JK Rowling

The wizards and magic and wonder that make up Harry Potter are nothing more than the creative mind that is JK Rowling. And as I reread that sentence I realize that I said "nothing more" which makes it sound like next to nothing at all, which is simply not the case.

Spice and I enjoyed ourselves a few hours with the kids who've grown up before the world's eyes last night. The kids, now nearly adults if not adults, are the ones who make up the primary cast of the newest Harry Potter flick. The stories that captured the hearts and minds of children just a few years ago and blew up into an international phenomenon. I was working at a bookstore when Harry Potter first came out. I tried the Every Flavor Beans, a marketing product that stuck to it's namesake. The earwax flavor was unforgettable.

As an aspiring author, I can only begin to imagine what it would be like to be in the shoes of JK Rowling. To see your creation up on screen after the books have been written and widely read, to see the way your mind works for the general public to take in. She started out poor and is now rumored to have more money than the queen. There was, of course, the lawsuit in which it was alleged that she had not come up with the idea. There may have been more than one. I can't help but think, though, that even if that is true, it was not someone else who sat down and wrote these linguistically simple yet rather complex stories. Seven books in a series is an awful lot to plagiarize without being found out. The eternal battle between good and evil, with this particular movie being rather dark, rather creepy, rather interesting.

JK Rowling is one of my writing heros. Not at the top of the list but somewhere in the top ten. To create a sensation with the written word is no small feat. It is the work of an artist, a genius of sorts. Brilliance doesn't come along nearly often enough, especially in this day and age. In the world of reality TV and shoot 'em up dramas that litter the airwaves, in entertainment in general, to hit a mark this well and dead-on is something to be congratulated for. I admire this woman and her work. I ignore the religious fundamentalists who created a stir that it was promoting witchcraft. Imagination does not equal evil. If it gets children reading, it's about as heaven sent as I can think of.

I tip my hat to Ms. Rowling. Thank you for your gift.