My writing life: the introduction

     As I shared in my opening post, I plan to share sneak peaks of my writing on my blog. As you’ve probably realized if this is not your first visit, providing our children with quality Christian literature is a high priority of mine. I want to try my hand at creating some. While I’m not quite ready to share my first sneak peek, I would like to give you a glimpse into "my writing life."

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 The beginning: 

     In high school I was blessed to have a really special newswriting internship at our local newspaper. My wonderful bosses and co-workers helped me lay a solid foundation. I entered college with a communications major and landed a job in the advertising department of our school paper. Then I got a little sidetracked. I switched majors and never returned to working in the news industry.

      I’d like to say I kept writing but, honestly, life got busy and I quit. I graduated one day, got married the next (literally), moved overseas to do missions work, popped out two babies, returned to the States, and birthed child number three.

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Writing Re-up #1:

     I never was able to shake a little nagging feeling that God had put a passion for the written word within me, and I was neglecting my stewardship of it.

     Finally, after my second child’s third birthday and a move to a new state, I was ready to get started again. Discouraged by the lack of Christian fiction for grade-school aged kids, I had an idea for a series aimed at girls ages seven to ten or so.

     I holed myself away in the basement and began writing. In a matter of weeks, I produced a manuscript, let some of my mom friends read it, made a few tweaks, and began studying the publishing industry. I was quickly overwhelmed. I shelved the manuscript. After all, it’s easier to let something sit than to send proposal after proposal to multitudes of publishers.

Writing Re-up #2

       

     While the manuscript sat on my computer for nearly two years and I busied myself with other pursuits, I could never get rid of that nasty little nagging feeling I was still wasting my passion. A few months ago, I finally emailed the pastor of our church, Adam Feldman, for advice. He is the author of a wonderful book called Jounaling: Catalyzing Spiritual Growth Through Reflection. I arranged a meeting with him and his wife and canceled a week later. (Do you see a pattern here?) My life was too busy to add anything new.

      This time I knew what I needed to do and began de-cluttering my life so I could focus on where God was nudging me. I rescheduled the meeting and got some great ideas for my next steps, which I’ll share soon.

Linking up at Titus 2sdays, Mom 2 Mom, Mama  Moments, and Life of Faith.