People often ask where I get my inspiration for the small-town feel in my books.
While Juniper Valley is fictional, many of its heartbeats come from real places. One of those places is the town where we raised our kids: Pleasant Grove, Utah.
A place where privacy is mostly a myth. Not because people are nosy (okay, sometimes because people are nosy).
But mostly because everyone knows everyone. Your mom knows your teacher. Your teacher knows your grandparents. Your grandparents were the grand marshalls in the Strawberry Days Parade.
It’s hard to reinvent yourself in a small town because there is always someone around who remembers when you permed your hair and the vice principal called you a poodle.
Not that I’m speaking from experience…
Growing up in a small town means growing up alongside the same people year after year. We sat together in classrooms, played on the same sports teams, attended the same church activities, and showed up at the same community events.
By high school, everyone knew everyone else’s siblings, cousins, and embarrassing stories. Despite knowing far too much about each other, people still fell in love.
They married their high school sweethearts, left for college, missions, jobs, or adventures and then eventually found their way back home.
Because small towns have a strange gravitational pull.
You spend your teenage years convinced you’ll escape forever.
Then one day you find yourself driving past familiar streets thinking, “Maybe staying wasn’t such a bad idea after all.”
Where did you grow up?
No comments:
Post a Comment