A few days ago, someone asked me why I was doing this, writing, blogging, all that. So, I decided to tell you.
Long ago and far away—in San Diego, a long way from
Junction City, Oregon, where I now live, I sat on a hillside overlooking
Fashion Valley. Alternately drinking a McDonald’s coffee and orange juice, I
asked one of life’s persistent questions: “What do I want to do with my life?”
I had just delivered my two girls, ages six and nine, to
school, a 45- minute commute, and I didn’t want to drive home and be back by
2:30, so I parked.
“Well,” the little voice in my head answered my question,
“I’d write if I had anything to say.”
That day I wrote a little children’s story and haven’t
shut up since.
This morning Amazon Kindle informed me that I was
eligible for their StoryWriting contest. That’s good.
The rub is, a part of the judging depends upon people
reading the book. That's the "Oh Dear," part.
Oh, but then all of you would love to read it/ them.
There are two. Not to be pushy or anything, but people have to know it’s there,
for they aren’t apt to stumble upon it.
Here are what they look like and the links.
Where Tigers Belch is a novella, 8,424 words
One young girl’s search for her purpose.
The Girl on the Pier is
longer. Most novels are around 90,000 words. This one is 43,718 words. Amazon.com
: The Girl on the Pier
When a buyer offers two million for a painting but then
says, “That’s not the painting, there is another.” It sends Sara and her newly
found love on a world search to find the lost painting.
It looks as though I can attribute my writing career on
my girl’s schooling. More accurately, those long commutes did it, for I often
spent those hours between delivery and pickup, studying, reading, and writing.
Now my girls have children of their own, and Grandma is
still plugging away at the keyboard.
Blogging makes you notice things, allows you to make
comments, and is a commitment, and, think of this…no professor will mark your
page with a red pencil.
I must love what I do, or I wouldn’t keep doing it.
“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let
everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it.
While they are deciding, make even more art.”
Yes, I consider what I do art. It’s my creative endeavor,
and I preach to others to find that thing that gets them up in the mornings. We
are all artists. Find that thing that lights your fire.
Why in the world are so many people on drugs, uppers or downers, when they
have a fabulous endeavor at their fingertips? We have eyes to read and a
beautiful world to enjoy. This is life, folks.
When someone asked the Science fiction writer and person
who coined the word ROBOT what he would do if he was told he had fifteen
minutes to live, Isaac Asimov answered: “I’d type faster.”