When I was ten years old, I had a substitute teacher, Doris Apland, who didn't ask us to write about what we did during the summer. Instead, she asked us to write an autobiography, a story of our lives to that age. Yes, autobiographies written by ten year olds!

I'm not sure if that's what made me want to write, but I have vivid memories of the assignment and I also have the four-page handwritten "Autobiography," treasured for years by my mother and now by me. In it I write, "One of my favorite things I like to do is to read. I like mystery books the best, but I enjoy almost any book." It was true then, and it's true today, many years later.

Reading brought pleasure to all my family. A trip to town from our country home often meant a stop at the public library in Caldwell. My mother, an avid reader, probably read every book in the "upstairs" portion of the library, while my sister and I scoured the "downstairs" area for what we thought would be interesting reading material. The library silence, the shushes of the librarian, and the pungent smell of the oiled wood floors are happy memories.

I understand we're reading fewer books than in past years. That's sad, I think. I encourage you to read books, whether it's the "old fashioned" kind of reading where you actually have to turn pages or it's the electronic kind of reading that allows more freedom in your busy life. When my mother was 93, she still read dozens of books each year, turning the pages until she reached the last one.

After years of composing materials that had to be factual, I now enjoy the creativity allowed in fiction. Writing and bringing characters and plots together bring pleasure to me. I hope you'll want to read and will enjoy my novels.

This website is dedicated to my parents, Christine and Reuben Johnson.