Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Mike Farris:
John, the last time we visited, we talked about the impact your mother’s storytelling has had on you as an author. But you didn’t set out to start to write folksy stories about a dog. Would you tell our listeners how you ended up finding the stories that you now write?

John Erickson:
You know, when I started writing, I was a college student. And the only model I knew about was kind of an intellectual approach, a literary approach. And I tried that for a number of years—15 years. And I was just a failure at being a sophisticated, literary-type person.

So I started writing stories about where I was and what I was doing. I was working as a ranch cowboy, and I started imitating the storytelling techniques that my mother had used when I was a little boy and the ranch people still use to this day, because they had an oral tradition of storytelling. And that is when I wrote the first Hank the Cowdog story, and that’s when my writing started to shine.

Mike:
So what would you say to aspiring young writers when they ask you where do they look for stories?

John:
I would say, write what you know and love, leave the reader better than he was before, and don’t write anything that would shame your mother.

Mike:
Those are great pieces of advice. Thanks so much! I’m Mike Farris.