All About Me

Howdy! It's me, Jane.

Let's talk Pride and Prejudice. Between Jane and Elizabeth Bennett, I'll let you guess which was my favorite, but not just because we share a name. People say Jane was the weaker of the two sisters, but I'll be honest--Jane's good-natured character made her the stronger, in my eyes. Elizabeth said of her, "You never see a fault in anybody. All the world are good and agreeable in your eyes. I never heard you speak ill of a human being in your life." Elizabeth had good qualities too, but given a choice between the two sisters, I want to be more like Jane.

Let me tell you about a couple of my Beckstead ancestors, strong women whose example made me want to be better and to write strong female characters.

One of my great-great-great Grandmother Becksteads crossed America in a wagon train at the age of eighteen, bore fifteen children, and raised sheep while living in a cave during the summers. She adopted a neighbor's child as well as a Paiute boy and raised both as her own. She could barely read or write, and it was said of her that she feared nothing.

Another Beckstead grandmother crossed America in a wagon train at age ten. She lived in a fourteen foot square dugout in the side of a riverbank along with her passel of siblings. She married an Englishman with a giant mustache (I've seen pictures), and bore 13 children, four of whom died before reaching adulthood. Her obituary says of her that she was a kind mother and a faithful wife. I like to think I write in memory of my Beckstead grandmothers--and all the amazing women in my life.

I also enjoy writing stories sprinkled with a liberal dusting of magic.

For years I've been jotting down tales of every sort, and the people who know me best say it's about time I put some of my stories out into the world. So here you go, world.

My first masterpiece, titled “The Biggest Pumpkin in the World,” was written in crayon shortly after I learned how to make words into sentences, and is my greatest literary work to date. It is, unfortunately, not in print.