My Writing Journey

It seems like writing has always been a part of my life. And it seems like I have  always been in a love-hate relationship with writing too  …

In elementary school I wrote poems. I had my first one  published in the Anthology of Poetry for Young Americans during my 4th grade school year.I wrote poems off and on throughout  elementary school, but I decided I didn’t really like poetry when I was in Junior High, so I quit.

In high school I wrote for the school newspaper one year and competed in some easy contests, but didn’t pursue writing much. The summer after I graduated high school I worked for the local newspaper and got a good idea of what the whole writing things was all about. I covered stories all over the four-town rural area I lived in. I attended local events, sat through dozens of board meetings, took photos, transcribed with an old tape recorder and foot pedal and made coffee.

That fall I was burnt out and decided I was done with writing (and would never return). I went to the University of Wyoming to pursue a degree in Animal Science. I wanted to be a cattle nutritionist. I stayed in that major for a year, but I quickly learned that chemistry was not an area I was gifted in.

Even though I was tired of writing, I really felt like I needed to switch my major. Something in me just couldn’t not write.  I changed to Agricultural Communications with an emphasis in animal science and started to write again.  I wrote for the college newspaper and magazine, some great departments in the College of Ag and had the opportunity to have an internship with a freelance writer for Parents, Reader’s Digest and Family Circle. Working with freelancer Hal Karp was an amazing, God-ordained experience. I honed my phone interview skills and learned how to do internet research (and make lots of copies at the office supply store!).

When I graduated college though, I was lost and couldn’t find a writing job, or really, a job of any kind. One night I stumbled across a news clip about a man saving a boy from a burning car. I told my mentor Hal about it and he thought it would make a great piece. So, in March 2004 I had my crowning moment of writing (thus far) – my article was published in Reader’s Digest.

After that article I tried to find another piece that they would take, but I couldn’t. I turned my attention to getting a job at Focus on the Family but that wasn’t meant to be either – I got over 10 rejection letters from them. I worked part-time for the local conservation district and then after I had my daughter I stayed home to take care of her. Over the years I have written often and on for ag publications and local newspapers.

Today I write a bi-weekly column for The Fence Post and write an article or two a month for my local newspaper, The Scott County Record.

Daily I struggle with time management, writing good content, and coming up with ideas. (That is totally apparent if you read this blog!) Yet, I feel like God has called me to write. I have never heard a voice from heaven telling me to write or anything like that, but I have something inside of me compelling me to write. I think about writing often and even if I – in my poor time management – am not writing, I still feel like I need to be.

So, who knows where this journey will take me. I take comfort in this verse knowing that even though my writing is not the best and I am often quite foolish, God can use me!

“Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,  so that no one may boast before him.” ~ 1 Corinthians 1:26-29