So I was on a work trip last week (somehow, some way, somebody wants to pay me to do photography for them) and I pulled out my Mac during my last night in the hotel. And I decided to work on this story idea I'd come up with while I was recovering from surgery. It was one of those middle-of-the-night, random ideas that bubbled to the surface while my conscious brain was too sick to get in the way.
And as I started writing, I realized that this character may not be one that an adult would care much about. In fact, upon further thought, this character isn't someone created for adults. Indeed, I think I'm writing a book for a middle school audience.
And when I figured this out I sort of got really excited about it. Well, not sort of...I did. Because all of a sudden I had a flash of ideas in my brain, I could see the possibilities for the character and the storyline(s), and I wasn't struggling with finding a direction in the same way that I had with my last fiction book attempt.
Over the next few days I started doing research into writing children's books. I don't think it's a coincidence that I'd ordered a book on this very subject a few weeks prior. Sometimes the universe is funny like that. It knows where you're going before you do.
Anyway, I looked up different organizations related to children's books and publishing, and I had this moment where I stumbled upon a list of kids' books on one of the websites. And in that moment my heart leaped and a smile formed itself on my face. I was excited.
Back at the turn of 2010 I was a school teacher for a year, and what I loved best about teaching was when I got to have conversations with my kids about life lessons. (Yes, I also really loved teaching them how to write, but I really REALLY loved teaching them how to be human beings.) I didn't have kids at the time, so it was nice to have an outlet to help these children move into adolescence.
I'm 35 years old now, my uterus has been stitched together in multiple places during a recent surgery, and it looks like kids are not in the cards for me. And I've been feeling some sort of way about that. About not being able to help my child, or any child, have a better life than I was subjected to.
But what if...what if!...I could help the other children in this world through my writing?
I remember this lovely book called Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. I read it several times when I was a young girl, and I remember that it had a positive effect on my life. It answered questions that I had, it taught me to navigate social relationships, and it helped me to not feel so alone. Could I do that for someone else?
Right now I've decided to really pay attention to my feelings, because the idea of being a children's book author excites me in a new and vibrant way. It feels like writing books for young adults is something I can actually do. Like, in the same way I feel like I can write kick ass marketing copy or IT documentation. So I'm going to follow it and see where it goes.
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