![]() ![]() There were ghosts stories, scary and benign, and people that could find water with a “witching stick.” There were home cures for nose bleeds and stomach aches. I inherited their curiosity and wonder of everything. There was always a moral or silver lining to their stories. ![]() I descend from a long line of storytellers, particularly my father and his mother Edith, who told me wild and mysterious tales of Texas that were imbued with the mythical, the magical, and of course the taller the tale, the more “true” it was. It becomes the centering point for the novel for which everything radiates from.īut there are other bits of my childhood there too in smaller ways. Life was completely altered and I think I’ve left the footprints of that grief across Esme’s heart. I was hit particularly hard with the second one who we called Tio. I lost both my grandfathers early – age six and nine. In Finding Esme (Greenwillow, 2018) twelve-year-old Esme McCauley is reeling from the death of her grandfather, Paps, who she feels is the only one who loved and understood her. I know I scatter a bit of myself in everything I write – that’s what gives it a soul and makes my stories “sing,” if you will. I think it’s true that everything we write is somewhat autobiographical. As writers, we are frequently asked where we draw inspiration from. ![]()
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