A writer...

[A Real Happening]

It was Christmas 2003. My first novel Sander's Starfish was hot off the press, and the publishing house was having a special Christmas dinner for some of the authors. As I attended this event, a fellow author approached me. I recognized him from a Writer's Conference years earlier. At that time we had both been aspiring writers, sharing our story ideas, and our hopes and dreams. Now a few years later we both were attending this special author event.

As we shared our hellos, and the joy of having our paths cross again at such an event, he then said to me. "I'm glad you are here. I didn't think you had what it takes."

What it takes.

I have reflected on that phrase much over these last several years. What did he mean? What does it take to be a writer? What does it take to be an author? Was he referring to me as a writer, or me as an author? And most importantly, do I have what it takes?

To me, an author and a writer are two distinctively different things. I have struggled with both, and with both I have questioned whether I have what it takes.

What I do know is that I love to write. Yet for far too long, I withdrew that love because I got lost in my own maze of what it means to be an author.

Fast forward from that Christmas party to a warm summer day years later. This time I'm out walking with a good friend. I'm between jobs, and I tell her I'm figuring out what I want to do with my life (one of those life-pondering moments). She asks about my writing. I say, "I don't know where my writing fits." Then she says the most prized response, "But that's who you are. You are a writer."

She's right. That's who I am.

I am not someone who will push a book on you to make a sale. I am not one who will self-promote and tell you how great I am. Speaking engagements make me shake with nerves. I've read the marketing and self-promotion books, and I tried to do the array of "pushes" that came with being an author. And it wasn't me.

Instead in my struggle to be an "author", I lost my ability to write.

Now through a series of events, I've re-found what I need to do. I need to write. And I want to write. So I need to take certain steps so I can write.

In exchange for writing, I'd love an audience. (What storyteller doesn't want someone who will listen to their tales?) I want to share with you some of the magical worlds that entertain me. I want you to meet some characters that we can laugh at, cry with, and hopefully rejoice with in their triumphs.

If you would like to share in the adventure, then please join me on this journey.

And...here's my moment of self-promotion: I've spent a large chunk of my life trying to get what it takes to write; I've learned a lot, and I'm continuing to learn; and each book just keeps getting better.

Oh, and most importantly, I want you to know that this blog exists because...I love to write.