My passion for ink on paper started young, really young. Here’s me, playing in newsprint. I’m told it was a favorite pastime. After having my own kids, I realize this
fascination is nothing special, as both my children have loved the crinkling and ripping noise the paper makes. (Although, if they also grew up to enjoy writing and reading I can’t say I’d be disappointed.) But for me, it stuck.
I was “self-published” at the early age of 8. I’m using self-published loosely, very loosely. The books were tandem creations between my favorite baby-sitter and myself on Saturday nights when my younger twin brothers were in bed and mom and dad were out getting a much-needed respite. Pages hand-written and self illustrated, then taped together and covered in contact paper. My parents were the only ones who ever read them.
The first time my words appeared in real print I was a lowly seventh grader, responding in disagreement, to the work of an upperclassmen’s stance on sexual harassment in the school newspaper; a pretty heavy topic for a tween to tackle. But I had an opinion and wasn’t afraid to share it.
It wasn’t until my sophomore year that I found myself with a byline, writing articles for that very same school newspaper. That quickly progressed to becoming a page-editor my junior year and co-editor my senior year of a multi-award-winning, bi-monthly high school publication.
In college I interned in my hometown, for a small-town, local newspaper. I had the perfect job. All the reporters had their beats to cover, so when something came in that no one else had time to write about, I got to cover it. I wrote about nuns ministering to the circus, the soap box derby championships, mission trips and boy scout eagle badge accomplishments. And I met wonderful people who trusted me to use my words to share their story.
The next year, I wrote in monthly columns, about life as a college student, as the newspaper attempted to reach a new audience. And in the early 2000s when newspaper readership declined, so did my dream of becoming a syndicated columnist.
I got married, found a job in marketing for a nonprofit where I wrote occasionally. And then I got lost living life. I sort of forgot about my dream. As blogs became popular and everyone had one, I was too busy working to build my own. I thought I’d missed the train.
Call it fate, good luck or just the right timing, in 2014 I found Blogelina and all the resources I needed to get on the blog train. So here I am.
I’m a wife, mother of two, self-employed marketing consultant and registered yoga instructor. I love being in the kitchen, nourishing my family, yoga, reading, learning, making pretty things and a great beach vacation. Most days I have too many balls in the air. I often wonder if I’m doing anything very well at all. Life is messy, but it’s beautiful. Thanks for joining me.
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