Artist takes up writing books at 78

FALLBROOK – The saying, "better late than never," is very apropos for Renee Barnes. Deciding she had heard enough requests for stories to accompany her art, she started to write her stories at the tender age of 78. She laughingly refers to her writing as self-defense. In the last two years, she has written, illustrated and published five books in her series of 10, "Tales from the Evergreen Wood."

This series is about a little green frog with a bright yellow hat who, along with her close companions, Winslow the owl, Kopan an energetic wood fairy and Montebello a giant mushroom seeks to help all...