This is the time of year where you start to think about where you’ve been, and where you’re going…and all the things you’re thankful for. As I look back on this year, I can’t help but feel thankful that I found this passion for writing. I’m very thankful to all my readers who’ve taken the time to pick up one of my books, engage in the story and hopefully get something out of reading it. As I look back on my writing journey and how it began, I think fondly about short stories I’ve written for my family through the years. When I was about seven or eight years old, my parents would drive my siblings and me past a mausoleum in Long Beach, California. It looked just like a castle, and I told my little brother and sister stories about Sir Walter Oglethorpe, the green ghost who haunted the castle. I told them there was a green light in one of the castle towers, and that was Sir Walter roaming the halls. It was fun making up spooky stories for them. The problem was that I had no idea where the story should go! Either luckily or unluckily for me, their attention usually wandered before I could get to a conclusion, or we'd get wherever we were going. Plus, they didn't seem to notice the stories didn't have an ending either. As you can see, I’ve always had an interest in ghost stories, so I suppose it makes sense that those are the kinds of books I often write.
I spent a lot of my childhood at the library. I mostly read stories about horses by Walter Farley, like “The Black Stallion” and “The Island Stallion.” Those books alone kept me busy, as they both had a ton of sequels. And I can’t forget the “Nancy Drew” and “Trixie Belden” books. I think Trixie was my favorite. I loved getting lost in the stories. As an adult, I had a writer friend I often met at Starbucks. He'd talk about his books and tell me about ideas for other stories. He was very prolific with those ideas. One day he told me he had the perfect first line for a book and the perfect ending. I loved his idea and said I couldn’t wait to read the book when he wrote it. I was disappointed when he said he was too busy, but he gave me an interesting proposition. He said the idea was mine if I wanted to try to write the story. I hadn’t ever thought about writing a whole book, but it sounded like a fun challenge, so I said sure. It took a couple of years, but eventually I had a complete novel. I never published that first book, but I had the writing bug after that and continued to write. No one was more surprised than me when I turned into an actual author with published books! So, thank you for reading and supporting my dream. I hope you enjoy each story as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them.
Happy reading!
- Pam