I moved to Greer, South Carolina, in the middle of fifth grade – in the fall/winter of ’65. Before that, we lived in Rutherford County – Gilkey.

If you head down 220 toward Marion, through Rutherfordton, a few miles out there’s a big lumberyard on the right – Parton’s Lumber Yard. My grandmother was a Parton. That yard is in Into the Night Woods.

I was raised right there in Gilkey. Both sets of grandparents and all my cousins lived within yards or miles of each other. I grew up with a strong sense of family and community. There was one school – Gilkey Elementary – first through eighth grade.

In Into the Night Woods, the school setting is drawn from that place. Church was a big part of my life growing up, and even though, as an adult, I’m sometimes skeptical of organized religion, I consider myself a very spiritual person.