THE BEGINNING

My writing career began in fifth grade. I entered a poem into a class contest. It devastated me when it didn’t even place. My teacher, Mr. Armstrong, took me aside and told me that my writing was good. He said I just needed more time to develop my skills. 

Along with writing, I always loved to draw. I took every art class I could at school and during summer programs. I also took some classes at junior college when I graduated from High School. My dreams of going to art school never came to fruition, but I entered some of my paintings into competitions. I won a small amount of recognition and awards. I did paintings for people as a side job.

I continued throughout the years to write poetry and short stories. After trying to publish in my early twenties, and being turned down many times, I sort of gave up. 

Life kicked in and I ended up attending the “school of hard knocks”. I graduated with honors in various professions. I embarked on several entrepreneurial endeavors over my lifetime. Some good, some not so good. Whatever the outcome, I always had persistence and tried to do my best. My crowning achievement was becoming a Mom and a wife of over 30 years (still married to him!).

THE CHANGE

After closing our family Party Store in 2016, my husband and I decided to semi-retire. We now work from home part time. In this new occupation path, I went back to my writing. I had so many ideas scribbled in my notebooks and wanted to pursue what I left behind so many years ago. I took some online courses at the University of North Texas to tune up my talents. Boy, was I rusty! I learned so much from my professor,Steve Alcorn, and got excited about building and sharing my stories.

I was inspired to write my first book of the planned five book series, “Pepper the Magic Tortie Cat-The Golden Key”, by my fond memories of our tortoise-shell kitten, Pepper, and my experiences of raising two beautiful children. My love of drawing helped me decide to do my own illustrations. My style is simple, and to the point. I am learning Photoshop so I can fine tune my art skills to share with my readers. The writing and publishing process was another huge challenge, but I got through it with an amazing book and other resources from Eevi Jones. 

The second in the Pepper series is “The Friendship Tree”. It takes on the issues of bullying, something I am well versed in. My desire in this work is to let every child know they are perfect, just as they are! I am looking forward to expanding this series of books. There are so many emotional mountains to be covered through Celeste and Elena. Experiences and confrontations, I trust, will convey a positive message to the children that read them and help them cope with their own life challenges.

In 2021, I was blessed with another writer’s quandary. After a visit with my 93-year-old Uncle I came home with many hours of recordings about his life growing up in German occupied Poland during World War II. I knew a little about my family heritage, but never had real details until that trip. The outcome was my first historical fiction novel, “Powerless in Poland”. I fell in love with the mechanics of researching! So much so that I am attempting another historical fiction story. This time using my Aunt’s young life as a Latvian Refugee in post World War II Germany.  

During the beginning stages of my writing processes, I had a bizarre dream about someone they called “Grandma Moses”. She was driving a hopped-up car, and I was asking for directions. After some research into the woman, I learned that she, in fact, existed and was a famous painter who started her career at 78. She painted almost till the day she died at age 101! I pray that this new career of mine will last as long as hers! I look forward to sharing my stories with all of you.

“Nothing can be sweeter than the discovery that we each have a unique and important spiritual purpose and identity. It gives meaning to  everything,”

Author–Illustrator–Dreamer–among other things

June Triana-Schiada