The day I learned that writers are real people

Remembering E.L. Konigsburg, the first writer I ever met.

Today would have been E.L. Konigsburg’s 93rd birthday.

Konigsburg was the Newbery Medal-winning author of one of my favorite childhood books, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, as well as many other books for children and young adults.

When I was in fourth grade, my class was assigned to read From the Mixed-Up Files. I was instantly enamored with the story of Claudia and Jamie, two siblings who run away to New York City and stay in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

One morning before school, I was reading From the Mixed-Up Files at the breakfast table, gnawing on an Eggo chocolate chip waffle. Meanwhile, my dad was sipping coffee at the kitchen counter while reading The Florida Times-Union. On the back of the Business section he was skimming, I noticed an advertisement for an event that featured E.L. Konigsburg. I immediately begged my mom to take me.

Something I’ll always be grateful for is my mom’s encouragement of reading. Growing up, anytime I asked if we could go to the library or the bookstore, she would grab her keys and pocketbook. So when I asked if I could miss a Tuesday morning of school to attend a women’s luncheon, she said she’d look into it.

Sure enough, she got us tickets to the luncheon. (Thanks, Mom!) And it was that morning that I caught a glimpse into an author’s life, or at least the public side of it. In that hotel ballroom in downtown Jacksonville, Florida, I watched Konigsburg take the stage, reading from her newest book and answering audience questions in her friendly but soft-spoken tone.

I was starry-eyed. I’d never met a real writer before. I don’t even think that fourth-grade Hurley knew that writing was a job people had—that real people had sat down and created all those stories I loved.

When Konigsburg left the stage, I was first in line at the book-signing table. She signed my copy of From the Mixed-Up Files (after pointing out that I was the only 11-year-old she’d ever seen at a luncheon).

That was also the day that I first discovered that Konigsburg lived in Jacksonville, where I was born and raised and still live today. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that this author, who was as big a deal to me as J.K. Rowling, lived where I lived. Wrote books where I lived.

It was powerful to feel my hometown represented that day. As a kid, I thought people had to move to big cities to do anything artistic. But E.L. Konigsburg was the first to show me that you could live in Jacksonville, Florida—you could live anywhere—and be a writer.

My husband’s grandmother was friends with Elaine. Their kids were around the same age, and they were part of the same friend group of busy moms. She told me once that Elaine had certain hours of the day when she simply wouldn’t answer the phone because she was busy writing or illustrating. What a radical act for a woman in the 1960s—making herself unavailable to family and friends in order to focus on her own work! Whenever I have a hard time sliding my iPhone in a drawer so I can have an hour of uninterrupted writing time, I think of Konigsburg ignoring her ringing phone.

A few years ago, my friend Rebecca came down from Massachusetts to visit me. We were strolling the shores of Jacksonville Beach when she said, “This beach reminds me so much of the beach with the sea turtles in that E.L. Konigsburg book, The View From Saturday. Did you ever read that?”

I laughed, because Rebecca and I had never talked about Konigsburg before. So of course I relished the opportunity to tell her that Jacksonville Beach reminded her so much of the beaches in the book because they were the beaches Konigsburg lived near when she was writing it.

Today, I keep my signed copy of From the Mixed-Up Files on a shelf right next to my writing desk. I often pull it down and take in her signature, thinking back to that day twenty years ago when I met a real-life writer for the first time. Her legacy reminds me that I should keep writing no matter where I am.

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Reading and Loving

How to Keep a Husband for 10 Days by Jessica Hatch — If you’re a fan of a will-they-or-won’t-they romcom, you’ll adore Jessica Hatch’s second book. It’s the perfect combo of Emily Henry laughs and Beth O’Leary sweetness.

Tunneling to the Center of the Earth by Kevin Wilson — This short story collection can also be filed under “books that made me laugh out loud.” I love Kevin Wilson’s novels and am so pleased to find that his short fiction does not disappoint.

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Big thanks to the group of writers who joined the Book Club for Writers discussion last month! What a thoughtful group you were. I couldn’t have thought of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than discussing a book with you.

During our next meeting in April, we’ll focus on Betwixt-and-Between: Essays on the Writing Life by Jenny Boully. Want to join the discussion? Become a paid subscriber. Learn more here.