The “Author’s Lounge,” a special lounge, a place to relax and create new ideas that form new books to share with others. I contemplate the many years, in so many ways I used my writing talent.

I recall working in the corporate world. My very busy boss just returned from a business trip and was leaving in thirty minutes to give a speech at an important oil and gas conference. He had no time to write the speech and asked me to do it for him. I asked, what’s the point you want to make? And how long do you want to talk? With that information, I pulled facts from his previous speeches that would tie into the point he wanted to make and recalled examples I had heard him use previously and pulled the speech off the printer as he rounded the corner, grabbed the speech and was out the door again.

Feeling secure in this “Author’s Lounge,” my mind drifts back to my very first short story, a junior high school English Grammer assignment. It was a tall tale directly out of my imagination and the surprise ending was my mother waking me out of a dream. I have always loved the English Language classes and, of course, the spelling bees. Thoughts forming words, words into action.

But when I was in high school, my mother was escaping from the world into books and cross-word puzzles. When she had read all the adult books in our town, my parents moved to the next large city, so she would have years of more books in that larger library to read. When her responsibilities were ignored while she had her head in a book, I became resentful because I had to pick up the slack. I promised I would never read another book. I had to make straight “A’s” in every other subject to cover for my absolute refusal to read my literature assignments. My strict teacher didn’t bother to ask why I refused to read, she simply gave me an “F” in literature. But I still graduated a member of the National Honor Society.

I was saved when I met my fiancé’s mother, who read, dare I say, more than my mother; however, she set aside a special time to read after all her responsibilities were taken care of. Perfect! She even read the Bible five times! She knew the value of her own “Author’s Lounge.”

I have enjoyed following favorite authors, sometimes outpacing them, finishing one book and waiting for her next novel. Then I met an author at a book signing at a popular bookstore, who introduced me to the beauty and education found in Nonfiction books: a whole new world of reading for me. And, of course, my short stories are based on true facts; while I’ve written a few tales to entertain small children. One of my granddaughters, when she was eight years old, paused in front of her favorite bookstore, spread her arms wide and swore, “I love Books!”

Took the words right out of my mouth.

I have been jotting down poems for years, and the time came to prepare eleven of my poems to publish along with my son Kevin’s notebook of poems. I love his title and sketch for the cover for our co-authored book, The Watcher Knows No Time, which is available through Amazon Books. This publication gave him (and me) the courage to publish under our own names.

It’s cozy here in the “Author’s Lounge,” where we find we are not alone in our endeavors, but where we meet ourselves in others.

About the Authors:

Grace Morrow Fitzpatrick was born and raised in North Carolina, but felt at home in West Palm Beach, Asheville and Atlanta and enjoyed the beautiful sunsets in Montana’s Big Sky and California’s San Francisco Bay, where she flew gliders, and afterward learned that a cousin, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was the first licensed woman glider pilot in America. Inspired by Anne’s poetry and stories, and by cousins, Barry Morrow, author of “Rain Man,” and Lee Alan Morrow, playwright and published author, her own thoughts and ideas took form on paper. She and her husband Bill have been blessed with four sons and seven grandchildren. They divide their time between Northern California and Florida.

Kevin Barry Fitzpatrick is the second of four sons and a loving father of his own son and daughter. Kevin worked as derrick man on oilrigs in the Dakotas and in New Orleans and put his love of construction equipment to use on bridge and road building and transportation systems. He draws his inspiration from life experiences and expresses his art form in pen-&-ink drawings and other art forms, as well as in his poetry. Another book of poems and art by Kevin is in the works. He is at home in Florida and South Carolina.