How it all began, and where it's led

Every good writer starts out as a good reader. As a child, my parents encouraged me to read. I often went to bed with a book in my hands, the lights on (which was my undoing), trying to sneak a few chapters of Nancy Drew or Anne of Green Gables in before I got caught. One day, frustrated, I told Mr. Carlson, who owned the local Grinden's Dime Store, about my dilemma. He wisely told me to slide a rug over the vent in the floor so my parents couldn't see that my light was still on. This worked for several months, until I forgot to move it one morning and my goose was cooked!
After I graduated from high school, I graduated from Bethany Missionary Training Institute in Minneapolis, MN. I then took a literature workshop at Moody Bible Institue in Chicago, and while I was a missionary candidate at Worldwide Evangelization Crusade (WEC) in Philadelphia, I studied music at Temple University. I then served as a missionary for nine years in Venazuela, first alone, and then with Ivan and two of our children.
I dabbled in writing over the years, but it was not until we returned from Venezuela that I got serious about it. I wanted to write our experiences before I forgot them. Writing, to me, became addictive. I began small, with my first published article in a religious magazine where the editor credited it to "anonymous" because he wasn't sure I wanted to be known! Vanity is thy name! Have you ever known a truly humble writer? Fortunately, the article was too long to go in one issue, so the second half bears the byline, "Janet E. Smith, author."
My first "big break" came as a total fluke, as is true of most of our lives. I kept stumbling across a tollfree phone number for a publisher called "Heritage Quest." I finally weakened and called it, and learned that they published a magazine called (surprisingly) Heritage Quest. It was a magazine about genealogy, which had become another passion of mine. I sent an article to them "on spec," and after redoing it 6 times, the then editor, Don Vincent, asked me if I could do that for every issue. It is more than ten years later, and I am now a contributing editor for Heritage Quest, with a regular column called "In the Craziest Places" and usually a regular feature article as well. (I did pass on the issue that had features on "Being organized!)
I have had many articles published in magazines since then in such magazines as Woman's World, Ladies' Home Journal, Historic Travels, BBW (Big Beautiful Woman), many religious periodicals, and I am the associate editor for the MinnDakota Memories and Mysteries.
But my love was writing fiction. My husband and I have run a charitable "Helps" organization in the Red River Valley of ND and MN for over 30 years. We deal with people with problems on a daily basis. My fiction writing has provided me with an "escape route." I can always make a happy ending! Real life might not be perfect, but this one isn't half bad!

THE VALUE OF FRIENDSHIPS
As I neared the completion of DUNNOTTAR for publication, the issue of a cover came to the forefront. I had an photo of Dunnottar Castle in Scotland from an old National Geographic. I had always envisioned using it if DUNNOTTAR ever became a reality. So, I called National Geographic and asked them about the photo. "Yes," they assured me, "we still have the original photo. Yes, you can use it. But it will cost $5000 each time you do a run of the book!"
Well, scrap that idea in a hurry!
Ivan suggested having a picture of the castle painted. Thus began the search for an artist. Sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees. I have a very good friend, Bonny Crow, whom I have known for probably over 20 years. Since she dabbles in art (she has a BA in Art which she got just a few years ago!), I was relating my tale of woe to her. She listened, sympathized, but said nothing much about my problem. It was a couple of hours later when it hit me: Bonny is an artist! So, I called her back and she graciously agreed to do the cover for DUNNOTTAR. We formed an unofficial partnership, and she will be doing all my covers. I tell her (with a great degree of embarrassment) "I have helped make both of us a little more famous, and maybe someday we will both be rich, too!" But in the meantime, we are both having fun. I owe a great deal of the success of my books to Bonny. Unlike popular belief, I am firmly convinced that you can judge a book by its cover. (See them all on "My Books.")