My earliest memories are of hunting camps, eating food cooked over a campfire or a Coleman, and sleeping on cots in canvas tents.
Our first home in Montana was a cabin my father built from logs in the Gallatin Canyon on the side of a mountain. I grew up climbing rocks and trees, wading in creeks, catching fish with my hands and daydreaming.
I made up stories from a very young age – often involving cowboys since I was born in Texas and grew up in the Wild West. It was wild back then and all my heroes were Davey Crocketts and Daniel Boons. On vacations we often went to Virginia City, rode in stagecoaches and visited the tombstones of outlaws.
We never lived in town even when we lived closer to civilization. I learned to ice skate, sled, build snowmen, fish and hunt. I learned to shoot.
My father was a contractor so I also grew up around tools and learned to build things. I can make mortar, plane wood, hammer a nail.
I worked my way through college painting houses. Some of the jobs required that I take the boat to work when I lived on Hebgen Lake. I learned to waterski before I learned to swim.
There was a time that I wished I lived like other people. I had cousins in Texas who lived in the suburbs, had sidewalks, rode their bikes and rollerbladed on paved streets, and walked to school. I always rode a bus and in high school that bus trip was 120 miles round trip each day from West Yellowstone, Montana to Ashton, Idaho. While seeing the Tetons was a highlight every weekday, in the winter there was a good half inch of ice on the inside of the bus windows.
I’m glad now that I had the childhood I did. It feeds the stories. I write about the Montana I know, the people, the places, the hardships, the isolation, the storms.
As writers we draw on all of it. So much of who we are ends up in our books. I am my heroes and heroines as well as my villains.
Today I live in a small Montana town where if you drive a half mile out of town, you might not see another soul for miles and miles. In the winter, the roads often close, in the spring some of the roads are impassible because the dirt
turns to “gumbo.”
Life isn’t easy in a lot of Montana. Just last week, it was 40 below zero with a chill factor of minus 55 because of the wind. The wind blew the snow over the road, glazing it and making driving dangerous. There were times when we went to get our Christmas tree in the Little Rockies that we could see nothing but a white wall ahead.
This is where I live. So I write what I know.
USA Today Bestselling author B.J. Daniels lives in Montana with her husband, Parker, and three Springer Spaniels, Spot, Jem and Ace. She writes for both Harlequin Intrigue and HQN. When she isn’t writing, she snowboards, waterskis, camps, fishes, quilts and plays tennis.
Sounds like you had a wonderful childhood. You learned aspects about nature at a young age that many never learn. I wouldn’t mind being snowed in until spring, but those temperatures sounds scary. It sounds like your vivid imagination coupled with your varied life experiences have benefited you in your storytelling. What better to write about than something you know and have experienced.
Merry Christmas
Katrina, thank you. I feel really fortunate that I’ve had some great experiences! It definitely gives me something to draw on when I write. 🙂
Have a wonderful holiday. I hope the new year is very good to you.
Thanks for stopping by,
BJ
I lived on a farm just a few miles from town, nbut many times we were very isolated. Way back in the olden days (60s&70s) 🙂 it wasn’t that easy to get around. And we hardly ever went to the city which was about 25-30 miles away. We played in the woods all the time. But I have to say, I’m glad I didn’t have YOUR bus trip!! Tho’ on occasion we did get some nasty wind chills. Anyway. I can identify in some ways with the hardships you write about too.
Hi Pen, you sound like you had a childhood a lot like mine. We used to make forts in the trees all the time.
It was isolated, but I think that’s probably why I ended up writing. I had to make up stories. 🙂
Sounds like you survived it just fine huh.
Very eye-opening! My girls will grow up learning how to troubleshoot the printer and how apply a protective cover to an itouch without leaving air bubbles. Scares me a bit.
I was lucky that my dad was determined to raise me like he did my brother. I grew up hunting, fishing, working in our family business. We raised and trained horses together, on the side. He also taught me a love of books and reading and nurtured my imagination. While we lived on the edge of cities (Colorado Springs) or in small towns (Oklahoma), he gave me the skills to survive in the “wild.”
B.J., I love that you write what you know. You’re books have “hands-on” realism that this country girl appreciates!
LOL Kendra. My daughter didn’t have as much freedom growing up. We spent a lot of time camping at the lake. We skied and snowboarded and windsurfed.
But you do wonder about kids growing up now what their environment is teaching them.
Troubleshooting the printer etc are definitely things they will need to know. 🙂
Thanks Silver! My dad was the same way. He wanted me to be able to compete in the changing world he saw. I’m thankful I had so much freedom and such contact with my environment.
My daughter was saying the other day that she thought she could survive in the wild. I think she’s right. She spent a lot of time outdoors growing up.
“hands-on” realism? Thank you that is great to hear.
B.J., it sounds like you have a lot of fascinating experiences to draw from for the books! (And I love the pictures!)
Also, 120 miles a day to go to school? That’s dedication to learning! 🙂
Thanks Elizabeth, it was a fun childhood. But don’t you think we all draw on our life to this point? We just have different experiences.
Sounds like an amazing childhood! The experiences you had make your books very real and authentic. 🙂
It was fun Erin. Those experiences definitely end up in my books. 🙂
I love this blog! I’ve written two books set in Montana, but I was only able to do it because my husband went to college in Bozeman and he helped with a lot of setting and other questions.
Sometimes, I wish I could move out to the middle of nowhere and just let the kids go and have fun. I fear, however, they’d be such suburbanites, they wouldn’t know what to do with wide open spaces.
LOL Allison. I love that your husband went to MSU too. 🙂
Your kids would figure it out. 🙂