Late Bloomer

She sat across from me looking as if she was trying to decide whether to believe me, or if I was playing some joke. I didn’t really learn how to read until I was about 10 years old, I told Rita Hermes this afternoon over lunch at her studio. She tilted her head slightly, weighing her belief options, so I continued with my narrative. I guess I was a late bloomer, I said, but once everything clicked, I couldn’t be found without a book in my hand. By the time I was 11, I was finishing novels in a single day. I guess that’s how I learned to write.

We sat in Rita’s living room and the light poured in like electric lemonade. The conversation we were having spawned after she asked what type of literary training I had—to which I have none. Then how do you know how to write, Rita—Grace Ormonde’s Contributing Editor—asked me. I just do, was my uber eloquent response. For fear of sounding like Jessica Simpson, I quickly followed the response with, When you love something, you find a way to put words to it.

We had a wonderful afternoon together and I can’t wait for our paths to cross again in the near future.

Rita and me with electric lemonade falling on our faces ;)