Name: D.F. Oliveria
First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: In high school, I enjoyed the attention and influence that I had as a student journalist working for the school’s newspaper. Ditto for community college and the four-year college I attended afterward.
Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: Gridley Union High School Bulldog student newspaper and an occasional sports story in my small-town weekly newspaper.
What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? Hands-on experience on my student high school newspaper, typing class, and part-time job working for the daily newspaper while I attended upperclassmen journalism classes at Chico State (Calif.) University.
Who influenced you most along your way and how? The late S.F. Chronicle columnist Herb Caen. I patterned my Huckleberries print column after his three-dot approach to column writing and eventually won the national Herb Caen Memorial Tid-Bits Column Award from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists
Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: The eulogy that I penned for my still-born daughter Amanda in 1984, which I share with church friends, families and others who face a similar situation
Your publications or venues for writing: Online blogging (Huckleberries Online) and Spokesman-Review
Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: Read good writing over a broad spectrum, work on the school newspaper or a newspaper-sponsored section like the SR’s “Vox Box.” Also, it wouldn’t hurt to learn about blogging and opportunities to write online.
