating our fifteenth (15th) wedding anniversary this year. My daughter will be twenty-three (23), and is celebrating her first year of marriage today (May 12, 2014).
It always amazes me how time just races past and yet so many world changing events happen. In my lifetime, I've seen the end of the Cold War, the Berlin wall come down, Elvis Presley died, John Lennon was shot and killed, the space shuttle Challenger blew up, Mount St Helens erupted, the United States elected the first African-American President - twice, same-sex marriage is legal in several states - including my home state of Washington, two states have legalized marijuana - again including my home state, computers have become small enough to fit in our pockets and the invention of the internet globalized communication.
So many wonderful things have happened in the first part of my life, and I can't wait to see what will happen in the rest of my life.