When you wrote your book “Dar and the Spear-Thrower” did you add some of your own life experiences to it?

(from Maya, age 12)

Marjorie answers:

Dear Maya,

I think most writers use bits and pieces of their lives in their books and I know I did. The character of Dar is based on my son who had very little self-confidence at Dar’s age. I spent most of my childhood, like Dar, without parents, and I had a short-tempered and unhappy uncle very much like Kenok, Dar’s uncle. One of my favorite people in the novel is Mora, the strong and compassionate grandmother I wish I had. And like Dar, I took some lessons in throwing a spear with a spear-thrower attached, but stopped before I got very good at it. But it made me appreciate how using this compound weapon with strength and accuracy takes time and practice. Incidentally my teacher was an eighty-year old woman who had won and still was winning many contests and awards, demonstrating that you don’t have to be strong or tall to be good at it—you just have to know what you’re doing. Your question is a good one, Maya.

Sincerely, Marjorie Cowley