Libraries and Legacies

I've always loved libraries, but this week I found even more reasons to treasure them. 

I was asked to open the new library in Bodmin, Cornwall, which I very happily did - 

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And two things happened which made the day extra special - 

A couple I recognised made a point of grabbing me for a chat. They'd made a special effort to be at the opening, and I quickly found out why. 

They'd come along to an event I did about a year and a half ago when I'd spoken to their daughter, Alex. 

She wanted to start writing a book, but didn't know how you could possibly manage to put together a hundred thousand words, ie. one of the normal concerns budding writers struggle with. 

So I gave her my usual advice - 

Every year, when you get to December 31st and look back, how fast do you feel the year has passed?

Then imagine you'd written 275 words every day - just 275 - and by the end of the year... bingo! 

They wanted to thank me, because Alex had just finished her novel, and was delighted by it. 

That was a buzz enough. But then I was hit by another. 

A librarian told me she had been at a writing workshop I did a few years ago in Barnstaple, north Devon. The idea was to encourage some of those who came along to start up a writers' group. 

Which, she told me, they had. 

And even better, it went so well, that group gave rise to another three. 

By this point, I was getting dizzy with delight. 

That's one of my favourite highs of this writing life - the legacy you can leave. 

And as all good things are supposed to come in threes, take another look at the picture, above. 

That's a new generation of readers and writers, right there; youngsters who will come to treasure libraries, and the joy of words, thought, feelings and imagination.