Maybe I should have started this on day 1 of my book being published. I always seem to do things first and figure it out as I go. Typical motto of a Gen X. I always had to figure out how to do things on my own, no help and little guidance from my parents. I remember asking my mom how to spell something and she would tell me to look it up in the dictionary. How do you look up a word you don't know how to spell?
I started this book when I was 18 years old. I was at my best friend's house hanging out in her bedroom and a very vivid thought came to my mind. I asked her for some paper and I began to write. I wrote non-stop for several hours and when I left her house the next day, I had 30 pages. It was the start of "my story". By the time I was in college I knew this would be a book. Everyday, new storyline's came to me and I would write and write. I found myself writing on anything I could find. My days were emersed in writing and I loved how this world I created just flowed onto the paper. I was very intrigued by Native American culture and found myself wanting to learn as much as possible. I read books, researched at the library, no Google in the early 90's. I even enrolled in classes at BG to learn more.
My professor was 100% Lakota and I told her why I was taking her classes. She encouraged me and even suggested books to read and to attend Pow Wows. I found inspiration in my everyday life. "Write what you know" my dad would tell me. And if I didn't know, research the hell out of it. So that is what I did.