My father hates flying. He's also Dutch so taking the train, usually just as expensive as flying, was a no-go in terms of travelling. So starting from a very young age, my family began the tradition of the family road trip. Many of which ended in misadventures, but it's been one surefire way to inspire and dust off my imagination. Each road trip took us across the country to a handful of National and State Parks.
It was only natural, pardon the pun, that as I grew to love writing as an adult that I combine it with my other passion: the outdoors and more specifically, wildlife. I could and I have spent hours wondering what happens in a robin's head. What of squirrels in the neighborhood? Inspired by the stories of my youth: Beverly Cleary's Mouse and the Motorcycle, Avi's Poppy, and Brian Jaques' acclaimed Redwall series pressed and inspired me to begin my journey into animal genre. A genre in which animals take on human characteristics in order to either teach a young audience a story with a moral lesson or to creatively explore the natural world.
Placing a reader's imagination into the mind of something inhuman better facilitates a better understanding of the natural world and our impact as humans upon it. In defense of my writing, I always say, "You cannot protect what you do not yet love."
In addition to Animal Gen
It was only natural, pardon the pun, that as I grew to love writing as an adult that I combine it with my other passion: the outdoors and more specifically, wildlife. I could and I have spent hours wondering what happens in a robin's head. What of squirrels in the neighborhood? Inspired by the stories of my youth: Beverly Cleary's Mouse and the Motorcycle, Avi's Poppy, and Brian Jaques' acclaimed Redwall series pressed and inspired me to begin my journey into animal genre. A genre in which animals take on human characteristics in order to either teach a young audience a story with a moral lesson or to creatively explore the natural world.
Placing a reader's imagination into the mind of something inhuman better facilitates a better understanding of the natural world and our impact as humans upon it. In defense of my writing, I always say, "You cannot protect what you do not yet love."
In addition to Animal Gen