Look and Listen

Biography

Susan M. Heim is a writer and editor, specializing in parenting, multiples, and women’s issues, and is a former Senior Editor for the bestselling “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series. Susan’s books include “Oh, Baby! 7 Ways a Baby Will Change Your Life the First Year”; “It’s Twins! Parent-to-Parent Advice from Infancy Through Adolescence”; and, “Twice the Love: Stories of Inspiration for Families with Twins, Multiples and Singletons.” Susan’s articles and essays have appeared in many books, magazines and web sites. She writes a regular online column for Mommies Magazine called “Loving and Living with Twins and Multiples.” Her blog, “Susan Heim on Parenting,” can be viewed at www.susanheim.blogspot.com. She hosts a web site for parents of multiples called TwinsTalk at www.twinstalk.com. Susan is currently collecting inspirational stories for her next book, “Chicken Soup for the Soul of Twins”! She is a member of the National Association of Women Writers and the Southeastern Writers Association, and has a degree in Business Administration from Michigan State University. Susan lives with her husband and four sons in Florida, and can be contacted through her web site at www.susanheim.com.

Inspiration

Old books remind me of why I write . . . of why I must write. I want to be immortal. A line from Caroline Mytinger’s 1942 book, "Headhunting in the Solomon Islands," became my motto when I read it: “A woman’s destiny . . . is not fulfilled until she holds in her arms her own little book.” Her incredible journey to the South Seas islands as an adventurous young woman would be a forgotten memory if not for her books. Caroline will never die because her stories live. Through "The Power of Positive Thinking," Dr. Norman Vincent Peale eased me through my teen years as I read it over and over again, lifting my spirits through the depths of my adolescent angst. He continues to save lives as his books inspire so many people today. When A.A. Milne penned his Winnie-the-Pooh tales, he surely never imagined he’d still be delighting children long after his death. Same with Beatrix Potter. And C.S. Lewis and his friend J.R.R. Tolkien are enjoying a renaissance as some of their books have recently been made into movies. These writers are not dead. As long as their imaginations, wisdom, and skills are a permanent fixture on this Earth—as long as people read their books—they are alive. They leave a legacy that will never be forgotten. It is the same destiny that I long to fulfill.