What was it like to be a teen-age girl growing up in the 60s? Amid political turbulence, social reforms and the Vietnam war, adolescence was challenging enough for a middle-class Wisconsin girl named Ann. Gifted with imagination and the desire to write, she used her diary as a coping mechanism on her path to womanhood. Stepping Forth is Ann (Schumacher) Ulrich Miller's memoir of those agonizing, self-conscious, embarrassing years of adolescence, when ... her brothers gets deployed to Vietnam ... a beloved grandmother dies ... first crushes begin to surface ... bad hair days in high school ... music and nature are her comfort zones ... long vacations with the family as a teen "with an attitude" ... hormones begin to erupt ... a teacher shows interest in her gifts ... her love for animals inspires her to strive for a career in veterinary medicine ... her fascination with the paranormal and some intriguing events that shape her future career as a novelist and the publisher of The Star Beacon and Wisp. Ann Ulrich Miller divulges her most intimate writings as she emerges into womanhood in small-town Monona, Wisconsin, with unforgettable tales of growing up in a family of six kids, her close childhood friendships, fleeting as well as "serious" loves, influential dreams, art and musical talent, an addiction to Nature and living things, with outspoken personal snippets on the political events of that time.