We had snow in western Oregon last week and it’s still melting around here. It was utterly lovely and created such a hushed, soft world. And I enjoy few things more than watching heavy snow tumble from the sky. Talk about a magic show.

I want to call your attention to a fascinating autobiography piece written by Laurie King, the creator of the  rollicking, and well-researched Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series. Holmes is a retired detective and beekeeper in Sussex Downs when readers first meet him in The Beekeepers Apprentice. It’s the first year of the Great War and Holmes recognizes a kindred spirit and a great intellect in the newly-orphaned Mary. She’s a mere fifteen in the introductory adventure and mystery, and after reading this piece I’m aware of how much of herself King endowed Mary with. And, as I’ve always known,  how bookworms, as we used to be called, are my kindred spirits.

Years ago I studied the first six or seven books in the series and learned so much about how to create living people on the page along with other techniques. And have since passed on this knowledge to my clients and students over the years. Here she talks about her childhood and states, “I am a writer because I love and have been nurtured by books.” I paused at that phrase ‘nurtured by books’ because it describes my heartfelt appreciation for all that books have given me. I’m sure you feel the same.

And her description of the Santa Cruz Public Library reminds me of the atmosphere in the Carnegie library in my home town in northern Wisconsin. She writes, “The Santa Cruz Public library was a tall, dark-shingled Aladdin’s cave of riches which I remember draped with vines though I  suspect later imagination might have provided that decoration.” I paused on that sentence because I recall ivy vines on the red brick building of my childhood. I might call my cousin to verify.  But I digress.

She goes on to write about the pleasures of “looking up during a signing and seeing myself in the back row.  The book, which begins when the heroine is fifteen years old, yet easily capable of meeting the great Sherlock Holmes as an equal, is the story I wished I’d had when I was twelve or fourteen. Fantasy, affirmation, a hint of romance, a dash of adventure: along with those shy girls in the back row, I am Mary Russell. Or, I was at that age in my mind.

In truth, I was socially inept, physically awkward, excruciatingly shy, and always an outsider.”

I cannot recommend this revealing and delightful  autobiography enough. And I’ll bet you  just might relate to this sentence, “It’s extraordinary in life how often ideas or  teacher reach out and grab a person.” It happened to me too. But do read this piece in its entirety which  includes how she came to writing.

In summary: study author’s techniques, read their biographies, autobiographies, and articles about writing, attend writer’s conferences where you can meet them, or join their online classes. In the case of King, there are a number of You Tube videos where she teaches storytelling. She will astound you.

Be well. Fight for the truth. And have heart.