Gertie

I Elizabeth Arkward newton, was born June 7, 1946, to the Lake Clarence Arkward and Marie Hunter Arkward, I am the youngest of the eight children four boys and four girls.

I graduated from a Catholic High School in 1964, Saint Francis de Sale in Palatine, Virginia. I was taught by the sisters of the blessed sacrament. It was a private school and I lived on campus with girls from most states in the United States and from other countries around the world, such as Japan, Aruba, Canada, and Cuba.

I never dreamed that I would become an author of children's stories. However, my inspiration for writing children's stories came from my grandchildren, they would make little statements, and tell little lies, so decided to put their actions and words into a book, it was so easy to write about them because they were always talking to me. I always listen to them and add into their conversation.

I trust that they will read my books to their children, listen to their children, and someday become authors themselves. I grew up in a family without a television or any other electronic equipment, we listen to the radio and use our imagination, therefore it is easy for me to use my imagination to make up stories based on facts and fiction, if I have my grandchildren to inspire me, I will continue to write children's stories.