Three little kiddies grew up to write books
Once upon a time, three little kids met in kindergarten and became friends. Years later they found their voices and became authors.
Susan Zinn Crandall, Janet Hart Leonard, and Rex Dillinger graduated from Noblesville High School in 1974.
They will come together from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 5 for a book signing at Primeval Brewing, 960 Logan St., Noblesville.
The Hamilton County Reporter checked in with the three classmates to see what they are up to now in their writing journeys.
Crandall has published a dozen books but her Whistling Past the Graveyard made the Southern Indie Booksellers Alliance Bestseller List. She has sold the movie rights for it to make its way to the big screen.
“After spending the better part of the past year on research I am finally penning the first pages of an American historical novel based on a family story passed down from my great-grandmother,” Crandall said. “Genealogy and historical research has expanded this story from my initial plan of relaying a family tragedy on the Tennessee frontier in 1788 to encompassing the American Revolution in North Carolina.”
You can see the wheels turning in her mind as she shares her thoughts. She knows how to tell a story, as her readers will testify.
Dillinger recently moved to the Chicago area to be closer to his grandchildren. His book, A Conscious Choice to Love, was published in January 2023. His reason for writing the fiction book has to do with his own finding of a conscience choice to love.
“Having spent most of my life raising step-kids and enjoying step-grandchildren, I realized that it’s not just blood that binds a family together,” Dillinger said. “I believe it’s love and more specifically, a conscious choice to love. In some ways isn’t that a stronger bond than simple biology?”
His novel covers 50 years and four generations of the Andrews family, the good, the bad, and the ugly. It’s life with its consequences and strong emotions.
“Everyone wants to know how much is biographical and how much is fiction,” Dillinger added with a smile. “That’s for the reader to contemplate and adds a bit of intrigue and mystery to those who know me and my family.”
Leonard has written a newspaper column after being given a dare by a co-worker at Don Hinds Ford where she sold cars. Her column in the Hamilton County Reporter appears in the weekly Monday edition. “My editors are brave men who allow me to share my thoughts and feelings with my readers,” she said.
Leonard has lived on the same street for all her 67 years. As she says … there is no place like home. Her home is in a 117-year-old little house on the alley. Her book, When the Hart Speaks, tells stories of her ever-so-not-as-planned life. She shares the beauty of finding her faith in the hardest of times. There is both laughter and tears in the words that she shares.
“There might be a few chapters that make you think, ‘hmmm, interesting way to look at life,’” Janet shared and then winked.
Leonard can often be found tucked into a corner at her favorite cafés in Noblesville. She is writing her second book of non-fiction Soft Words for Hard Times. A third book has several chapters written. That one is a fictional novel that takes place in 1989 in the hills of Kentucky. Audrey Grace is a hairdresser who holds a lot of secrets … when the preacher goes missing. Stay tuned.
The three authors invite their classmates, friends, and people who want to be their friends, to come and see them on Sunday. There will be words and laughter … they guarantee that. They are never at a loss for either.