Why I Write

My writing career began when I was in second grade. I loved fairy tales and wrote an entire book of my own tales. A sibling, finding my book, taunted: You think you can write? My hurt little soul ran blindly, opened the basement furnace door and threw in my heart along with my little book. My burned manuscript created decades of writer’s block.

I never lost the enthusiasm for putting pen to paper, but I no longer knew how. I love reading. It opens up an entire world of envisioning, learning, and understanding. Writing, to me, has become what I call “spirit” writing. At an appointed hour I ask for assistance from my spirit guides. I wait until the pen almost leaps out of my hand to the paper. (No, I cannot write via computer.) It’s almost as if there is an inner voice channeling feelings and words to me that I commit to paper. I write until the pen becomes stilled.

Challenges come when I listen to the voice in my head that scoffs at the idea that anything I write could be of interest or assistance to anyone. My greatest block is being able to convey what my inner TV screen creates into the written word. Part of what I envision at times seems to get lost in the transition, and I am never quite satisfied. In order to “spirit” write, the voice in my head has to be silenced. Writing then comes from my heart.

My first book was about our unique family, how to organize and raise children. I have also written cook books. But my favorite is my latest: The Illness That Healed Me – An Account of Surviving Sexual Abuse and the Journey into Healing. It took twenty years to write. I felt compelled within to commit it to words. I am passionate about assisting abused to heal and to educate perpetrators about how their actions can ruin the lives of others. I feel deeply that forgiveness is necessary in order to move forward.

I have a daughter and a son who are both gifted writers. When I read what they have written, I am truly entrenched in their words. The stories, the characters, their interpretations all are amazing to me. My daughter’s personalities are so real they absorb all my attention, and I forget they are fiction. I never want it to end. When it does, I ask for more.

I grew up on L. M. Montgomery, and was so engrossed in Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon I actually lost my own identity in them. As an adult, my interests are in energetic healing. Chunyi Lin has probably impacted me the most along with Dr. Caroline Myss and Dr. Norma Shealy. Each of their works educates me to a higher level. I also love reading Gregg Braden, Alberto Villoldo, Bruce Lipton, Christie Marie Sheldon, Sonia Choquette, Joe Vitale, Brent Phillips and others  

I am very passionate about healing and motivated to serve others. Through unique experiences of my own, I am able to offer ways and means of making lives easier and better. When I hear from someone that something in my book has assisted them to change their lives or that they will never be the same after reading my words, I feel humbly grateful. I would heal everyone if I could.

Being an author has some drawbacks for me. There’s a lot of busy work, a lot of waiting, ups and downs, and depending upon others. I would prefer a steady, level road and not a roller coaster ride. I prefer to be in the background but also desire to dedicate my life to assisting others to heal from their wounds and traumas. This is why I write. I know there is a higher way of living that has been given to me as a gift, and I feel a need to share.

I believe some write because they love to write, because it is cathartic, and because it gives expression to an inner talent. Many have an innate understanding of the written word that sometimes escapes me. I write only if there is an inner nudging and the “spirit” writing endorses that. However, I feel that most writers are probably in the former category. I believe we write because it’s just something we feel almost compelled to do. I envisioned writing a book at age 18 and tried several times without success. I believe those “without success” times were necessary to lead me to successes.

My advice to those just beginning a writing career: remain close and true to your heart. Let writing be your passion. Enjoy the process. Be motivated and uplifted while writing. Assume your success throughout the entire process. See the end from the beginning. Don’t let little imps come onto the stage of the mind and bring discouragement. If you are interested in writing, there probably is a reason that is based in talent. Let go of any attachment to the outcome and write for the pure pleasure of writing.

Getting my first book, Families Are Forever If I Can Just Get through Today, published when I was an “unknown” was a huge victory over the past. When I dropped off my manuscript to the publisher, my oldest son commented that my name wasn’t ……. (a famous writer) and what made me think someone would publish anything I had written. I wondered that for the six weeks I waited until I received the acceptance letter. Euphoria set in. I was a child again running, jumping and screaming through the empty house. This was truly a dream fulfilled because my book contained personal stories, and the editor had told me they never published anything personal unless the author was already well-known to the public. My book sold over 40,000 copies in a more local arena and was on the market for nearly 20 years. I was ecstatic!