It's been a struggle coming back to the literary field. My skills had gotten far more rusty than I realized, and writer's block had plagued me sometimes for weeks on end. When there's trouble in the camp (so to speak), it's hard to focus on being creative with a story, and actually make it come out being interesting enough for others to read. But, several months ago, I began receiving suggestions, and getting far more ideas to write about that I could manage to fit into the slot in my schedule for writing projects. The scheduling dilemma, which isn't so much an orginization problem as it is a sheer lack of time for writing and editing, still hasn't been resolved. But, I'm praying and hoping that it will grow wings and gain enough altitude for me to have all the time I need for it within a year, or less. That's the dream and that's the plan.
I continue to meet and hear about people who have such wonderful stories to tell. And, on my end, it's a huge privilege to be the one to put into print for everyone to see. The list continues to grow, but so far, the 7 days in a week, and 24 hours in a day time allotments haven't increased at all. I've taken the issue up with God on several occasions, and so far ... you get my point, I'm sure.
In high school and college, journalism and I had a love/hate relationship. I loved writing the stories, and I loved editing. But, I had a big dislike for having to write inside the stylebook box. That means I was limited on the content and had to follow the newspaper's rules on how the content could be written and presented. However, on Hubpages.com, I've found this much appreciated freedom to write a story how I want it, about whom I want it, and I can even include my opinion in it, if I so desire. Therefore, I'm learning to like Hubpages and the wealth of support it's providing, as well as having been exposed to many very qualified writers on the site.
The biggest obstacle I'm having to overcome to be a full time independent journalist and book author has been income and time. I need the time to write, but I also need it to work to keep money in my account to support me while I write. Seems to be a bit of a vicious circle a great deal of the time, but I'm making headway.
And, in making headway, one of the dilemmas our family has been dealing with for the last two years, is finally resolving itself after a great deal of prayer. Since God seems to have moved that mountain for us, success just moved much closer.
My reader base is continuing to grow, and it's growing faster than it ever has. And, yes, I'm THRILLED about it!! So, for those of you who've been taking the time to at least open my page, follow me by email, drop me a few lines of fan mail for encouragement, and clicked the like buttons, voted me 'up', so on and so forth ... THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
While I'm here on my soap box giving thanks to God and my readers, I would like to extend a reallly big thanks to Jennifer Hall and her son, Jared Hall, who I am lucky enough to have as next-door neighbors. Jennifer has been a wonderful resource for ideas on interviews, making connections as well as coming up with questions for the interviewees (if that wasn't a word before, now it is, at least on here), and Jared has been a huge help with technical assistance. He also rides point with our cycle pack, taking out all the cobwebs and scattering the critters on our path before the rest of us get to them. So, big, big thanks for all their help!
I'm also working on two book projects. One is going much slower, because it's non-fiction and contingent on interviews and travel time which I haven't managed to have enough free time to get to, in order to complete it. The other is my first attempt at a fact/fiction young adult readers series. My sister, brother-in-law and a few other friends have thankfully loaned their services to assist with the last mentioned project, and it's hinging on the same issue ... time. It was also hinging on another issue, but that's the mountain I told you about earlier that God recently demolished, lol.
So, it's finally all coming together and moving a little faster. Not as fast as I'd like for it to, but as my sister is always telling me, because her pastor, Greg Morrison, is always telling her ... "Don't try to get ahead of God. He's got perfect timing, and He knows what He's doing."
I'm doing my level best to keep that in mind while I prance and hop waiting for the rest of the gates to go flying open. Ultimately, we're getting there!
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