The secret map and key

I got my first library card when I was five years old. I thought it was the most wonderful place. Books have got me through some very hard times throughout my life. My Mom took my sister's and I to the library once a week. And during the summer we did the children's program they offered. We learned arts and crafts,watched movies,had storytellers etc. The three of us disliked being in the house and would sit under the trees in the backyard with a book.

I believe what I love most about books is they are like maps to secret places and provide the keys. I've loved many books over the years. During my childhood it was Amelia Bedelia, Mary Poppins, Encyclopedia Brown and oddly enough Sherlock Holmes. When I got to junior high it was Anne Mcaffrey, Marion Zimmer Bradley, J. R. R. Tolkien, Stephen King and John Saul. High School was much the same but added Harold Schecter and Anne Rule.

As an adult I continue to read Stephen King,John Saul, Arthur Conan Doyle, John Jakes,etc. I don't quite know what it is about those authors that makes me continue to read them. I suppose it may be that books by them offered me comfort while going through painful times. John Jakes writes mainly historical fiction which I love. His writing made me feel as if I was on the battlefield at Gettysburg and charging up San Juan Hill with Teddy Roosevelt. Doyle made me think about things with more detail. King and Saul made me embrace horror and things that were frightening.

But I found that when I would get lost in a story, I stopped hurting and worrying. I guess you could say I'm addicted to books. And I still am. People tend to make fun of me because I'm nearly always with a book. But I don't always read to escape anymore, I also read to learn and simply because I enjoy it. I have wanted to write a book for a very long time, and I'm still working on it. Just can't seem to decide on a subject or genre. But I will get there. One of these days anyway. Even if it's not Gone With The Wind, it's ok. Just to be published would be the most wonderful thing in the world.