Once Upon A Time... In a land far, far away.... The grass shimmered with a hint of blue in the countryside of a little town in Kentucky. Horses and mules whinnied and munched on oats and molasses, hay and licked the salt block. Amidst the quiet clucking of chickens as they pecked the ground and the breeze caressing her, a young redheaded girl curried the mane of her favorite horse. The massive creature was almost solid black with a white star on her forehead. Midnight Lady, the girl had named the horse. The sky was pale blue with soft white clouds like pillows, wisping across and the young girl had not a care in the world. All she cared was that she was with her horse, whispering a fairytale in the horse's ear, of riding off into the sunset someday. Her ideas were simple. She dreamed of having a home and a husband, children, pets and horses. She also dreamed of being a writer. It filled up her lazy summer afternoons, thinking of stories that she could write that might be interesting enough to be published or read by others. She read a lot but she also daydreamed about how wonderful her future would be if she could just have all those elusive things she imagined would make her happy. Now grown, she has the husband, the children, a pet, no horses of her own, but she can look out the window down behind her house in the country and see the neighbors horses. And as for writing, well, she's still working on that. Still thinking up stories, still daydreaming it into reality...still chasing that elusive butterfly of her heart. ~~~ Major influences have been my fellow authors, though my favorite authors don't always write in my chosen genre.