“. . . everyone has an imagination. NWPR reminds us how to use it.”
Susan Mallery gets ideas for her writing from NWPB
“I’m passionate about Public Radio. Seriously. Ask my friends, my husband, my editor or agent and each of them will nod and say “Yes, she’s a complete freak when it comes to NWPR.” Some will even roll their eyes. I have every local NWPR station in my car radio from here to Spokane. When we moved to Yakima a few years back and I realized my local station went to classical music at 9 in the morning, I raced out and got satellite radio so I wouldn’t miss a favorite show.
“I love the information that’s available, be it political, national or just plain interesting. I love the stories about inmates raising endangered frogs for an Oregon University and how the diamond mines in Canada are cut off from the world several months a year because the ice bridge to their mine thaws every summer. I love the alternative views of world events just as much as I love Science Fridays and the song that tells me the state of the stock market.
“I’m a writer. Fiction. Okay—romance novels. I give workshops all over the country. One of things I’m asked is “Where do you get your ideas.” I’ve published about 130 books and will have 5 more out this year. Yes, ideas are required. My answer is simple. The boy-meets-girl part comes from my heart, but the fun, quirky, interesting bits come from NWPR. I’m not sure it’s possible to listen to a human interest story without getting a book idea. Those diamond mines I mentioned before? They’re in a book I had published a couple of years ago. I joke I can’t get from my house to Starbucks and back without hearing something on NPR that will eventually appear in a book. I’ve been known to pull my car to the side of the road, pull out my ever-present notebook and jot down information from a story I just heard to somehow weave into someone’s background.
“NWPR is all about ideas. Not everyone is a writer, but everyone has an imagination. NWPR reminds us how to use it. The excellent writing, the crisp editing, the sound effects all take us to the scene. The reporters have become friends, their familiar voices offer a connection. I love NWPR because it has become a part of the fabric of my life. I support NWPR because I would truly be lost without it.”
-Susan Mallery
