andimichelson.com
About Me
SHORT BIO
Andi Michelson is a children’s author. In addition to numerous nonfiction articles published in kids' magazines, Andi has written a chapter book and a middle-grade workbook. Through her picture books and chapter books, she explores nature, farm life, and relationships.
When she’s not writing or teaching children and adults in her piano studio, Andi can usually be found chasing chickens, walking in the woods with her goats, or getting dirt under her fingernails in the garden. She lives in Northeast Ohio with her husband and various farm animals.
LONG BIO
I grew up in Ohio with my parents and three younger siblings. Since my dad was a pastor, we moved a lot; I lived in four different places by the time I graduated from high school. Well, five, if you count the semester I lived in California as an exchange student my senior year.
My parents believed in letting us try lots of things growing up, so that included piano and cornet lessons (I was pretty good on both), band and choir, church youth group, drama class, plays at the local community theater, Girl Scouts (couldn’t stand it), gymnastics (couldn’t even do a cartwheel!), swimming lessons (uh, never really learned to swim), and church camp (loved it!). Plus lots of time riding bikes and playing with my neighborhood friends.
I got pretty good grades in school, especially in language arts (loved diagramming sentences, would actually read books while walking to school, got to represent my school in the regional spelling bee twice).
After high school I got married and loved raising my four daughters. I really embraced the natural lifestyle: organic gardening, cooking from scratch, starting a food co-op, homeschooling my kids. I was so thankful to be a stay-at-home mom for those years. During that time, I began teaching a few piano lessons on the side.
In my mid-thirties, I went to college and got a degree in Occupational Therapy Assisting. I worked with kids who had developmental disabilities and later with older folks in a nursing home who had had surgeries, strokes or dementia.
Around this time I met and married my second husband. (We actually met in 4th grade…but that’s a different story!) He is my great encourager and partner in life. In marrying Chris, I also gained three step-kids. Now all seven of our kids are adults and have added a total of 15 grandkids to our family!
My piano studio also grew—at one point to 50 students!—but I have found 20-25 students is the sweet spot. I have been teaching now for 35 years.
All this time, I got ideas for stories. They popped into my head while I cooked dinner. They wiggled into my brain in the middle of the night. They flitted across my thoughts when I heard someone say something at the grocery store. Sometimes I wrote the stories; sometimes I just scribbled the ideas down in a random notebook. But ALWAYS I wanted to be a writer. Now it’s time.
Favorite teachers:
Mrs. Martha Harris, my second-grade teacher, was so kind to me when my family moved to a new city near the end of that school year. I was heartbroken to have to leave my friends. Mrs. Harris sent me several cards and gifts after we moved. I still have the book Paddington Goes to Town that she sent to me.
That's me in the green flowered dress, standing next to Mrs. Harris.
Michael Vahila was my guitar teacher when I started lessons at the age of 27. Back when I was in high school, I had heard a beautiful piece at a classical guitar concert. I never knew the name of it, but the melody haunted me for years. When I heard it again years later, I knew I had to study classical guitar and try to learn to play it! I found Michael. He did, indeed, help me to learn the first section and, oddly enough, launched me on my career path as a piano teacher. He truly changed my life because he convinced me that I could accomplish things I had never dreamed of. (By the way, the piece is known as Spanish Romance and is attributed to Fernando Sor, 1778-1839. Here is a beautiful rendition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyyBQ5f_JVM)