Who are your writerly crushes?

I’ve had dozens of writerly crushes over the years, but I’ll limit this blog to my top six. I discovered my first crush when I was a misfit preteen who liked animals more than people. (Some days I still do!) Paul Gallico wrote lovely allegorical novels featuring animal characters who were often mistreated. The allegory flew over my head, but I fell in love with Thomasina the cat, Ludmila the cow, the Snow Goose, and his other charming creatures.

A later crush was Richard Peck. I’m a sucker for a man with a sense of humor, so crushing on him was inevitable. I laughed through Ghosts I Have Been and the rest of the Blossom Culp series, moved to A Long Way From Chicago, and spent A Year Down Yonder, giggling like a love-struck fool. What a guy!

My crush list wouldn’t be complete without Lois Lowry and J.K. Rowling. I’m in awe of their ability to create imaginary worlds down to the smallest detail. Lois Lowry’s works have sensitive characters and a mystical quality that draws me in and holds me spellbound. J.K. Rowling fashioned a world in which the setting has as much personality as the humans—and nonhumans. Speaking of world building, reading Uglies gave me a major writerly crush on Scott Westerfeld whose futuristic world blew me away.

The last crush on my short list is Michael Palmer, a best-selling author who weaves mystery, murder, and obscure medical conditions into page-turning thrillers. When I joined Facebook, I worked up the nerve to message him introducing myself and telling him about my first novel, fairest of them all, which was in publication. He sent me a gracious reply, congratulated me on being published, and invited me to get in touch if I was ever in Boston. How could I not have a crush on an author like that?

That’s my short list of writerly crushes. With so many spectacular books being published all the time, I expect many more writerly crushes in my future.