A few days ago I caught Hillary Clinton on C-SPAN's BookTV cable network. Mrs. Clinton was there to promote her book, which is coming out in September.
On a sidenote, the interviewer was Cheryl Strayed -- a fellow author I admire.
At some point in the conversation, Cheryl asked Hillary about childhood books that shaped her. She immediately referred to Nancy Drew. "I read every single book in the series," she said.
I also read every book in the series. My sister received them in the mail, and as soon as she finished reading them, I couldn't get my hands on them fast enough.
But what struck me in kind of a light-bulb-over-my-head fashion was what Hillary remembered about why she admired Nancy Drew and how I could immediately relate to it.
"She was strong and independent," the former first lady and secretary of state said. "She had lost her mother, she had a full-time job, she went to school and she solved crimes."
And I thought, "yeah, strong and independent." I had forgotten all about her, but next to my mom, Nancy Drew was probably one of my early role models. Nobody ever said to Nancy Drew, you can't do that because you're a woman. And I was able to relate to that even at an early age. She was also the quintessential multitasker, and I definitely take after her in that role.
Now, I'm on the other end of the book -- the writing end. And even though I didn't know when I was reading Nancy Drew that I wanted to be a writer, I definitely feel that her strong character played a role in shaping the female characters in my book.
Thanks, Mrs. Clinton, for reminding me about what a great role model Nancy Drew was!
Hillary's new memoir will be out September 26th. I can't wait!
Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.
