Richard Hugo taught me that anyone with a desire to write, an ear for language and a bit of imagination could become a writer. He also, in a way, gave me permission to write about northern Montana.

My son had toyed with the idea of writing and trying to write a little bit, so that kind of gave me the bug to write also.

Faulkner came from my region and taught me how you could write about a place.

My son gave me the permission to accept my success.

And, as I have said, it's made me think twice about the imagination. If the spirits aren't external, how astonishing the mediums become! Victor Hugo said of his voices that they were like his own mental powers multiplied by five.

The only thing I knew was that I would give myself permission to imagine anything, and reverse engineer my way from there.