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Blog 513 – 01.03.2016

A Great Writer
To be a great writer you must first be a great reader. In Harper Lee’s great novel, “To Kill A Mockingbird” she tell the story of a little girl called Scout whose brother Jem said of her to a young friend, Dill, “Why, Scout has been reading since she was four.” Jem may have exaggerated a bit but Scout was indeed a great reader at an early age and the woman who wrote herself into that character, Harper Lee, had to be too for she became a great writer. Miss Lee passed out of this life last year at age eighty nine. Up until a year before her death, To Kill A Mockingbird, was her only published book. But, in 2015 the first book she wrote called, “Go Set A Watchman” was published. It is described as the original rough draft of To Kill A Mockingbird but having just read it I would say it is a lot more than that.
If you have not read Harper Lee, do yourself a favor and read her books. If you are not a great reader, To Kill A Mockingbird was made into a classic film in the early sixties starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, Scout and Jem’s dad. If you are not a film watcher get both books on audiobook and play them in your car. Put Harper Lee’s words into your head. We have all said at one time or another, “I wish I had written that or I wish I had said that.” That is what great writers do, they write great words for the characters they invent to speak. When great words become a part of our thinking and speech we become better thinkers and better speakers. One cannot be truly educated without being exposed to great words. For most of man’s history on this planet great thoughts, great words were passed on generation to generation by word of mouth. But somewhere along the way man figured out how to make symbols for his thoughts, symbols to create words and sentences and to write them down to be read and understood.

I am not alone in saying that Harper Lee is one of the great writers of the twentieth century. Her first book, published second, Go Set A Watchman was written in 1957 and published in 2015. Her second book, published first, was written in 1959 and published in 1960. I never met Miss Lee in person but I know her through her wonderful words. She refused most publicity and interviews and was content to live her life without those distractions. If you want  to know a great writer, read her words. Her children, her books, will live on as long as people read, watch movies, or listen. And everyone who meets Nelle Harper Lee through her own beautiful words will not only have met a great lady but a great writer.

Your friend and fellow writer,
David White