Her grandparents were Germanspeaking immigrants from Russia.
Her parents were “products of the Depression era” - a housewife and a tradesman who had been a prisoner of war.
She was dyslexic and didn’t learn to read until she was 10.
“I never went to college, and I barely fi nished high school,” said Debbie Macomber, the guest of honor at Friday’s Conversations fundraiser for the Rogers Public Library Foundation.
But Macomber was fi lled with stories waiting to be told.
“The only way I can think of to describe it is it’s like a throbbing in me,” she said.
“Every time I thought about being a writer, I throbbed with joy.
“It’s very easy when you have the kind of background I do to stuff those dreams into ‘maybe sometime in the future.’”
Macomber was inspired that the time had come when her cousin David, with whom she had grown up, was hospitalized with leukemia. A doctor, giving her directions at the hospital, told her to go through the door marked “Absolutely No Admittance.”
“It made me realize if I wanted to be a writer, that was the door I had to walk through.”
When David died, Macomber, with the blessing of her husband, Wayne, rented a typewriter - a manual for $25 a month; she couldn’t aff ord the $45 for the electricmodel - and wrote eight books on it.
Now, she is the author of more than 150 novels, most recently “Starry Night,” released Tuesday;
two bestselling cookbooks;
numerous inspirational and nonfi ction works;
two acclaimed children’s books and the Mrs. Miracle Christmas novels.
“It’s kind of a rags-toriches story, I guess,” she said.
But she never forgets “even when we were living on one income, I had to pay to have my manuscripts typed. I made too many mistakes. So when I talk to kids who are dyslexic, I always tell them they have a gift. For me, it was a creative imagination. Once they find it, they will soar.
You always get something else in abundance when you have something taken away.”SUPPORTING THE LIBRARY
Friday’s event, set for 6 p.m. at the Rogers Little Theater’s Victory Theater in downtown Rogers, is the seventh in the Conversations series. In the past, headlining guests have included Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson series; suspense writer Carol Higgins Clark, best known for the Regan Reilly mysteries; “Alex Cross” creator James Patterson; author of “The Notebook” Nicholas Sparks; and “Jack Reacher” novelist Lee Child.
There’s not much time between selecting an author and putting on the event, said Cari Lewis, executive director of the Rogers Public Library Foundation.
“Fall is the big time for new books, kind of like summer is for movies,” she said, “so we have to wait until fall to find out who has new books coming out and who is available to come here. We work down to the wire, so we have only a month or so to prepare.”
Authors for Conversations are selected based on several factors, Lewis said, including publishing schedules, travel schedules and audience fi t.
Although it’s considered a fundraiser for the foundation, Lewis said the Conversations event is more of a friend-raiser, creating a buzz for the library.
“We sell tickets becausewe do bring in such good authors,” she said. “You get a lot for your money. But we don’t depend on this event to raise much money for us.”
Right now, for instance, the foundation is working on three initiatives for library growth. The Conversations event will likely bring in about $5,000, but Lewis hopes to raise $100,000 in the next year.
On the list of goals are: A media lab that would offer laptops and MacBooks for checkout, a green screen for movie making, fi lm editing equipment, the Garage-Band program for editing music and various other software.
“It will be a three-phase process,” Lewis said, “starting with raising money for the laptops and MacBooks, the software and the repairs they’ll need.” A mobile library, described by Lewis as “kind of like a Redbox for books,” which would be placed in a central location in the community for people who have trouble getting to the library.
An unlimited membership in Tutor.com.
“We do currently use Tutor.com and target schools or students who may be struggling,” Lewis said. “They can get free tutoring services as long as they have a library card. Typically, it costs $12 a session, and the foundation helps pay for it.
“But with an unlimited membership, we could actively reach outto all students, kindergarten through college, and adults.
“This is one of our smaller fundraisers, but it’s a big event,” she added. “And every little bit helps.” KEEP DREAMING
Macomber said when she speaks at an event like Conversations, she hopes her audience learns two things:
“That I’m just downright friendly.”
And “each of has dreams and shouldn’t be afraid to go for them. One of the worst things that can happen is to die with the music inside of you. If I can do this - somebody who barely graduated from high school and I’m a New York Times best-selling author - you can do anything! When I look at my life, I am utterly amazed that God has brought me to this point.”
But Macomber, in her 60s, isn’t done, by a long shot.
She has five “totally amazing, unbelievable, audacious goals” she intends to accomplish:
To own part or all of the Seattle Seahawks professional football team.
To have a Broadway musical based on one of her Christmas books.
To have an Oscar-nominated film based on her works.
To give $10 million in one year “to further God’s kingdom” - without dying, she appended.
To have a TV seriesbased on one of her series - and that has already come to pass in the three years or so since she lined out her goals. “Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove,” Hallmark Channel’s first dramatic scripted television series, is based on her Cedar Cove series.
She also already owns her own tea room, Victorian Rose Tea Room, and a yarn store, A Good Yarn, named after the shop featured in her Blossom Street novels. She and her husband, Wayne, serve on the Guideposts National Advisory Cabinet, and she was recently named World Vision’s international spokeswoman for the Knit for Kids charity initiative.
In spite of her upbeat and can-do attitude, there is one thing Macomber knows she will never accomplish.
“My dad thought I could be a pianist, a real pianist,” she remembered. “He was very musical, could play by ear, and when I was a child, he bought me a piano. It was very big for our family. They had to make payments on this piano.
“And I was terrible. I always wanted to be a pianist for my dad, and twice in my adult life, I took lessons with no success.”
Finally, her husband, Wayne, bought Macomber a player-style piano, and she couldn’t wait to play for her father.
“I said ‘Dad, listen!” and he was so excited. He said, “I told you she’s got talent !”
Life, Pages 6 on 10/09/2013