DIARY OF A FIRST NOVELIST: Lessons from the Road

One thing no one ever warned me about Gather is that it’s addictive. As soon as I returned from my book tour, I plunked my heavy suitcase in the hallway,  and kissed my kids and my dogs and my squirming cats. Then I fired up the computer to see what I’d missed while I was away. Nine days without internet, and I was practically twitching.

The first thing I saw was that Borders’ was having an essay contest about the impact a  teacher had on your life. Great topic! Even before I unpacked, I had to read a few entries. They were good, too--so good I immediately forwarded them to my daughter, who is in college studying to become a teacher herself.

See, you can change the world! I wrote in the subject line. And it’s true: teachers can and do change the world  in the most powerful and important way possible: one heart and mind at a time.

The topic had a particular resonance for me. At various public appearances on my tour, I'd told the story of a teacher who gave me two of the greatest gifts a child can receive: insight into my dreams and confidence that I could make them come true.

I was in the fourth grade when Miss Auger, who always insisted we give her name the proper French pronunciation,  caught me furtively scribbling stories during math class. But instead of punishing me, she instructed me to write them out in my best penmanship. Then she matted them in my favorite color (red!) and hung them in the art room among the vibrant paintings and collages made by my creative classmates. There was an open house coming up, and she wanted me to know that writing was an art, too!

My mother still remembers how proud she was when the parents toured the art room and Miss Auger pointed out my stories. “I have a real writer in my class this year,” she beamed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if someday she grew up and wrote a book.”

At age nine, I’d never known anyone who had written a book or called herself a writer. But with her words, this perceptive teacher incited a dream that flamed so bright and so long it almost had to come true.

Unfortunately, Miss Auger never lived to see her prediction realized. But teaching isn’t about looking for a return. It’s about giving freely and unreservedly; it’s about planting tiny seeds that may produce a field of bright red poppies years later. I like to think that Miss Auger found her satisfaction in my parents’ pride, and in the glow I undoubtedly had that night.

Though it’s been a long time since I was in a classroom, I still encounter teachers everywhere I go. In nine days of traveling around the country, I met fellow bloggers and Gather members, who went out of their way to make me feel welcome in their cities. They taught me lessons about hospitality, kindness and generosity that will be with me for the rest of my life.

I met passionate readers and booksellers who taught me that the hunger for the written word is alive and well, and that stories can and do change lives.

I met writers who had published many books and were eager to to share the wisdom of their experience, and others who were unpublished, but full of inspiring hope and determination. All of them were teachers.

And I met myself doing things I never knew I could do before. A shy, public speaking phobic, talking to groups both large and small--and actually enjoying it? Who could have guessed? Perhaps, in the end, that is the greatest lesson from the road. It's also the same one Miss Auger taught me all those years ago: Step out from behind the shadows your fears cast. You can do things you never imagined.




Patry Francis, Books Correspondent:

Patry's column, Diary of a First Novelist, published every Thursday to Gather Essentials: Books. It will detail all she knows--and is in the process of learning--about writing and publishing.  

To learn more about Patry's debut novel, The Liar's Diary, which was published in February, visit her Website.

 

You can find all of Patry's articles, Diary of a First Novelist, at www.gather.com/patryfrancis

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