How I Came to Be a Writer

Welcome back!

I discovered that I enjoyed writing when I was in high school, however unfortunately my teachers were not encouraging and as a result I felt that it wasn’t my strong suit.   Fast forward to college, I began taking extra English and writing classes, which further revealed my gift for writing.  My college professors unlike my high school teachers were encouraging and impressed by my ability to write.

Therefore, I finished college with a minor in English and a love for writing.  At this point nothing becomes of this new found love, but still it was a stepping stone. I have kept a “journal” for many years, which is also another reason that I began to realize I had a “writing bug“.  My husband saw my talent and constantly encouraged me to do something with it.  He always told me “You should write a book.”

So, two years ago when I felt God calling me to take a step of faith and pursue full time ministry outside the walls of the church through a speaking and writing ministry it all began to make sense, but I was still terrified as I still am today of the rejections that come with pursuing publishing, whether in a print magazine or for a book.

Nevertheless, a little over a year ago I began writing a monthly column for a local Christian magazine, North Mississippi Christian Family and to this day I still have a monthly column in it. So, my dreams to be published in a larger magazine and to publish a book still remain.  Finally, I am pursuing that with a little more gusto.

As I told Kathy Willis, the editor and publicist I am now working with, I am published all over the web.  I have written more articles than I can count, many are in article directories, published on Christian websites and I maintain 2 blogs of my own, as well as contributing regularly to others.

As the country singer, Brad Paisley’s song says, “I’m so much cooler online.” Thank God for the internet, or I may have never believed in my writing abilities. It is a result of some connections I made online and a phone call I received from an online friend that I now own a freelance writing business.  My “money making” job these past approximately 15 months has been writing for others as both a ghostwriter and freelance writer.

Writing has become my life, most definitely, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Photo Credit: dabawenya

7 Juicy Tidbits about Me

Shelia, from To Love, Honor and Vacuum (what a cute name eh?) tagged me today as she has been following me on Twitter lately and wants to learn more about me.  I’m honored really!  So here is my feable attempt at telling you all 7 Juicy Tidbits about Me.  I’m not really one to think that things about me are “juicy” but I’ll try my best.

Actually I think I”m going to break the rules here a bit and instead of writing 7 new tidbits about myself, and since Sheila is a relatively new follower of mine I think that she’ll benefit a great deal from, (meaning get to know me better) by reading some of my previous posts here on my blog.  So, I’m going to be pointing out 7 of them from 2008 that I think will best help her to get to know me.  How’s that for juicy?

So, I’ve changed this meme up a bit, but hey! one juicy thing you’ll learn about me is that I like to be different.

Post #1 – I did a 7 Wierd Things post last January.  It should give you some things to know about me.

Post #2 – 10 Likes Verses Dislikes - A few more interesting things about me can be found here.

Post #3 - My Little Love Story – Here is the first in a series of posts on how I meet my husband.

Post #4 - I Am From – I did this neat meme and it reveals alot about my past.

Post #5 – What I’m About Online – I share in this post the many things I do online and what I am all about.

Post #6 – Counting My Blessings – In this post I tell you about some of my blessings.

Post #7 – Writing, My Passion – One of the things I’m most passionate about as explained here.

So, this may not have been the original meme, but I like how it turned out.

A Father’s Blessing

A couple of days ago, as I was getting ready for my day a friend of mine said a prayer that I would be blessed that day.   I know I receive blessings everyday, but this day the blessing would turn out to be a little different.  You see, I have been struggling recently with alot of anxiety over financial worries as well as medical issues with my children.  All of it was just sort of closing in on me.  I’d been in a real funk and was desperate to get out of it. I wanted and still do want my money issues fixed but at the point I was 2 days ago I was just about willing to do anything I could to fix them. You see that’s how I am, I”m a fixer. I want things to go smoothly so I try to fix “everything” and as many of you know in life not everything is fixable at least not overnight.

So, at this point I was ready to go out and get a job, outside of the home, not because I wanted to, but because I was feeling like that was my only option.  No, it was definitely not what I wanted.  I after all love being home with my children and I after all am passionate about my “job”  of writing, speaking and ministering, but felt it just wasn’t paying the bills like I wanted it to.

One of the most difficult parts of working from home is that my family (meaning my parents) has never seemed to really “get” what it is that I do. And because I have not chosen to follow the career path I had talked about going down in high school and back when I was living under their roof, I felt my parents were disappointed in me.

Well, this thought changed a couple days ago, when after my friend prayed I’d receive a blessing.  I did.  I was having a conversation with my daddy about my situation.  You see it was not until earlier this week that I admitted to myself, my husband and my mom and dad that I was having anxiety issues (this is not new to me I’ve had them before and will again).  So, he and I were discussing what I could do and I mentioned the idea of the “job”. He answered by telling me that I already had a job.   I was a writer, I was good at what I did. He actually told me I was talented, I had potential and that I could do whatever  I wanted with it.  He knows that I want to write and publish a book, I also shared with him about my ebooks, and other ideas I had.  He agreed they were all good ideas, and then said, “So what are you waiting for? What’s holding you back?”  I admitted that time and the distraction of my children being under foot 24/7 was one big issue. (They are precious and I love them but they make it hard to concentrate.)  We resolved it by deciding to let my mother in law watch them at couple of days a week so I could work uninterrupted and focus.

Then, he said, “what else?”  I then admitted that “fear” was my only other stumbling block.  He then asked me, “Haven’t you stepped out on faith before?”  To which I responded, “well of course”.  So he told me, “Close your eyes and step.”

Honestly, to me those were the perfect words, just what I needed to hear.  Months worth of worries seemed to fade, as well as over 2 years worth (that’s how long I”ve been working from home) of wondering if he understood and was proud of me faded.  It was as if he had just giving me “his blessing.”  And now, I’m ready to take that step I need to take.

Bartering Rocks

Bartering rocks people.  I am totally crazy about it, have done it many times in the past and over the past several weeks have accomplished quite a few of my goals for my businesses as a result of a good barter with some other very capable, awesome WAHMs.  Thank the Lord for them!

So far, I have gotten my header redone over at Beauty by Design Ministries, as well as gotten my podcast site and my ministry site converted into one Wordpress site, then I got some awesome new graphics for my ebooks there as well.

Finally, this week I have gotten a whole new look for A Writer for Hire. It is looking fresh and unique which I am pumped about, as I have a new slogan, “Delivering Fresh Content to You”, and a new approach for that business to totally get me going in 2009.  So, if you need help with your blog or website content or articles written to help market your business or to put in your newsletter, I”m your gal. But, mostly my specialty for 09′ is going to be blog content management.  My goal is to have 5 blog content managements.  So, if you want in on that you should go here, read up on what I can do for you and then contact me before I fill those 5 spots.

So, what have you bartered for lately? Was it worth it?  Would you do it again? Do tell!

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