I know it sounds silly and I never would have believed it myself, but I can honestly say that JK Rowling and Harry Potter changed my life. It started in the summer of 2001. My daughter was
going through some difficult times. It was hard for me to watch. She had always been my "Sunshine", my spoiled little Daddy's girl, until the dreaded teen years struck. Actually, I thought everything was fine until one Saturday.
She'd had a friend spend the weekend. That morning, I made one of my typically corny jokes; it was the kind she'd always laughed at, except this time, she didn't. She and her friend just looked at me like I had a full head of chia hair. She
rolled her eyes and walked off without saying a word. From then on, our conversations became more stilted, more awkward and difficult, until finally, we barely talked at all. It just about broke my heart. During that time, she was reading
the Harry Potter series and seemed to really enjoy it. I knew about the books, had followed the publicity, but thought "it's a children's book. I'm not going to read that." At the same time this was all going on, 9/11 happened and
I was having a hard time dealing with it. I couldn't get on a plane without a prescription. I had a rough time being in crowds and there was no way I'd even think about public speaking. (Previously I'd done quiet a bit, including a two year
stint as house emcee at a comedy club.) I was sitting in the Detroit airport one day, exceptionally anxious, even with the Ativan I'd taken to help me get on the plane. I needed something to read. Browsing the bookstore, I picked up a copy
of Sorcerer's Stone and decided it would be a perfect escapist read for the flight. I was caught from the first page. When I got home, my daughter saw the book sitting on the table and asked who was reading it. When I told her it was me, her
eyes lit up and we spent the next hour in deep discussion about Harry, Dumbledore, and the rest of the characters. It was the longest and best conversation we'd had in months. From then on, we read the books together as they were released.
We traded theories on various aspects of the books, discussing them at length. She'd even call me when it wasn't her weekend to be with me, to pose questions and present some new idea about whatever dilemna was facing Harry at the time. (She
called me last night to ask why we've never seen a female centaur. Good question.) When we couldn't talk about anything else, we could talk about Harry. It was incredible. Jo and Harry had given my daughter back to me. That alone was worth
more than I could ever have imagined, but there was more. After I learned about Jo, how she'd gotten a relatively late start as an author, I started to think about my own writing. I'd written a ton of newspaper articles, and what I'd been told
were the most entertaining user's guides at Kennedy Space Center, but I'd never taken it any further than that. People often told me "you should write a book" but I never thought seriously of actually doing it. Then, after I learned
about Jo's story, I decided to give it a shot. Four years later, I finished my So, as I
said, I never would have believed it myself, but I can honestly say that Jo Rowling and Harry Potter changed my life. I regained the daughter I thought I'd lost, and found the novelist in me that I didn't know existed. Thanks Jo.
Harry Potter Changed My Life
This is a recent article, which only appeared on Gather.com. (Don't tell my daughter... )
