A very worn scrap of paper hangs on the wall above my computer with this admonition: “Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except the best.”

Henry Van Dyke said that. I’m not sure who Henry Van Dyke was or where I found his words of wisdom, but I treasure them – justifies my writing!

Also, his advice endorses the amateur – one who studies, sings, paints or writes for love, not money. Our River Valley is and has always been blessed with gifted amateurs, many of them writers.

Why not write a book? Maybe it’s something in the water, or the weather, but amateur writers here are so sure of themselves. No writer’s block, no “Gosh, I could never do that.” No self-doubt.

Self-assurance may explain the locals’ near indifference to celebrity writers in their midst. Take Louise Dickinson Rich, the author of many best-sellers (“We Took to the Woods”), who was no big deal in the everyday life of Rumford Point.

Overconfident novelists from away, however, beware! About a decade ago, the young author of a historical novel based on the June 1941 Don disaster (the mysterious loss at sea of 34 people from the area) came to town to promote his work. Bad move: He had tampered with remembered history and insulted its characters. No book sales that day.

Long tradition

In the earliest days of Rumford’s settlement, the Rev. Daniel J. Gould – yes, the academy is named for him – wrote its history. In 1975, Peter McKenna and Randall Bennett rescued his important work from obscurity with their new publication of it.

Poems written for special occasions were a mainstay of 19th century festivities. Lucretia Howe’s poetry was collected in “Home Songs and Chronicles of the Ellis,” including “The Ninetieth Birthday of Mrs. Marcia Smith Stevens.”

In the last quarter of the 20th century, Stuart Martin, John Leane, Bud Burns and Peter J. McKenna produced invaluable histories of the area. McKenna’s “Hugh Chisholm’s Magic Town” is a perfect gem; good history with an attitude. Never published, more’s the pity, but you can read the typescript at the Rumford Public Library or the Rumford Historical Society.

One of my favorites in the local authors’ category is Doug Hutchinson’s “The Rumford Falls and Rangeley Lakes Railroad.” It’s packed with interesting facts and photos, and some sensational reportage of the late 19th century: “…train soon reached a terrifying velocity … Eli Lundry … decided to jump. It was a fatal decision….”

Bethel’s Eric Wight, a retired game warden, is a songwriter and the author of “Maine Game Wardens” – interesting, but no thriller – who also wrote a beautiful tribute to his father for Down East magazine called “On Top of Old Spec,” which is worth tracking down.

Local writers keep on. Just recently, for example, the Mexico Historical Society announced the publication of Beverly Melanson’s rich little history of Ridlonville. (Where’s Ridlonville, you ask? Check it out at the Mexico Historical Society.)

“The Pynelis Journals,” published in 2003, transcribed from the originals by Robert A. Spidell, recounts splendid summers of yore in Andover. It was a local bestseller even before its author presented it to a Bethel Historical Society audience.

Earlier this year, the Crossland siblings (Lloyd Crossland, Burton Crossland, Joyce Morgan, Fern Stearns and Gail Parent) published volume two of their much-loved “Once Upon a Farm.”

Keep an eye out. Up and down Route 2, along the Androscoggin or tucked away in the hills above, authors are at work on mysteries, autobiographies, children’s books and, always, more history. I’ll keep you posted.

Linda Farr Macgregor lives in Rumford with her husband, Jim. She is a longtime community volunteer and author of “Rumford Stories,” a project of the town’s bicentennial oral history project, which involved interviewing 120 Rumford residents.