Friday, August 10, 2007

Not to Beat the Topic of Nancy to Death, But. . .

. . . I’ve recently discovered the joys of eBay. And yes, it’s a dangerous place. I’ve been bidding on old Nancy Drew books and, to my surprise, I’ve actually won a few. No small feat since I really have no idea what I’m doing.

As the packages have arrived, I’ve realized that the passion I’ve had for those books since I was nine years old is still there, undiluted. I can’t even describe how much I loved Nancy, how I devoured each book straight through, without coming up for air or food or potty breaks. How, when I finished, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the next one.

The passion has been latent for a few years, but now, as I hold these books and feel the weight of them and look at the pictures (I love the blue multi-illustration endpapers—why can’t my books have glorious endpapers? Oh, yeah. They’re expensive to produce.), that feeling is still there. That pure love of a character and a story—or a series of stories. I’m sure it’s the same feeling young readers of Harry Potter have.

And I want to inspire that kind of love in readers. I don’t know what the magic is. The right combination of character, setting, and situation. Plus page-turning action. But I want to find it.

Okay. So I guess I know what my life’s goal is.

No comments: