Case study: Idaho field biologist’s life story is a surefire nature fix
Dana Stewart Quinney’s autobiography Wildflower Girl: A Lifelong Journey Beyond the Trail highlights nature’s richness and magic.
Dana spent her 1950s childhood exploring Idaho’s Wood River Valley and went on to visit many wild paces around the world as a distinguished field biologist.
Her life story Wildflower Girl was published by Hidden Shelf Publishing House in 2020 and was named 2019 Idaho Library Association Book of the Year.
And Forever Young Autobiographies caught up with Dana recently to find out more about writing this adventurous read …
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Dana Stewart Quinney’s autobiography Wildflower Girl
A life of adventure
I grew up in Ketchum, Idaho, and learned to flyfish, ride and shoot.
Fascinated by the plants and animals of the mountains, I became an outdoor biologist, working in the Idaho high desert with special emphasis on small mammals and rare plants.
Also, I taught college students on field study expeditions to some of the wild places of the world.
And in 2011, I was the USA Army National Guard Conservationist of the Year.
In addition, I’ve been a scientific illustrator, a web designer, copy editor for a publishing company, a flyfishing guide, a golf-cart mechanic, a dog trainer, and a few other oddities.
Today I live in Idaho with my husband and shelties.
Why write a life story?
To me, everything is a story: how my grandpa came to shoot a murderer in 1909, what happens on the day of the spiders, how fireflies behave in the rainforest, how to bottle-raise baby pack rats, and what happened after the Collies ate the cement.
Indeed, I’ve written a bunch of scientific publications, plus the young adult Scavenger Series, the Little Demon Creek thriller Series, the dystopian romance The Ballad of Before, and Wildflower Girl.
However, I started Wildflower Girl because, at age 11, I began writing down my grandpa’s stories about growing up in the pioneer days of the old West, and found that I had some stories, too.
Certainly, everyone was and is very supportive of Wildflower Girl.
But I think several were surprised. For example, some didn’t know my horse had jumped me off a bridge.
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Writing and finishing Wildflower Girl
Getting started
Wildflower Girl began as a series of short autobiographical stories I sent to a family email group.
However, it was several years before I thought of compiling them and compositing them into a book.
Also, I am a bit phobic about meeting people I don’t know, so it was tough for me to make myself meet with a publisher.
Unearthing writing rewards
Firstly it was very rewarding giving a reading in the library of my home town.
Indeed, the library wasn’t there when I was small; that site was an empty lot full of sagebrush and wildflowers.
However, a group of women in our town organised a thrift store, begged for donations to that store (The Gold Mine), and made enough money in about five years to build our town’s first library.
I was in the eighth grade by then and they let us out of school early the day the library opened so we could get library cards.
I wasn’t a fast runner but I got Ketchum Community Library card No. 12!
A second reward was when Wildflower Girl was chosen as Idaho Book of the Year by the Idaho Library Association.
Finally, I love writing itself, which is a wonderful reward.
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Favourite part of Wildflower Girl?
Hard to say but one of my favorite stories in the book is The Anthology.
In 1957, the first librarian of our community library gave me a donated book too damaged to put on the shelves.
And it was a fat book called Anthology of Romanticism (the Romantic poets!).
I took it everywhere with me, and still have it.
Two years ago I reconnected with the librarian’s daughter when Wildflower Girl was on the presses.
And her mom, the kind librarian who gave me that tattered book, was dying.
So I sent the manuscript to the daughter so she could read it to her mom.
Her mom died a week later at the age of 95.
Indeed, I still have that anthology.
That book has ridden in saddlebags, backpacks, car trunks and as airplane cargo.
Certainly it has been all over the USA and to Peru, to Mexico, to arctic Alaska, and twice to Australia.
I still treasure it.
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Final say
Wildflower Girl: A Lifelong Journey Beyond the Trail by Dana Stewart Quinney is a walk on the wild side.
In short, this autobiography is a nostalgic journey of mystery, adventure and the magic of nature.
And you can find the book, plus others Dana has written, on Amazon.
Indeed, she is already considering a sequel recounting childhood encounters with Walt Disney, Lucille Ball and the Shah of Iran at the ski resort town of Sun Valley.
Happy writing!
Free gift!
Get started on a life story like Dana’s with Structure Success. This free video training shows you how to plan a rough chapter outline. Sign up here!
Your say
Does your life-story project feature wild childhood memories too? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Send me an email or leave a reply in the comments section at the end of this article.
Get in touch
Have you hit a roadblock planning, writing, polishing or finishing your life story? Let me know here so I can help!
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