When I was in fourth grade I won a writing contest. I wrote about what I'd do if I found the fabled Lost Dutchman gold mine. I employed parallel paragraph construction and a repeating theme, and I won four trips to Dairy Queen. Later, a writing teacher told me the parallel paragraph thing was really just repetitive, but the ice cream was really good, so screw him. I decided then that I would be a writer.
A bunch of stuff has happened since then, but I am now that writer. I mostly write about Arizona, and I prefer nature -- bugs, turkey vultures, and a coyote sighting absolutely make my day. (What? I don't tell you how to live your life.) My son is my accomplice, and we chronicle our explorations in words and photographs. His photos are better than most of those by adults. He's featured regularly here. This isn't a "mommy blog" per se, but it's a life blog. Parenting. Nature. Poop. It's all part of the same game. My husband thinks my son and I are both crazy, most days, but he's wonderfully tolerant (as long as we keep spiders away from him).
I also share stories about the people in Arizona. I've interviewed politicians, celebrities, animal rescue workers, doctors, clergy, survivors of tragedy, scientists of just about every field, kids, movie producers, and experts on animal poop; to name just a few.
I realize my experience is not the whole of Arizona. I might have chosen a slightly less pompous name than "Arizona Writer" if I had realized this would become a bigger thing, but I still think it fits. Arizona is the experience, what you see and the details of the lives of those you come across (whether they have two, four, six, eight or a bazillion legs). Arizona is a story. This is ours.
