Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Lorie Ann Simpson
I have always had a love affair with books. Ever since I was a little girl, I loved when my mom or dad would read to me. I mostly remember my mom reading to me from my children’s Bible. I treasured all the pictures. They would bring the Bible stories to life.

When I got older, I would go to the Bluff City Library and check out books to read. Mysteries were my favorite. It was fun to explore another world for a while. I wanted to get to the end to see how the story concluded, but I had so much time invested in these people and their stories that I really didn’t want it to end. When I started college, I used the library to do research. (That was before Google and the internet. We had to do it the hard way.)

When I became a mom to my son Dakota, I would take him to the same Bluff City Library. That was our Saturday tradition while his dad was at work. By then, the library had videos you could check out as well. The rule was he had to check out twice as many books as videos. I adored those moments of introducing him to books.

As the years went by, technology became more advanced, and I received a Kindle for Christmas one year. I thought it was the greatest all-time invention ever. I had millions of books right at my fingertips. Although I missed the feeling of holding an actual book, the Kindle was easier on my hands since I have RA.

Now, as a writer, books hold a different allure for me. It is an incredible feeling to have someone read your work. It is even better when they tell you how much they love it. Books entertained me when I was younger, and now I can entertain others. So, my affair with books continues but on a different level. I hope my readers enjoy reading my books as much as I enjoy writing them.