"You're on this earth to provide a service of some kind. That's what the good Lord made you for..."
Those words are from Paddy Moloney, founder and leader of the Irish musical group The Chieftains. If that's the case, then I guess my service is to share my stories and somehow touch people through them.
Some people find their service early on. Others take longer. For me, it was years, and I didn't find it on my own. I had a lot of help along the way, and much of that help came from public libraries.
In 1975, I married and moved away from Lockport. In the ten years that followed, there were six moves. Within days upon arrival in each new place, I found the public library and got a card. In 1980, we landed in Clinton, NY. We had a daughter by then and, following the example my mother had set for me, I began taking her to the library when she was just a few months old. Even though it had been years since I'd abandoned children's books for adults', I quickly rediscovered and fell in love with them all over again.
The more children's books I read, the more strongly i began to feel that I'd like to give writing them a try, and I began a correspondence course in writing for young people. Before i finished it, we moved to Ponca City, OK, where my daughter and I quickly became regular customers at the library. The children's librarian became a friend; we had wonderful conversations about children's books, ones we remembered from our childhood and more recent ones. I finished the correspondence course in Ponca, knowing I'd found my calling, but not knowing where to go from there.
In 1997, I began a two-year graduate program which earned me an MFA in Writing for Children from Vermont College (now Vermont College of Fine Arts), in Montpelier, VT. During those two years, I spent even more time at the library, taking out stacks of children's books and taking refuge when I needed quiet time to work--quiet time I couldn't always get at home.
My eighth book has just been published. Its been a long journey, and one I hope still has miles to go. I have spent more hours in libraries than I could ever hope to count, and inside of me I carry a piece of every one I've ever known. They have helped me--in Paddy Moloney's words--to provide the service for which the good Lord made me. To all of them--thank you. I couldn't have done it without you.
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