69 Years Around the Sun – Six Degrees of Separation – Thank You Joyce Maynard

Now I know I stated in my 10/29/25 blog entry that I was pausing the blog while I write my next novel. And for two weeks I have been true to my word. Since 10/31 I have been working diligently on the book – Free Radical – and as of yesterday, I am 14 chapters plus a prologue into the process. My inner circle members have been daily and diligently correcting my many spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors but assure me that I’m telling a good story. That’s all I can ask. With any luck I will complete the novel by NYE.

But today I’m taking a one-off birthday break from this novel writing process to discuss my fascination with the backstory to one’s life. Especially my own.

The most interesting thing about my past professional life as an entertainment attorney for four decades was the occasional contact high I was able to enjoy through directly meeting famous people.

Now, I also enjoy when the contact comes in my non-professional life through six-degrees-of-separation, a theory that posits that two people are only six common personal connections away from everyone else.

“The concept of six degrees of separation posits that any two individuals are connected through a chain of acquaintances that does not exceed six intermediaries. This idea implies that a person can reach anyone in the world through a maximum of six social connections, often referred to as the “six handshakes rule”. “

Six degrees of separation – Wikipedia

I’ve blogged in the past about the variation to this theory known as the Six-Degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon game – The Adventures of Pete & Pete – The Wise Novelist – and how I was able to successfully play that game.

Anyway, the SDOS theory plays into the backstory of every person, and backstories fascinate me. Just read the acknowledgements to my novels. If you have made even the slightest impact on my life, you’ve probably gotten at least a passing (and purely fictional) reference in my novels.

In fact, once the first three books were published in the form of The Claire Trilogy – Amazon.com: The Claire Trilogy (Books 1-3): Box Set – The Wise Ass, An Alien Appeal, and Kissing My Ass Goodbye (The Claire Saga) eBook : McCaffrey, Tom: Kindle Store – I wrote the fourth book – Finding Jimmy Moran – as a prequel to the Trilogy story, just so I could work in some of the major events and real people in my own backstory – my misspent youth – just because the success of the first three books provided an opening to do so. Otherwise, no one would have ever given a shit.

As a result, those who provide a basis for my characters have been dragged into my personal loop of the SDOS game. Anyone who picks up and reads one of my novels is connected through that chain to the people upon which those characters are based.

Now, as a clumsy transition, people who know me will tell you how I like to inscribe my books in a way that references the personal connection between me and the recipients of those books. Indeed, I recently blogged about how one of the copies of TWA I inscribed and sent to someone in Brooklyn, New York, later made its way into the hands to a dear friend, a central character in WTLLM, and one of my inner circle of readers – Renee Clarke – Cross Country TWA – The Wise Novelist.

In fact, Renee is one of the few real people who have made their way to Casa Claire.

Renee Clarke Comes To Casa Claire – The Wise Novelist

That first book, TWA, with its own backstory to its creation – Claire is real – now has a separate backstory because of its journey from Colorado to Brooklyn and now into the hands of RC in North Dakota. What are the odds?!

Which leads me in my usual meandering way to the catalyst to today’s blog – which I am writing instead of my novel’s next chapter today.

I’m a big fan of the literary website Lit Hub – Literary Hub. It’s daily articles and essays are chock full of backstories of writers living and dead. Recently I saw mention of a birthday for a writer I was only fleetingly familiar with – Joyce Maynard. My lack of familiarity was not because she lacked the talent or credentials to be known to me, but because I just haven’t been fortunate enough to be the type of well-read person to come across her writing.

Anyway, Ms. Maynard’s birthday was in early November, and Lit Hub made mention of the fact that she was an incredible writer, having published nine novels and numerous non-fiction books and articles over a career which began in the 70s and continues to this day. But what caught my eye in this particular Lit Hub mention was a portion of Ms. Maynard’s backstory that for 11 months of her young adult life, she had an affair with J.D. Salinger.

Now we all know JDS. We have all read Catcher in the Rye and maybe even read some of his other works. CITR launched JD into literary fame in 1951. We all also know that based in part on that early fame, JDS became a well-known recluse who lived in isolation on a mountain in Cornish NH until his death in 2010.

Well, this particular tidbit in Lit Hub piqued my interest in Ms. Maynard, so I did some research and found her memoir At Home In The World. Coincidently, I thereafter located a used copy of it being sold by The Tattered Cover Bookstore just south of me in Denver, Colorado. So, I ordered it.

Well, yesterday, my used copy of Ms. Maynard’s work arrived in my mailbox, as an early birthday present for me. So, after completing my own writing, and my other work around Casa Claire, I sat down and began reading the memoir.

I was able to burn through the first 70 pages before my other obligations interceded to drag me away.

Those first 70 pages demonstrated that this woman had a fascinating, if somewhat challenging, childhood. What those first 70 pages also demonstrated was that this woman is an amazing writer. I mean, superb. I could not put the book down.

I admit that I was drawn to read her memoir because I was fascinated that this generational contemporary of mine had a backstory that included direct and intimate contact with a writer that most would concede was a giant in the world of American literature. Talk about contact highs.

But reading her work changed my perspective concerning the writer, and my reason for wanting to continue to read the book.

Those first 70 pages make no reference to JD Salinger. And I didn’t care. I was swept away by this woman’s poignant writing and the backstory of her childhood and youth, during which her eccentric but brilliant parents helped develop her creative skills in not just writing but art. That life also took a personal toll on Ms. Maynard.

Personally, I found her writing to be – IMHO – superior to that of the master himself. Indeed, I was so satisfied by reading her early life, formative section of her biography, that I’m not even sure that I will indulge my originally driving interest of reading how JDS actually fits into the picture. Ms. Maynard’s life and talent alone merit my continued interest.

IMHO, she owes nothing of her success as a writer to JDS, which was already being propelled by her own talent and actions before JDS appeared in her backstory. indeed, it was her early successes that led to his taking notice of her.

But I digress.

When I tore off the packaging that the used book arrived in, I did not, at first, notice the worn sticker on its cover that announced that it was an “Autographed Copy.”

When, after reading for an hour, I did notice the sticker, I checked the inside cover – where I always inscribe my books – but there was no autograph.

About six pages in I found the signature and what I assume is a self-portrait doodle by Ms. Maynard directly below it.

Why does this matter to me?

Well, this is proof that this particular copy of this book was once in possession of the talented woman who wrote it, and that that particular writer had a personal connection to JD Salinger. In other words, that book was written, held and inscribed by the hands of a writer who held JDS.

As a result, by receiving this particular copy of Joyce Maynard’s autographed and inscribed book, I have now made a Six-Degrees-Of-Separation connection with JDS.

More importantly, this autographed and inscribed (doodled) copy gives me an even closer SDOS connection with a wonderful contemporary writer, Joyce Maynard. And I find that to be even more satisfying to me and more interesting to my backstory.

So, Joyce Maynard, thank you for the role you have unwittingly played in my SDOS backstory, your integral involvement my SDOS to JDS, and for being such a wonderful writer in your own right.

If, by some twist of fate, someone brings this blog to your attention, let this me be my humble and personal thank you for your creativity and wonderful backstory.

But now life calls.

Unlike JDS, my own rapid transformation into a recluse on Casa Claire is driven not by a desire to escape fame – I have none – but because each day I realize I am becoming less life-of-the-party jovial and more cranky-old-bastard, and that only the non-human creatures that reside here will put up with my nonsense.

Despite my growing desire for social isolation, Lisa will drag my one-year older ass out this morning to my grans’ school for Grandparents Day, which kicks off at 8 am this morning, so I actually have no more time to write.

So, until the next time something relatively interesting breaks my streak of continuous work on my new novel, let this be my blanket wish to my fine, five readers.

Go out and continue to conquer your worlds as you see fit and keep making those SDOS connections. It will add to your respective backstories and ultimately bring the grandkids by your nursing home more than once a year if only to listen to your bullshit.

Yours won’t believe the bullshit either.

And no matter what else we get up to, let us make today a great one.