A Late Bloomer

One Writer's Beginning
Madonna Dries Christensen

Family lore has it that my father wanted to be a writer. Instead, Poppy worked as a farmer, a carpenter, and a bookkeeper. I don't have a farmer's green thumb or a bookkeeper's head for math, and if I tried carpentry I'd have a sore thumb. Poppy liked to read western novels and pulp detective magazines. Maybe his reading habit rubbed off on me.

A memory of first holding a book in my hands dates to about age eight, when Poppy sent me to the library to pick up Zane Grey westerns for him. I lugged home a few children's books for myself. A library seemed like a magical place; a room full of books from which I could choose a handful to take home. The Sibley Public Library became my favorite place to idle away free time. Although the librarian, Miss Zenobia Walton, encouraged my reading, and the setting fostered a fondness for books and authors, I never had that "I want to be a writer" moment.

During the same era that I frequented the library, the Iowa public school system grounded me with a solid background in spelling and grammar. All this held me in good stead when, at age fifty, I tried my hand at writing for publication. A late bloomer, yes. My sister, Dolores, called me the Grandma Moses of writing.

From a family history I'd compiled, I gleaned essays. The first piece I submitted was published in two newspapers during the same Christmastime. Simply Delicious has since been published nearly every holiday season for more than twenty years. The first fiction I submitted, The Story Lady, was published by Thema Literary Journal and nominated for the Pushcart Prize (two other nominations came later).

I considered it the luck o' the Irish when I stumbled upon my Jones and McLaughlin cousins' unique story during genealogy research. After publishing an article about this family in the Tampa Tribune, I received an offer from an independent filmmaker who wanted to collaborate with me on a screenplay of the story. While flattered, I felt uneasy about giving rights to someone who might have a different vision of the story, and who might take years to complete the project (if ever). I declined the contract and wrote Swinging Sisters, the musical journey of the Texas Rangerettes, a Depression era all-girl band.

My second book, Masquerade: The Swindler Who Conned J. Edgar Hoover, is also based on a true story, but not of a family member.

I'm a past Contributing Editor to Writer's Guidelines and News; current Editor of the online magazine Doorways Memoirs (www.doorwaysmemoirs.com); Contributing Editor and columnist for Yesterday's Magazette; Contributing Editor to The Perspiring Writer, and a columnist for Creativity Connection. I'm listed in Who's Who in America, and my work has appeared in more than one hundred publications. My husband and I live in Sarasota, Florida, where our worst vice is crowing about our grandchildren, Grace, Sarah, William. Don't get me started. Suffice to say, they are ceol binn (sweet music).