DISABILITIES

By Daniel J. Vance

Recently, I featured Debbie Macomber, the 59-year-old author with dyslexia whose books have sold more than 100 million copies. Dyslexia is a lifelong, neurological learning disability affecting a person's ability to read, spell, and write.

Even though not learning to read until fifth grade, Macomber, nonetheless, had a burning passion throughout childhood for books and writing.

“I didn't dare tell anyone (back then) I wanted to be a writer,” said Macomber in a telephone interview. “I knew the minute I did, even my parents or teachers would say I wasn't smart enough to be one. I didn't want my dream squashed. I was a 'creative' speller in school, and didn't get good grades in English.” She kept holding on to her dream, however.

In 1978, while walking through a hospital to visit a cousin with leukemia, Macomber became lost. A doctor trying to help her find her way told her to walk through a set of doors that had a sign saying, “Absolutely No Admittance.” The memory of having to walk through those doors has stayed with her.

She said, “Those of us who have dreams must be willing to walk through that door. I'd been told I was a nice person, but would never do well in school. I had to walk through that door that said Debbie was in the bottom of her class. That dream of writing had such a hold on me.”

One morning, soon thereafter, after renting a typewriter and sending off two of her children to school, Macomber tried writing. But she didn't know what to write and didn't know any writers to ask for help.

She thought, What do I do?

“So I took four books I absolutely loved and dissected them,” she said. “I took and outlined them chapter by chapter, and in the process learned plotting and pacing. That was my apprenticeship. Once having that format, I was able to start.”

When finished, she hired a proofreader, and her first novels, Heart Song and Starlight, were published in 1982.

Of many positive influences in her life, she credited becoming a Christian at age 23 as by far the most important. She said her favorite Bible verse has been Ephesians 3:20: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us....”

Contact danieljvance.com [Blue Valley Sod and Palmer Bus Service grants made this column possible.]