December 21, 2010

Harper Lee’s Generous Gift

snow_lane
The following story, written by beloved southern author Harper Lee, was published in McCall’s Magazine in 1961. Because of the age of the piece and the fact that McCall’s is no longer in publication, I’m not really sure how the copyright works, but I just wanted to share it for the sake of Christmas (I’m not taking any credit for it or making any money from this post). Please give it a read…As a wanna-be writer, the prospect of something like this happening is sort of a dream.

[UPDATE: I was informed that posting the entire story here was indeed a copyright violation SO I took it down. My apologies to Ms. Lee, I would never try to take any credit for anything you had written.....and I'm sure nobody could ever mistake your wonderful words for mine anyway. Here is an updated link to the story via the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read Website/Institute of Museum & Library Services.]

In case you are wondering, in the year that her friends gifted her, Harper Lee wrote “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Their support allowed the world to know a truly wonderful gem. I can’t say that anything like this has ever happened to me on such a grand scale, but there are plenty of people in my life who believe in me and support me in other ways. Whatever your dream may be, why not consider permitting someone to believe in you? How do you know that the next masterpiece isn’t within you, just waiting to be created?