Mrs. Escamilla.

This is the one person in my life that I will always cherish and always give credit to when I write something.  Even though the last time I saw her was in 1974.

She passed on many years ago, but her memory is still strong and the effect she had on my life is the single greatest influence to my passion for writing.

In sixth grade, Mrs. Escamilla would come to our school and help facilitate our learning by either reading to students (individually), or listen to us read to her.  She had two daughters that attended the school, Sonia and Marina, but she spent most of the time with other students.  And the way I remember it…mostly me.

The books and stories that she would read would inspire me to write.  Not that any of the books were inspirational, but the fact that she would give of her time to fill my imagination with stories of adventure gave me inspiration.

I would go home at night and begin to formulate stories.  In fact between the summer of 6^th and 7^th grade I wrote a complete science fiction story complete with Heinleinian culture.  Which for a 7^th grader might have been a little unsettling for most.  But not for Mrs. Escamilla.  She embraced it.  She encouraged it and, as I remember, very rarely blushed.

Mrs. Escamilla was my muse.  It was her enjoyment of my story telling (I would read to her each time I had the opportunity to sit with her at school) that made me want to write more.  And even read more.

I never got to properly thank her for the gift that she gave me, although I have had the opportunity to share it with her daughters. 

I have drafted two novels since then, countless short stories, and many songs.  Now?  I just have to do something with them.   And there my friends is the rub.  But I continue to write, create, and imagine what is would be like to see my stories on the Big (or Little) screen.  I envy you Blake Crouch!  Perhaps in time someone will also envy me.