Many of Joan Lowery Nixon’s readers have written to her to ask how they, too, can become published writers someday. This memoir, including anecdotes and advice, is her answer to them. From her first publication at age ten–a poem entitled “Springtime” in a children’s magazine–to her graduation from Hollywood High during World War II, Joan Lowery Nixon shares the incidents from her childhood that helped her to grow and develop as a writer. Listening to her favorite serial programs on the radio, performing puppet shows at orphanages and hospitals, and writing love poems for her high school classmates to send to soldiers overseas all planted the seeds from which a prolific professional career was born. Both informative and entertaining, this is a charming look at one writer’s beginnings.