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."
photo credit |
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.
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.
Linking up at Titus 2sdays, Mom 2 Mom, Mama Moments, and Life of Faith.