Madeleine L'Engle

So, I don't really know if I can do this right. I mean, this woman and her writing have shaped the way I write, and to some extent the way I think, a great deal. And I don't know if I can really do that justice. But, I will try.

I enjoy everything about Madeleine L'Engle's books. They always engage me. She fills them to the brim with interesting topics. We're talking things like quantum physics and organ regeneration. And she mixes them in with very engaging narrative and characters. And then throws a bit of fantasy in for good measure. I love that.

I can honestly care about the characters in her books. In fact, her books were the first ones I read where the characters within actually seemed like real people. It was awesome for me at the time. And even now after I've read tons of other books with engaging characters, it's still pretty awesome.

The way in which she weaves that sense of the beyond is also wonderful. Even in her more mundane plots, such as in Meet The Austins, there is always a sense of something greater behind everything, some force out there that is watching out for all that is good. It's a marvelous thing.

I honestly can't imagine that I would have even started writing were it not for her. After I read "A Ring of Endless Light," I immediately wanted to write something. And not in that, "I know I can write something better than that." Not at all. It was because I hope that one day, I will write something that is just as good as that book. I still haven't quite gotten to that point yet, of course. But it's a goal I can keep my eyes on.

I just wish that I had thought enough to write her a letter before she died. I wanted to tell her just how much her books meant to me, how much I loved them. But I never thought to write a letter. That's the one thing I regret, actually, that I never wrote a letter to Madeleine L'Engle to tell her thank you for writing and for sharing her works with the world.

One of the things on my bucket list is to go to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan, where she is interred, and place a copy of "A Ring of Endless Light" at her grave. On the inside cover, I will write out that letter that I never did, thanking her for everything. It's the least that I can do to pay my respects to an amazing writer, and an inspiring woman.