Name: Billie Jean Plaster
First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: At age 10, I gave up watching TV - but not by choice. We moved to a home without electricity (or running water). I had always been a reader, but then I started reading voraciously, and I started writing short stories and poems. It was about this time that I knew what I wanted to do when I grew up.
Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: I signed up for journalism class as a junior and started writing “news briefs” for the Cedar Post, the high school’s weekly newspaper. At one point, I got up the courage to interview Mark Plaster, a popular jock in the school, about a project in Mr. Marker’s history class. That resulted in one of my first published news briefs. That occasion may have been the only time I talked to Mark during our high school career. A shy wallflower type, I carried on my secret crush. Later that year, I wrote my first real feature story, about a local disc jockey, Larry Pearson, who did the morning show on KPND at the time. Much later, about eight years, I married Mark Plaster. Was it a simple twist of fate?
What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? My education under Mr. Bob Hamilton and working on the Cedar Post for two years was probably a better education than four and a half years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I “double-majored” in journalism.
Who influenced you most along your way and how? Bob Hamilton; see answers above.
Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: Not sure.
Your publications or venues for writing: Sandpoint Magazine, The River Journal, Ruralite magazine
Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: If you want to be a writer, use every opportunity you can find to write. Try to write every day, if possible, maybe even keeping a handwritten journal or a maintaining a blog. And read a lot.
