About Carol Danaher, Author

How I got started writing children's books:

My creative brain is on fire when I am out-of-doors. Bike riding in the hills near my home, backpacking in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and most of all when I am on a pack trip riding in the Wyoming wilderness. My stories are born in the wild. They recount true events that are unique to the rugged setting and to the animals that accompany us.

I traveled through two careers before I landed as a children’s writer. I didn‘t plan to land there, but I had no choice. I remember clearly the day my brain made that decision for me. I was many days into a family pack trip in Wyoming’s Absaroka Wilderness riding Lola, a big Andalusian mare. The trail was wide and easy which freed my mind from the intense focus required on difficult trails. With a relaxed open mind, action-packed, funny and emotional playbacks of the animals’ behaviors coalesced into short stories. Many trips later, as my mind continued to fill, The True Wyoming Adventures of Teddy and Friends came to life.

I was born into an adventuresome family:

I married an adventuresome man, and raised our children to love and respect the out-of-doors. They are both great adventurers and raising the next generation to be as well. 

My sister, Chris, horse-crazy since she was 2 years old, made the wise decision to marry Rusty, a cowboy. Their family includes a daughter and her family, horses, mules, cows and dogs. Every summer, for more than 20 years, I accompany them on them on their 15-day family pack trip. Chris and Rusty are the main human characters in my books. 

What drives me: 

I am motivated by my desire to share my wilderness adventures with children, hoping, of course, that they too will seek and love the out-of-doors someday. My young readers will see a bit of themselves in the determination, pride, worry, and naughtiness of Teddy.