Growing Up On Prairie Farms

Novelist Laurence Durrell once said, “It takes a lot of energy and a lot of neurosis to write a novel. If you were really sensible, you’d do something else.”

He was right and it’s why I’m so admiring of an acquaintance of mine, Phyllis Pahl Mitchell. With the help of my friend and author, Joan Tornow, Phyllis compiled stories she’d written about growing up in Nebraska in the 1920’s and 30’s. Her paperback book, Growing Up On Prairie Farms – A Rough and Tumble Childhood is now available on Amazon.

You can get a sneak peek at the stories and see this photo of Phyllis on the back cover. Phyllis, also an accomplished artist, created the artwork. At 93 years young, you can definitely see the likeness to her father in the beautiful water color. I was privileged to have taken the photo for the book cover and the other photo of Phyllis and Joan.

The compilation of stories in her book was written over a number of years while Phyllis was a student in Joan’s memoir writing class. She was encouraged to create a book, but it wasn’t until this fall, with Joan’s editing and design skills, that Phyllis’ dream became a reality.

Phyllis’ first person account of life on the farm, attending a rural one-room school and eventually teaching in a rural school herself shows similarities to characters in my novel, Cat Skinner: A Story of Lust, Love and Loss in the 1930’s. It also shows stark contrasts. Phyllis' loving parents provided guidance and support, while my father, Webb, was tossed out of his home, not once but twice by his parents, before he was fifteen.

While world events and environmental changes were the same for these families, the experience of the children was indeed very different.

My hat is off to Phyllis and Joan and anyone else who writes their first book. If we were sensible… But we’re not.