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Writer at the Beach
Thanks for visiting my website, which at the moment is
a work in progress. I have written for many years and taught and encouraged
lots of new writers during most of this time. I also taught for Writer’s
Digest twenty-two years. They were good years when I helped lots of students
and in turn learned more about writing. It’s a constant, ongoing process. As I continue writing in the twilight years – something
that came to me when a dear friend, younger than me, died of cancer – I
realize I want to live longer. I want to write more. I want to mentor new
writers which I do at writer’s conferences and workshops across the country. I have been writing for what seems
forever, but recently, like so many writers, I had a major set-back. The beginning of 2009 found me writing
my first 80,000-word novel. As happens sometimes, it didn’t work out and I
spent a couple of months feeling sorry for myself. I played games with my mind. I told myself that I didn’t need to write. That it was time to retire. After 46 years
of writing, not always fulltime, maybe I should try another venture. “Go on a Sabbatical,” one friend
suggested. “You need a break from writing.” Several said, “You can’t give up
writing!” And to my statement that I was
clearing out files and just might toss out everything related to my writing,
I heard a wild chorus of,
“No don’t you dare!” So I didn’t. A daughter gave me a lovely case of
pastels and I began experimenting with art. An amazing thing happened. A story started forming about a young woman
trying to find herself after a tragedy and she began drawing pictures. See? You can’t get away from something
you’re supposed to do. God gave me a talent for writing—for
storytelling. I have always known
that, yet I almost let a set-back pull me off track. While attending the Oregon
Christian Writer’s Conference, my love for writing, my love for
writers, my inner desire to teach came back full
force. One writer met with me to tell me she
had taken my class at an OCW conference 15 years ago! She said she went home
and began writing. She is crying as she tells me this. I helped her when her
life was in disrepair and now she had come to help me! God is so good! I met with other writers who have
taken my classes in the past and, once again, it was an affirmation that I
have helped them in their journey. And they wanted to thank me. Maybe some of us are mentors and that
is good. Some of us write in the solace of our homes and that is good. I praise God for sending people to me, plus
my many friends who have stood by me in my valley of despair. Excuse me now while I begin my next
book.
Thanks for
coming, Birdie |
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