Beginning of the Journey

Well, this is my first blog. And I can't say I really think anyone is a totally avid random blog reader, or particularly cares about my personal blog. So maybe we blog creators only do it for us, anyway. But, the reason I'm here is to record what happens along the way of this incredibly journey I've been called to start on. Whether or not anything comes of it remains to be seen, but if it does, I want to have every step of the way recorded somewhere. And if anyone wants to tag along, follow along and just generally be a part of the fun, you are more than welcome.

This will hopefully be a place to record events, thoughts, feelings, and emotions felt during this process of starting from scratch and trying to get a children's book eventually published. I want/need a place to come record it all, because in the writing about my writing, there is healing and hope and encouragement to continue.

I've always been somewhat of a writer, but a very unpublished one. And that's always been fine with me. It seems what I've written has blessed others by the inspirational quality and content, and the light on life perspective I aim to shed. I've always gone by the rule of "have an event happen- see a life lesson in it - write a short story about it." That's pretty much been my recipe for writing all my adult life, and it's worked.

There are times I realized I have just GOT to get stuff out of my head and down on virtual paper, because the thoughts and story it's forming won't leave me alone til I do. And the writing process is always fun - taking the actual details and weaving them together into something I can use and share.

But I've always had an experience to write about. This is different- thinking of ideas for fiction children's literature (specifically picture books.) I have a head full of titles, but not as many ideas ( I thought it was supposed to work the other way!) But I start with the titles anyway and write them all down. I've recently been reading some good books on getting started writing children's books, and it says to revisit your own childhood. So, I got a few more good ideas from that and from anecdotes my mom shared with me about her growing up years. The other day I saw a title that had something to do with a witch, and I suddenly remembered, "Oh yeah! When I was growing up, my cousins used to always tell me that a witch lived next door to them, and I can remember that eerie feeling of looking out of my aunt's dining room window, hoping Mrs. Witch Neighbor would pass by HER window and I could see her pointy hat..." Now, THAT should be good stuff for a story somewhere along the line!

In order to muster my courage to start out on what seems to be a pipe dream (of getting a children's book published), I keep going over my very short list of writing successes that have come my way. I also felt it was important to get them down somewhere for posterity, and for credentials should I ever need them...

1. When I took a babysitting course in high school at our local hospital, my essay at the end of the test won the prize for best essay.

2. When I submitted my manuscript for speaking at Christian Women's Clubs, it came back to me with NO EDITING NECESSARY, except to re-work the joke I had at the beginning to break the ice. I had heard of gals writing and re-writing their testimony before getting accepted to speak, so to have it sent back with the A-OK stamp of approval on it FIRST TIME THROUGH told me something. That was years ago...we'll see what happens now!

3. I posted one of my older stories on Facebook this week. I got two very nice, and timely, comments from friends, that read, "Beth - Wow - you really have a gift to put things into words. I can't wait to see your first book! What a blessing - thank you for sharing." and "Beth -- you could write for Oprah magazine! Excellent, well-written, colorful, vivid inspirational story! Very impressive! You should publish this..." Wow, If only I could.....

So, I am finding writing for 6, 7 and 8 year old minds to be much more challenging at the present time. Because they don't want a life story of how I can take this experience over here and see the spiritual connection in it and relate it to my faith over there. They want something much different - something entertaining with a slight lesson perhaps, complete with illustrations I can't draw.

This is gonna be a lotta work. But you're welcome to come along and see how it goes.