I wanted to be a social worker, then realized I was too cowardly to take responsibility for other people's lives. I wanted to be a psychiatrist, then realized I'm not actually all that good at prolonged listening. Q:ĝid you always want to be an author? If not, what did you originally want to be and when and why did you change your mind?Ī: I wanted to be a pilot, then realized fear of heights might be a professional deficit. The process of writing, for me, is an entirely private pleasure and puzzle. I've never been in the mood for creative writing programs (except for teaching them now and then), since I have no desire to discuss work-in-progress.

degree in English, but following that smart high school teacher's advice, I aimed for work in journalism, which I happily found. Q: What educational qualifications do you have? Have you had any formal tuition in creative writing? If so, where and what? Did you find it useful?Ī: I'm the first - but not the last - person in my family to attend university, which is where I went the minute I was 18. Q:ĝid you enjoy school? What is your most vivid memory of your school years?Ī: Oh, I was so bored! I remember a few thrilling teachers - one who taught grammar using her own home-made rhymes, one who acted his way through Shakespeare and Hardy, and that essential one who said I wrote well and might want to consider some kind of word-related career - but for the most part I was marking time in an academically clever sort of way, doing what had to be done to get free. I'm the only writer in the family - in fact I'm also probably the only dedicated reader - but I see some prospects in the developing generations.

Q: How many brothers and sisters do you have? Is anyone else in your family a writer?Ī: I have one highly cherished sister, Pat, who's had a banking career. My parents raised cattle while I played with the dog and fell off the horses. A: I spent my first 18 years on a thin-soiled, gorgeous, rocky farm just outside the small city of Owen Sound in Ontario, Canada.

Gaining ground joan barfoot