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Dragonflies, Drago=
nfly
Ponds and How Kathy Biggs Fell
into the Clutches of Odonata and Became an Author
Well, it all got started when I read an article that said you could chan=
ge
your swimming pool into a garden pond. I was tired of throwing chemicals in=
to
the pool and taking leaves out. So, we took down the above ground walls of =
our
pool and built a garden pond. It sits in the hole that was left where the d=
eep
end of the swimming pool had been. We did this in May of 1996. Little did I
know that I was doing everything just right for the
[pond picture?] [Flame Skimmer image?]
We hadn't had the pond there but a day or two when a gorgeous big red
dragonfly arrived. My 12 yr old niece had come to help us complete the pond=
. At
first she was afraid of him, but I took her by the hand and the dragonfly l=
et
us get so close that we could see his abdomen expanding and contracting with
his breathing. We were completely taken in by his gorgeous eyes and his gen=
eral
beauty and he became our pond mascot. That's really how it all got started,
with that Flame Skimmer’s (Li=
bellula
saturata) arrival.
When other dragonflies began coming to the pond, I really couldn’t
help but pay attention. I had been a birder, so it was only natural for me =
to
want to identify and list them. I opened my
I thought, "I'll go to the library and find out more!" But the=
re
weren't any guides to dragonflies there. I went to bookstores, but there
weren't any dragonfly guides there either.
I finally started to find my answers on the Internet (it was a teneral
then!!): Ron Lyons had compile=
d and
published on-line a list of the dragonfly species that occurred in
[Neon Skimmer scan=
?]
So, by 1998, we were searching in the mountains for species that don't o=
ccur
in the valleys, and in the desert we saw other species. There were some that
were more eastern and some that were more western in their distribution. We
went to all those places and discovered so much. My husband and I were both
having a blast. It was so much fun.
In
the summers we chased the dragonflies all over and during the winters I stu=
died
about them. I learned so much (“learning keeps you young”). Soo=
n I
started attending the “Fourth of July Butterfly Counts” and oth=
er
such events as a way to get into more waterways. Folks would see me with my
Ode-guide binder and I started getting requests to make copies of it. But I
couldn’t do that as the images in it weren’t taken by us.
Now, I realized that others wanted to learn about the dragonflies too. So
just before our youngest son went off to college, I had him show me how to
create a simple web site. I was a teacher and it was just natural for me to
want to share the knowledge I was gaining. I began by creating a Web site f=
or
the Dragonflies of California and that's pretty much all I did that winter.
Little did I know it would take over my life and that I would become an aut=
hor!
I began the Web site by adding common names to the list of scientific na=
mes
that Ron Lyons had compiled. T=
hese
names didn't even exist before November of '96.
Our far-sighted group, the DSA (Dragonfly Society of the
[Exclamation Damsel image?]
A least
one name the committee chose was misleading though. The
I
kept working on the website and it grew and grew. Every time my friends wou=
ld
call or stop by, that’s what they’d find me doing. Soon, teasin=
gly,
they asked, “When will it be a book?” Well, that put the idea in my mind=
, and
come the winter of 1998, when Ode withdrawal began, I found that working on=
a
guide was just the tonic I needed.
The
first version of my Common Dragonfl=
ies of
California was only 77 pages long and totally made on our home computer=
and
printer. I think I sold 45 copies to folks thru the website who’d ask=
ed
for it. Dennis Paulson was kind
enough to do the scientific review of it for me, and cautioned me not to be
discouraged when I saw all his red ink on the review. That winter I looked =
for
a publisher, but didn’t find one
[cover of 1st pri=
nting
guide?]
In
1999 Dave and I formed our own publishing company: Azalea Creek Publishing =
(the
name of the creek at the back of our property). I felt I knew what a beginn=
er
needed and expanded the book to 96 pages while still keeping it pocket-size=
d. Bob Behrstock had become an eFriend, and he contacted=
me
about coming to
Later,
Bob asked me what was my “totem” ode? I had to think about it, but soon realized=
that
it was that very first species that I identified on my own, the Exclamation
Damsel. And you may have noticed that I always use two !!, not just one!!
I
became quite busy scanning slides for the book. I had to go to nearby
But,
how was I to know how many copies to make? I met with the owner of the local
bookstore, showed him my mock-up copy and asked him to predict how many cop=
ies
he thought he could sell in a year. Then I multiplied that # by the 58 coun=
ties
in
We
took $$ for the printing out of our savings account and crossed our fingers.
Well, the rest is history. We sold those first 5000 copies the first year a=
nd
we’ve now sold over 17,000 copies of that little guide, its 2nd<=
/sup>
edition and the expanded SW edition, plus we’ve published a Dragonfly
Coloring Book (with art by Tim Man=
olis),
a Greater Southwest Guide and we’ve even published a few books by oth=
ers
that weren’t even Ode-related. BTW: My 1st guide turned ou=
t to
be the 2nd best selling non-fiction book for the local bookstore
that first year!!
Now
I travel around not only chasing dragonflies but also giving programs and
workshops about them. It’s been a wild ride and <=
span
class=3Dgrame>I’m still just loving it!! See you at the=
next
DSA meeting!?