I have been writing narrative nonfiction, switching from writing novels, and for those of you who write too, I have tips to pass on. I'd love to hear from you and walk you though the decisions I made in writing Borrowing Life. My agent had its first draft turned down by 4 N.Y. publishers before I learned to write narrative nonfiction with the emotional drive of a novel.

BORROWING LIFE is about one of the most important contributions to humankind in the 20th century. Two men who spent their lives achieving the first successful organ transplant received Nobel Prizes. The research was daunting and until I convinced myself that I could distill the essence of the important concepts to the understanding of the lay public, I floundered in the sea of overwhelming facts.

This is the sort of story that changes readers' lives. For I firmly believe that being in the presence of great minds and good people, we become better people by their example. They become a sort of comfort in our everyday lives. When I come to a point of having to make a difficult decision, I now reflect on the people I wrote about, asking: What would Joe do? What would Jean do? What would Peter do. How would Franny handle this?

Shelleyfm@aol.com