Centralight

17 centralight spring '14 O nce in a while something small and seemingly insignificant can change the trajectory of your life. That was the case when Lori Nelson Spielman, '83 M.A. '84, came across a sheet of paper titled "Lori's List" that she had written around age 14. Tucked away in a small cedar box that traveled with her to college and beyond, Spielman unearthed her treasures while cleaning out her closet in 2009. "I opened this box, and I saw that I had kept my grandmother's rosary and my CMU ID card. Then I found this paper that I vaguely remembered," she says. "On it were 27 things that I thought would make for a good life, along with 'Ways to be' – friendly, funny, don't talk about anyone …" That list would soon prompt Spielman, then a teacher for homebound students in Lansing, to write her novel "The Life List," published in 2013 by Random House's Bantam Books and optioned for a movie by Fox 2000 films. The list was something any 14-year-old girl might write – Spielman dreamed of owning a horse, living by a lake, designing and building her own house, having babies, and 'going to collage' – I think that's supposed to be 'college,'" she says, laughing. When she found the list, Spielman began to imagine what would happen if someone were forced to accomplish the things they always dreamed they would achieve when they were young. That plot is the premise of "The Life List," the story of 34-year- old Brett Bohlinger, who is reeling following the loss of her mother. Instead of a traditional inheritance, Brett's mom leaves her a list of the life goals her 14-year-old self imagined she would achieve. Oh, and there's a one-year deadline involved. Spielman has achieved many of the items on her own life list, including several neither she – nor her family – could have ever dreamed. "I came from a very humble background. My dad was a bricklayer," she says, recalling a time when her mother improvised a solution to a broken shoelace, because even a new pair of shoelaces had to wait until payday. "My parents were avid readers, though, and smart. When I went off to college, my mom – being practical and thinking that I would someday be married with kids – said, 'Nurse or teacher. Those would be the careers for you,'" she says. Instead, Spielman was thrilled to discover the world of communication disorders at CMU and not only earned her bachelor's degree, but also her master's in a very rigorous and challenging field. After working as a speech-language pathologist for several years and then as a guidance counselor, Spielman found out about homebound teaching, which involves providing lessons for children who are physically or mentally unable to attend school. She has taught many teen mothers, along with children with life-threatening illnesses and students in homeless shelters. "The Life List" incorporates characters that represent each of these areas of Spielman's life – a speech-language pathologist, a homebound teacher and a teen mother all play key roles. Writing the novel came strangely easily, Spielman says, after a few earlier attempted works that didn't flourish. "I loved the writing," she says. "I would just rush home from work as soon as I was finished with everything and go straight to my computer. I remember thinking this could either be great or complete rubbish." Soon after finishing the book, Spielman landed an agent, who began to pitch the book to publishing houses. Within short order, the writer found herself in the midst of a bidding war for her debut novel. "It's been such a dream," she says. The book has been published in 16 languages, all with different covers and slightly different titles (in Italy, it's called "The List of My Desires"). Producer Hutch Parker ("The Wolverine" and "X-Men: Days of Future Past") and a screenwriter who worked on one of the "Bridget Jones's Diary" films have been picked for the movie adaptation, but Spielman says it's still too early to get her hopes up – film rights often expire without producing the anticipated blockbuster. Still, the process is exciting for the woman who started at CMU feeling not quite confident in her shoes, asking, "Can I do that?" Though a few things may never get checked off her life list, you get the sense that 14-year-old Lori Nelson would be smiling in response. •

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