Photo by Greg Hess 

Bio

Les Petit Memoir…

I grew up in an eccentric household, where everyone was quite different.  Dad was always the realist, who could tell the best “real” stories about growing up on the farm.  To this day, he has not an ounce of desire to create art.  However, I would say Dad is definitely one with the earth.  You can often find this hard working conservative with his nose in the newspapers or his legs dangling from the trees.  Just ask him how he recently broke his ankle. 

My mother has always been the artist with maybe two ounces of realist blood running through her veins.  She started off making creations with her crafter friends.  I remember our house being transformed for holiday shoppers.  Ahh the smell of homemade vegetable soup and Russian tea, as patrons browsed around the house.  Now Mom paints oil paintings gilded in gold frames to the tunes of Pink Floyd and Simon & Garfunkel.  My house is like a walking art museum thanks to Mom.  If Mom’s not showing me how to throw a proper tea, she’s teaching me how to be a hippy disguised as a modern day lady. 

My older brother has always been a mystery to me, growing up very well read, whose interest in heavy metal, real rock-n-roll, and day trading brought some very interesting characters into our home.  I never knew when I woke up on a Saturday morning if I would see someone different crashing on our den couch.  My dad would often fetch his scissors and offer to cut my brother’s friends’ unruly hair.  The “long hairs” as my Dad called them, refused to give up their guitars and drums, and, of course, their long hair.  To this day, my brother still loves heavy metal and rock-n-roll, as he works hard helping troubled souls reform their lives, and still sneaks in time for trading “futures.” 

There were also the various people who lived with us throughout the years (I think we counted 12).  Those passing through due to a change in opportunity or troubled times, some friends, some extended family.  All with unique stories of their own.  It was never boring growing up on "G" Street.  You never knew who would stop by and stay for a while.

Even though I grew up thinking I would become a Rock Star, I was always destined to tell stories.  From my stage performance as Charlie Brown’s love interest, to my impromptu puppet shows, and orchestrating a world of “house,” I never tired of make believe.  And I had a slew of books tumbling out of my closet to keep the inspiration going.  Yes, I was the one with .05 ounces of “realist” blood running through my veins.  So, when I finally took up piano lessons and started composing music of my own, my parents were relieved to see some of my creative energy being used in a more tangible form.  There was promise for the unending daydreaming that I would become a musician.  One of my dad’s proudest moments was watching me play my own compositions in church.  I may have even seen a tear in his right eye.

High school was full of fun and drama, too.  Enduring friendships (I still have the same dear friends), love, and loss.  I have stories, like the time I made the cheerleading squad, or how I failed my first driving test, when I played the piano at the Vantage Point Rooftop Restaurant on homecoming night because the pianist needed a break, or how I lost my beloved dog, and endured a cancer scare my senior year.  I could write a novel about those days.  So unless you have time…

In college, I received a partial scholarship for music composition to St. Mary’s College in North Carolina, but soon jumped ship.  I wasn’t happy that I had to “learn” to read music.  I wanted to do it my way, and besides the stories in my head were much more interesting than the story of me struggling as a musician.  So I transferred to James Madison University, where instead of studying Spanish, music appreciation, etc., I started writing a novel.  Well, what happens when you don’t study?  Speed forward to Nova Community College where I worked to pick up my grade point average and took an introduction class in creative writing.  I was hooked!  You mean I could major in something I loved as much as chocolate and nachos.  I knew right then and there I would become an English major.  I transferred, for the last time, to George Mason University, where I studied under such luminaries as novelists Marita Golden and Alan Cheuse, poet Carolyn Forché, and playwright Heather MacDonald.  I had finally found my passion, and I had the grades to prove it.

The story could go on, as all of our stories could.  To keep it on the long side of short, I met my husband playing make-believe my last semester in college.  I was Stella and he was Stanley in A Street Car Named Desire, secretly practicing scenes for our own play called Life.  It wasn’t long before he decided to drop by "G" Street to pick me up for our first date.  We drove the short way to the Kennedy Center to see Shear Madness, and drove the long way home.  We've hardly spent a day apart since.  He has supported me through my various jobs as receptionist, freelance journalist, writer and case manager, and financial analyst, all while accepting my incessant need to write. 

We make our home in Virginia with our two precious, slightly mischievous, sons who dream of being athletes, and the real Ruby Tuesday (you know, the one The Rolling Stones sing about?).  Home is where I write stories and still pretend I’m going to be a rock star someday. 

The Real Ruby Tuesday

Children's authors who inspire me:

Growing up I got lost in the works of E.B. White, C.S. Lewis, Shel Silverstein, Dr Seuss, Margaret Wise Brown, Maurice Sendak, Judy Blume, Katherine Paterson, Wilson Rawls, etc. 

Today, I’ve been introduced to a growing pool of talent; such as Richard Peck, Kate DiCamillo, Karen Hesse, John Green, Sonya Sones, Virginia Euwer Wolff, Robert Cormier, Stephanie S. Tolan, Verla Kay, Anastasia Suen…the amazing list goes on. 

Children’s literature continues to thrive and ROCK, despite what some may say! 

It's the hard knock life:

I’ve always had to work hard for my dreams.  Nothing comes easy.  Even those things I believe I’m good at have taken much work, repetition, endurance, and faith.  Thanks to the love and acceptance from my family and friends, I have persevered and believe that all good things happen in God's timing.  I’m still patiently plugging along…

Now, what’s your story?

Mary Rand Hess

"I am a product of long corridors, empty sunlit rooms, upstairs indoor silences, attics explored in solitude, distant noises of gurgling cisterns and pipes, and the noise of wind under the tiles.  Also of endless books."

~ C.S. Lewis in Surprised by Joy