Fan Girl

Adrienne Miller

I am the kind of writer who is a fan first.

When I was a little girl, I pretended to be Sherlock Holmes. As a teenager I hid Johanna Lindsey novels under my bed. To this day I have real, actual crushes on fictional men.

Wherever there are books I feel at home.

I skip lunch to go to the bookstore. I’ve called out sick to work to finish reading a book. I don’t have a to-be-read pile; I have a bookcase.

Books have always been my escape.

I made up stories in my head during math class to relieve the boredom. I keep a book in my purse to read if the line at the grocery store gets too long. My Mother’s Day present one year was to have a day alone in the house to read a book cover to cover.

My heroes have always been writers.

I was so shocked at coming face to face with Clive Barker, I almost fell through a bookstore window. I thought I might have to take a sedative before I met Connie Brockway. I (not-so) secretly want to be the fourth Bronte sister.

So, I am the kind of writer who never could have been anything else.