Hurricane Terry hits the page.

Why do 5 days feel like a lifetime? First, there was wishing on a star, then throwing coins in fountains. Now there's a W-9 to remind me that this is no dream. I will soon be recognized as an author.

All those Nancy Drew books and Trixie Beldon and even a few Hardy Boys. I rode my bicycle to the library and filled the basket with books, read them all, and set out to get more books a week later. It was a small library. After a while, I was forced to graduate to adult mysteries. Either that or read horse stories by Nancy Springer, who I've met now, and I liked the horse stories. And in the evenings, swatting away mosquitoes, my friend and I would write our own mysteries in those black speckled books. Among the Sisters of St. Francis, there was no recognition of my passion for writing, only that I was pretty good with grammar.