So my whole life I thought I wanted to be an author until I attended a 3-day writing symposium last summer and realized I didn't want to BE an author, I wanted to be an editor. But then some time passed and I realized that wasn't ENTIRELY true.
I really love to write and this month I am being published for the FIRST time! Published AND paid...how 'bout that? I have been asked to write a permanent column/article for a local magazine here in Utah called "Wasatch Woman". My bi-monthly article is called "Good Reads" and will focus on books in a variety of genres. This month the article focuses on 5 of my favorite picture books.
I'm a little giddy.
The magazine has only been around for a little over a year so it is very new but has good prospects so I must insist you get a copy (or at least pick one up and read it while waiting in the check-out line at the grocery store!).
I realized driving in the car today that what I love writing about are all the many incidents in life where "truth is stranger than fiction". I love memoirs and anecdotes and getting inside people's heads and trying to understand what really is happening there. This is what I feel passionate about writing. I don't want to make up stuff because nothing fictional coming out of my head could possibly be more interesting than all the stuff that happens around me every day. And I'm here to tell you...there are some weird people out there with interesting stories to tell. Like the lady today at the pool who had this to say:
Lady: Excuse me, is that your ball?
Me: Oh no, my daughter just found it in the pool. Is it yours?
Lady: Yes, it belongs to my son. He is 2 years old and has all kinds of sensory motor problems and autism and maybe even a little bit of ADHD.
Me: Oh.
Lady: Yeah, his brothers are swimming around the lazy river with him and boys are just so crazy and I hope they don't drown him.
Me: Yeah. Well, thanks for letting us play with the ball.
I looked at my sister-in-law and she looked at me and we both watched this lady swim off to go find her son being drowned by his brothers in the lazy river. Really...I could not make this stuff up.
Anyway, this has been a random post. I must be tired and I have lots of pool water still splashing around behind my eyes and in my ears. Good night!
