By Brenda Erdahl
One of 12 children growing up in rural Maple Lake in the 1960s, Elaine (Ottenstoer) Wiegand learned at a young age the value of hard work. She held her first job at 10 years old babysitting for local families. That’s when she realized she had a knack for storytelling.
“I used to like to make up stories for the kids I used to babysit for, to entertain them, especially if I had littler ones” she said, “I don’t know, then I just started writing.”
She favored short stories and never, ever showed anyone her work. Then one day, one of her short stories began to grow into something else, something bigger.