It’s time for another Ten Things post, folks, and today, I’m very happy to have D. Wallace Peach with us. Diana is one of my favorite fantasy writers, and a friend & supporter of authors everywhere, and just wait until you check out this list!
Ten Things You May Not Know About Me
by D. Wallace Peach
- When I was a kid, my parents used to drop my younger brothers and me off in the Vermont woods with a topographical trail map. They’d pick us up four days later, twenty miles away. One time, raccoons got into our food, and all we had to eat for a day was one jar of jelly. We had no idea that this was, um, …unusual.
- I grew up with lots of animals, and I didn’t live on a farm. We had an average house in a normal neighborhood. At one time, we owned 8 dogs, 9 cats, 3 geese, 60 chickens, a parakeet, rabbit, 2 gerbils, and a slew of mice.
- When I was a teen, I watched the movie “Jaws” and was so freaked-out that I didn’t enter the ocean for 15 years. Woods and mountains, yes. Ocean, no way! Eventually, I decided to face my fears and become a scuba diver. I did two dives with sharks, getting close enough to touch them. Later, I became a master diver, deep diver, and rescue diver. I still love the sea and feel completely comfortable with its creatures.
- I was a theater major in college. When I graduated, I began auditioning for the stage. At age 23, I decided to marry and have a family, and I gave up my budding theater career.
- I was pregnant with my daughter for 10 months. Those were the days before doctors set limits on how long they’d let a pregnancy go. Finally, enough was enough, and they induced labor. She was completely over-cooked, and her dried-out skin peeled for a month!
- All through high school, I worked weekends at a diner, cooking breakfast. Then I’d go rock-climbing in the afternoons. The tallest cliff I scaled (twice) was High Exposure, 250 feet (76m) in the Shawangunk Mountains in New York.
- I completed high school in 3 years and college in 3 years.
- When I was in college in northern Vermont, I decided to snowshoe up to a cabin in the mountains. During a snowstorm. Alone. The snow was so deep that I lost the trail, and when it started getting dark, I considered making camp beneath a rock overhang. Fortunately, sanity kicked in with the cold, and I started down. I didn’t have a flashlight and hiked out by following my tracks with a candle cupped in my hands.
- A few of my books take place on tall ships. In order to make up for my lack of experience and bring some reality to the story, I booked a trip on a tall ship. I learned how to shoot a canon, and while the other passengers drank gallons of rum, I was a pure nerd, trailing after the crewmen with my notebook and asking endless questions.
- I’m not afraid of failure. I tend to jump into things without sufficient (or any) planning. For this reason, I do just about everything wrong the first time. But I learn a lot this way and usually am more successful the second (or third) time around. That failed snow-shoeing trip up the mountain? I made it to the cabin the next day.
Photo of another climber on “High Exposure.” See #6 Above)
Author D. Wallace Peach
A long-time reader, best-selling author D. Wallace Peach started writing later in life after the kids were grown and a move left her with hours to fill. Years of working in business surrendered to a full-time indulgence in the imaginative world of books, and when she started writing, she was instantly hooked.
In addition to fantasy books, Peach’s publishing career includes participation in various anthologies featuring short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. She’s an avid supporter of the arts in her local community, organizing and publishing annual anthologies of Oregon prose, poetry, and photography.
Peach lives in a log cabin amongst the tall evergreens and emerald moss of Oregon’s rainforest with her husband, two owls, a horde of bats, and the occasional family of coyotes.
BOOKS BY D. WALLACE PEACH
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