About a year ago my daughter walked through the house and asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. Most people my age (late twenties) already have a career or are working toward their goal. I’ve been a massage therapist, helped run a health food store, nearly have my doctorate in naturopathy and for the last several years I’ve been a stay at home mom. Yet, I’ve never felt like any of that was “my thing” I was meant to do. So when she asked me that question I really thought about it and an image came to mind. An image of me walking into a bookstore and seeing a book that I wrote on the shelf. It was the mother of all epiphanies, it was a peaceful knowing that writing was what I should be doing.
I’ve loved writing since I was a child. The time or two I thought of pursuing it seriously I scared myself away by reading how difficult it is to get published and I wasn’t sure I could handle any criticism that came my way, but I decided to push those fears away and see where it could take me. I set a goal for myself to write something and get it published by the time I turned thirty. A couple of months later my mom picked up a magazine that mentioned a publishing contest and said she thought I might be interested. The deadline was a little over two months away but I decided to try my luck. So nearly every single day for two months I wrote at least 1000 words and edited the entire book within one week. At times it was challenging but I loved the challenge and the story I created. I submitted it on the day of the deadline with many many prayers, only to find out they had extended the deadline by three more months! I was frustrated at how much more thought and review I could have put into my story in that time frame but it was done and submitted and I had to hope for the best.
December 1st, I was checking my email looking for a lost password to a site I rarely used and a message from the publishing company was waiting. I won the contest. I am not an overly emotional person, it takes a lot to get me excited. But I screamed and screamed, then cried. So now I am picking out cover designs, writing dedications, creating blogs and twitter accounts and in a few months I’ll see my book on bookstore shelves. If it comes out this summer it will be the best way to spend my 29th birthday I could possibly imagine. Dreams are attainable through hard work and faith and I’m so excited to see where this new journey leads. I hope you follow me on the adventure.
Writing Mountain Magic 