Children's author finds inspiration through family

WORLAND - A project started nearly 18 years ago came to fruition at Christmas time for local author Diana Pickerel.

Pickerel, who moved to Worland in 1979, has resided in Worland since then, except for six years when she lived in Lovell to take care of her mother Evelyn Wittick.

Her first book, "My Caring Home," is about the Wittick family and how they overcome a tragic accident. She did note she did fabricate the name of the person who dies in the accident.

According to the synopsis on the back of the book, "After a tragic car accident takes place, the Wittick family takes a trip to their family home. Although their luck seems to have run out, they discover the secrets of the beloved home. The family fills with hope and confusion as they try to solve the mystery of the house together. While there, each family member experiences dreams that help them to mourn their loss as well as grow with one another."

Pickerel says the book is targeted for ages 8 to 12.

"I've always loved children's books and stories and movies, since I was a child. I've always wanted to write a book like that," Pickerel said.

She began writing "My Caring Home" about 16 to 18 years ago when her daughter Brandi was going to college in Montana and she was there watching her grandson, Cameron.

Pickerel said Brandy came home one day frantic because she needed to write a fiction story and she told Brandy it was easy.

"This just popped into my head and I started writing it. Cameron became the main character," she said. While her children's books are fiction, Pickerel said she is not creative when it comes to names so the names for her characters come from people she knows.

Pickerel, who is mother to four children - Jason, Joey, Brandy and Ashley, grandmother to eight and great-grandmother to five, said eventually all of her family will have a character named for them in one of her books.

"I came up with this to show her how easy it was to write a book. She did her own and I continued to tweak this one," Pickerel said.

She finished it while in Florida visiting Brandy last summer. Brandy proclaimed to her that it was sent – meaning she had sent it off to a publishing company.

Three days later she received a call from Legacy Book Publishing. The man said he wanted to publish her book because it had struck home with him. They visited, worked out a contract and on Dec. 24, Brandy brought a stack of books to her mother in Worland.

"I am not a confident person, I constantly second-guessing myself. Without the help and support of daughters Ashley and Brandy it likely would not have been published," Pickerel said.

Why the long time to write? Pickerel said she wrote a quarter of the book 18 years ago in Montana and would "tinker with it once in a blue moon." For six years while she lived in Lovell helping her mother she did not touch it. Then she moved back to Worland to help Ashley and her son Casyn.

"I've got four books, my fourth one isn't finished yet. When I go back this summer or fall I'm going to speak to the publisher, if this book does good, about one of the other books I've already written," Pickerel said.

She said when she would get bored with "My Caring Home" she would start another book. All four books are children's book.

Her book can be purchased through Legacy Book Publishing's website or by contacting Pickerel.

She said she may be doing some local appearances when the weather warms up, noting her daughter Ashley would like her to do an event at the Washakie County Library.

While Pickerel was still working at the time she started "My Caring Home" she is home now, on disability after being diagnosed with fibromyalgia.

She has worked at Worland Healthcare and Rehab, Big Horn Enterprises and Worland Gardens.

Pickerel said she has found that while writing books she can write and work at her own speed

"It's something I do when I can," she said.