I've Been Writing As Long As I've

Summer, And He Watches His Children's Heart Break. Autumn Again And Boo's Children Needed Him. Atticus Was Right. One Time He Said You Never Really Know A Man Until You Stand In His Shoes And Walk Around In Them. Just Standing On The Radley Porch Was Enough.

I Was Not So Sure, But Jem Told Me I Was Being A Girl, That Girls Always Imagined Things, That’s Why Other People Hated Them So, And If I Started Behaving Like One I Could Just Go Off And Find Some To Play With.

I Was A First-time Writer, So I Did As I Was Told. I Hadn't Realized It (the Original Book) Had Survived, So Was Surprised And Delighted When My Dear Friend And Lawyer Tonja Carter Discovered It. After Much Thought And Hesitation, I Shared It With A Handful Of People I Trust And Was Pleased To Hear That They Considered It Worthy Of Publication. I Am Humbled And Amazed That This Will Now Be Published After All These Years.

It's Not Necessary To Tell All You Know. It's Not Ladylike -- In The Second Place, Folks Don't Like To Have Someone Around Knowin' More Than They Do. It Aggravates Them. Your Not Gonna Change Any Of Them By Talkin' Right, They've Got To Want To Learn Themselves, And When They Don't Want To Learn There's Nothing You Can Do But Keep Your Mouth Shut Or Talk Their Language.

I Had Never Thought About It, But Summer Was Dill By The Fishpool Smoking String, Dill's Eyes Alive With Complicated Plans To Make Boo Radley Emerge; Summer Was The Swiftness With Which Dill Would Reach Up And Kiss Me When Jem Was Not Looking, The Longings We Sometimes Felt Each Other Feel. With Him, Life Was Routine; Without Him, Life Was Unbearable..." - Scout Finch