OK, I admit I don’t really like talking about myself all the time. And that’s part of the reason I struggle to find things to put on this blog. I asked for advice over the weekend on Facebook about what my friends would like to see on any writer’s blog. And one of the answers was to write more about my own writing life.

DUH!  That makes a lot of sense. Why didn’t I think of it. So over the next few weeks or however long it takes,  I’ll share a little about my writing journey. PART ONE is today–How I Started Writing:

I’ve always loved books. Once I learned to read, I carried a book with me everywhere I went. And I do mean everywhere. To my aunt’s and uncle’s. To the doctor’s office. In the car when we were going some place. Even to the creeks and lakes where we went to fish. Of course, I didn’t fish. I read my books instead.

And yes, I was one of those kids who  tried to get away with  reading in class or even after I went to bed.

So the first step in my journey to become a writer was to read, read, and read some more!

As much as I loved books, it never really occurred to me to write books.

But I was a life-long fantasizer. And no I don’t mean sex fantasies!

As a child, I would make up characters in my head and create little lives for them. I would act them out with Barbie and Ken or Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head.

Even as an adult, I continued this little quirk.

Perhaps, the first inkling that I was meant to be a writer came when a friend of mine named Mary and I would read the same books and then critique them. And discuss how we could have made the book better by doing this or that.

The lightbulb moment came soon after I celebrated my 40th birthday. As many 40 year olds are prone to do I was searching for….something more in my life. (And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that my spiritual journey to reunite with God started at about the same time.)

Anyway…I was watching some TV show. I think it was Oprah. That talked about writing your own obituary. Not just any obituary but one that included all sorts of “fantastic” things that you hadn’t done. It seemed a little silly, but…I did it anyway!

At the same time, I was reading a book called SIMPLE ABUNDANCE. One segment of the book was about creativity and how we all yearn for creating something in our life. Made sense, but I didn’t consider myself creative.

Anyway…back to my obituary. In it, I wrote that I was a bestselling novelist!

Really? I had never written anything creatively but a few poems and hadn’t even done that for many years.

But as I read the words I’d written in that obituary something sparked inside me.

And a writer was born!

More about my writing journey next week.

HOW ABOUT YOU? HAVE YOU EVER WRITTEN YOUR OWN OBITUARY? WHAT CRAZY THINGS DID YOU PUT IN IT? DID IT CHANGE YOUR LIFE THE WAY IT DID MINE?

 

UNTIL NEXT TIME…GOD BLESS & GOOD READING!