How was Elisha born? The Weirdest.

“How did you become an author?” you ask.

It was a sheer accident. Or at least I thought it was. A friend of mine was writing, I considered doing it and immediately put it out of my head.

I was spending the summer in a rented apartment near Peekskill in New York State. My granddaughter, Shana, lived not too far away in Connecticut and drove over to spend a long weekend with me. I indulged her, took her shopping and out for dinner and we watched whatever she wanted on tv. We always have fun together.

The first morning I realized that I wake up early. She does not. Shana was sleeping on a futon in the main room where the tv and my computer were. She was so peaceful I could not wake her. I went to the kitchen, made my morning tea, sneaked into ‘her’ room for a yellow pad and pen, and climbed into my bed. I took a few sips of tea and words came into my head. I started writing and the words poured out onto four full pages.

When the words stopped coming, I read it over and realized that every sentence started with she. I thought about that for a while and looked up at the ceiling. “Hey,” I said, “You gave me all these pages but you didn’t tell me her name.” I never did anything like that before.

I received an answer, “Elisha,” whoever they were said. ‘Am I losing it,’ I thought. ‘This was beyond weird.’

When Shana woke up I read the whole thing to her. “Oh Grandma,” she exclaimed, “you have got to write this book. You must.”

“Ok, Shana, I will.”

That’s how Elisha was born.