My first fan mail was to Madeline L'Engle
"Heroes" aside, in most fantasy realms people are either always aware of their magical talents or discover them in early childhood. It's just the way things are in magical worlds. Given my ripening age and a life thus far completely free supernatural happenings--not even a teeny poltergeist--many friends have gently dissuaded me from spending any more time waiting for my letter to Hogwarts. I'm no Hermione, but I have been preparing in the Muggle world. I'm talking decades of rigorous self-ESP training. Alas, no matter how hard I practice, a blink of my eyes still hydrate eyeballs and contacts, but do not turn out the lights. So it's sad, but I am slowly resigning myself to my non-magical reality.
I blame the fruitless hours spent hoping for magical skills on several formative books from my childhood. The Girl with the Silver Eyes, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Xanth and Blue Adept Series...but the very first fantastical book was A Wrinkle in Time. I don't even remember how old I was when I read this series, but I must have talked about it a lot--and I was a chatty kid. I was probably driving my Mom insane and in an attempt to get it out of my system she sat me down and told me to write Madeline L'Engle a letter. It was my first and to date only fan mail. (That is if you don't count my letters to the NY Times to save Circuits.) She (or more likely her publisher) sent me a hand written thank you scribbled on a 3-fold pamphlet with her picture on the front. I wish I knew where it was.
As a tribute to Madeline L'Engle, maybe I'll go re-read the series, or even better convince Amy S. to bake some bunsen burner cookies with me.