Just Do It...

I spent a good deal of my childhood in and around harbors because of the Gaucho, an old wooden sailboat that my parents bought. I shared the tiny foc'sle with my older sister, Jody, and the sail bags. We had no electricity (which translates into no TV!) and little room for toys.

Instead we cut up our clothes to sew extensive wardrobes for our stuffed animals. We built forts and once dissected a dead rat (Jody kept a tooth and I kept the tail). I read everything from Harriet the Spy to The Island of the Blue Dolphin. But most of the time we played with our imaginations--invented games like Lava Monster or Alfred and Squeezer, the story of a dog, his anteater brother, and their evil stepmother.

In college I chose to pursue science over humanities because of my fear that 90 percent of English majors bag groceries for a living. After college I worked for the USDA, writing documents instead of novels.

When my son, Drake, was born, everything changed. I was supposed to go back to work, but he refused to cooperate with my plans. He absolutely, positively would not drink from a bottle. If Drake had been more congenial, my life would have gone on as before. Minus sleep, naturally. But my husband encouraged me to quit my job and write from home. My lack of qualifications did not concern him.

So I just did it!