- She really wanted to own a street vendor hot-dog stand in Portland, Oregon as a young bride but her husband voted against it.
- She has worked as a waitress at Crater Lake National Park dining room, a teacher of braille, a secretary, and a sales lady in a department store.
- She has twin sons who don’t look anything alike and are seven inches apart in height.
- She eats the whole bag of popcorn all by herself, big gulps at a time. Her husband despises the taste, smell, and site of this particular food.
- She’s driven across the United States and back three times.
- She has visited Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Norway, England, Ireland, Scotland, and Canada. The fjords in Norway were her favorite.
- Her maiden name is Vigen (sounds like the vegetable eater) and means little fjord. Now you know why she loves fjords.
- She has taught everything from second to eighth grade. She found sixth graders to be the strangest of all and that’s why she loved them the most.
- She has worked out whole sections of her books while riding her bicycle or cleaning the toilets. She recommends the first activity over the second any day.
- She wanted to be a writer since the second grade, but her high school guidance counselor told her she’d never make it as a writer. Sometimes you just have to go with your own instincts
