In Which I Answer, "Why Did You Write Ashes to Water?"

I grew up on Lake Byron in DeLand, Florida. Both of my books are set there. My father was an avid weekend fisherman, and gave me my first tackle box when I was six. He is also a man who respects water, and because my sisters and I spent so much time in it, insisted we obey his rules of the lake. One of them was No Rolling the Canoe, but we did it anyway. Here's how it worked.
My sister and I paddled the canoe to the middle of the lake then tipped it just enough so it would fill with water. It...