I’ve been fortunate to talk with so many interesting
people, and to correspond with some who were not available to talk. You
wouldn’t recognize the names of most of them, but they were far more
interesting than most of the celebrity names you would recognize. Some have
recognizable names, though, like Dave Barry, who was very kind when our
grandson, the same age as his son, had cancer; or Frank Deford, who disagreed
with my defense of 3 on3 women’s basketball; or Katie Couric, who wrote me a
personal note thanking me for writing when her husband got colon cancer.
None of them compare, though, to the children at
Bottenfield Elementary in Champaign, IL, when our daughter, Mary Beth, taught
there, and when I was the guest author for their day-long writing fair.
Later, the kid wrote me letters, about 50, most of them
decorated with quite lively and colorful art work. Mary Beth must have
impressed them with my qualifications, for almost all of them thanked me “for
taking time out of your busy schedule.” Here are some other excerpts:
Lynsey: “I’m The Blonde With The Blue Shirt and Flowered
Shorts. Books Are Life! I would die without them.”
Mukta: “My imagination is like yours. You are a great
writer.”
Kate: “I want to be an author like you when I grow up.”
Rachel: “The writing fair was fun, but having you come
made it better.”
Natalie: “I think it’s amazing that you are a minister
and a writer. Being a minister takes a lot of time and writing takes
dedication. 5 years ago you also had cancer. Now that’s amazing!”
Sara: “The questions you answered were easy to
understand.”
Marc: “Thank you for telling us about your life. It has
amazed me of how you can accomplish so much in such a little time.”
Mark: “The next time I write a story, I’ll be sure to use
your advice.”
Jan: “I want to write for the soul reason you do.” [Jan
is either quite perceptive or a little off in spelling.]
Roger: “It really helped me to see how to get characters
and settings. You said you didn’t consider yourself famous, but I think you are.”
Christopher: “Thank you for letting us ask you
questions.”
Hans: “If I could remember the titles of your books, I
would check them out of the library.”
David: “I was the kid who asked that question of how was
it like having cancer.”
Jenary: “I have your autograph on my dresser. I saw
someone buying your book.”
Kellie: “Maybe my next story will be about my two hermit
crabs. One of them died, though.”
Lauren: “It was neat to meet a real author.”
The one I like best, though, is a little blond first-grader
whose name I can’t remember.
“Do you ever make mistakes when you write books?” she
asked.
“Oh, yes,” I replied.
“Well, then,” she said, “it would be good to write them
in pencil, wouldn’t it?”
John Robert McFarland
Daughter Katie Kennedy’s Learning to Swear in America will be published by J. K. Rowling’s
publisher, Bloomsbury Press, in 2015.
My novel, VETS, will be published by Black Opal Books in early
2015.
In case you missed it, a Tweet Repeat: “Language is a
constant source of humor because we misuse it so much.” Helen Karr McFarland
I tweet as yooper1721.
I also write Christ in Winter: Reflections on Faith from
a Place of Winter for the Years of Winter. http://christinwinter.blogspot.com/
MY OTHER BOOKS:
NOW THAT I HAVE CANCER I AM WHOLE: Reflections on Life
and Healing for Cancer Patients and Those Who Love Them [AndrewsMcMeel & HarperAudio, with Czech and
Japanese translations] Paul K. Hamilton, MD, the co-founder of CanSurmount,
called it “The best book for cancer patients, by a cancer patient, ever.”
AN ORDINARY MAN
[HarperPaperbacks] Randall MacLane just wanted to be an ordinary man. But sent
with a message for Custer, he became a drifting lawman with a knack for
killing, and a deep well of loneliness. Then a twist of fate brought him full
circle…
THE STRANGE CALLING: Stories of Ministry [Smyth&Helwys] I didn’t want to be a preacher,
but I made a deal with God to save my sister’s life. Was that really a “call,”
though? I said, “I’ll try t for 50 years, and if I still don’t know, I’ll do
something else.” These are stories of what happened in those years of
questioning the call.
WHEN FATHER RODE THE MAIL
and Other Stories of Christmas [lulu.com] ISBN 978-1-300-38566-0
If you like baseball
poetry, take a look at “Frosty & the Babe” http://www.baseball-almanac.com/poetry/frosty_and_the_babe.shtml
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