[Forward]

I'm so thrilled to be here and have an opportunity to blog my way through the week and share a little about what makes me tick and what I love about the written word and writing. I signed up to do this blog a while back, so it's really interesting that my week falls during a time when there are so many changes and interesting things going on in my life, but more on that later.

I tried to think of something that would define the person I am for those of you who have never met me. It's so hard to put my life in a capsule called a blog post and keep it short and interesting. As I thought it over, I remembered one of my favorite poems. It is reported to have been written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, although some people have disputed this and attribute the poem to someone else. Since I tend to like Emerson, I suspect it probably is by him. It goes:

To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.

As I write my books, my goal is to ease the heartache of one person or to make someone laugh. I don't sit and think that hundreds, thousands and so on may read the book. Instead, I think about that one lonely person and how my book could provide an escape. I remember times in my own life when a book or a poem brought relief from grief, pain or sadness. I think about how some books are an escape from boredom or discouragement. And I try to think of how I can do the same thing for even one person and I remember the poem. I think of the poem often. In fact, the poem above is one that I've carried on a little laminated card in my wallet for the past 23 years.

There have been times when people I thought were dear friends have betrayed me or hurt me. I pull out the card and read it and realize it doesn't matter. I can "endure the betrayal of false friends" because I have a purpose. God gave me a great love for stories and a skill in telling them and I have begun to grow in maturity and spirit and see that I can have a huge impact on my readers through these stories. What a wonderful gift I've been given and I've been able to live out my dreams for thirteen years now.

When Allie asked me to talk about when I first started writing, I had to stop and really think about this. You see, I don't remember a time when I wasn't writing. Even before I could write, I was making up stories for my Barbies or telling them to my parents. I do think that I was born with storytelling in my heart and soul. When I learned to read in the first grade, I couldn't get enough of books. I absorbed everything I could get my hands on. I tried to write stories and plays and poems and articles. So, to talk about where my writing began is impossible. When God knit me together in my mother's womb, He made a writer. That is quite simply the only way I can express it. I would never have been able to be anything else.

At the same time, He instilled in me a desire to teach others about writing, about English about how words make beautiful art. Because of this, I have a teaching license and will be going back into the schools to teach teenagers. For now, I am substitute teaching, but I am looking for a permanent position. There is nothing more rewarding than working with young adults and I feel that God is leading me down this path at this point in my life. However, I will still write my novels on the weekends and summers/holidays. My nonfiction is going to get cut back quite a bit, but my first love has always been fiction anyway. So, lots of big changes in my life, but they all surround writing in some way.

My one hope in this life is that my writing and my teaching will change lives. That I will have an impact on my students and my readers. For if I can impact just one person, or if my writing can change them in some small way, then I have truly succeeded in my purpose in this life.