| So who is Jackie French Koller anyway? |
Hi! Thanks for visiting my web page. It still amazes me that I'm actually a published
author and that people like you care enough to stop by and visit me. But I'm so glad
you did! So what can I tell you about myself? Well, I'm not much different than anyone
else you might pass on the street, except that I love to write. Unlike a lot of writers,
though, I didn't know I wanted to be a writer when I was a child. I didn't know I could be
a writer. I thought only rich and famous people got cool jobs like that. But looking back I
can see that I was always a storyteller. When I was very young, I loved dreaming up
story ideas for my friends and I to act out. In the sixth grade I remember spinning tales
on the playground to amuse my classmates. I actually even wrote a novel that year.
Chapter by chapter I brought it in and passed it around, and my friends devoured it like
episodes of a soap opera. Sadly, I threw it away when I reached my teens, thinking it
childish and embarrassing. Later, while in college at the University of Connecticut, I
worked summers on a factory assembly line. To relieve the boredom of that job I made
a game of making up stories. My co-workers would give me a character or situation and
I'd be off and running.
author and that people like you care enough to stop by and visit me. But I'm so glad
you did! So what can I tell you about myself? Well, I'm not much different than anyone
else you might pass on the street, except that I love to write. Unlike a lot of writers,
though, I didn't know I wanted to be a writer when I was a child. I didn't know I could be
a writer. I thought only rich and famous people got cool jobs like that. But looking back I
can see that I was always a storyteller. When I was very young, I loved dreaming up
story ideas for my friends and I to act out. In the sixth grade I remember spinning tales
on the playground to amuse my classmates. I actually even wrote a novel that year.
Chapter by chapter I brought it in and passed it around, and my friends devoured it like
episodes of a soap opera. Sadly, I threw it away when I reached my teens, thinking it
childish and embarrassing. Later, while in college at the University of Connecticut, I
worked summers on a factory assembly line. To relieve the boredom of that job I made
a game of making up stories. My co-workers would give me a character or situation and
I'd be off and running.
In addition to loving stories, I've always loved children. I was the one grown-ups adored
at family picnics - the one with my arms full of babies, and a little trail of toddlers
everywhere I went. It wasn't until after I graduated from college, though (in 1970), got
married, and had my first child, that my love of children and storytelling naturally flowed
together and I began my first feeble attempts at writing stories for her. Two sons
followed, and a lot more feeble attempts. Then, when my third child graduated from
diapers, my husband gave me a brand new electric typewriter and I began to pursue in
earnest by dream of being a children's book writer.
at family picnics - the one with my arms full of babies, and a little trail of toddlers
everywhere I went. It wasn't until after I graduated from college, though (in 1970), got
married, and had my first child, that my love of children and storytelling naturally flowed
together and I began my first feeble attempts at writing stories for her. Two sons
followed, and a lot more feeble attempts. Then, when my third child graduated from
diapers, my husband gave me a brand new electric typewriter and I began to pursue in
earnest by dream of being a children's book writer.
Three years later, in 1986, my first children's story was published in an anthology. It
was a beginning, but it would be two more long years of hard work before my first book
would be accepted. That book, IMPY FOR ALWAYS, came out in 1989. Over thirty have
followed. Sometimes I still have to pinch myself, but I guess I really am an author at last.
was a beginning, but it would be two more long years of hard work before my first book
would be accepted. That book, IMPY FOR ALWAYS, came out in 1989. Over thirty have
followed. Sometimes I still have to pinch myself, but I guess I really am an author at last.
These days I live in quaint, historic, Harvard Massachusetts with my husband and our
black Labrador retriever, Tess. When I'm not writing, I enjoy painting, reading, hiking,
making gingerbread houses, and most of all, playing with my six adorable grandchildren!
black Labrador retriever, Tess. When I'm not writing, I enjoy painting, reading, hiking,
making gingerbread houses, and most of all, playing with my six adorable grandchildren!
PS: For those of you who need to know, I was born in 1948. :)
| jfk@blackdoggallery.com |