Finding Her Calling

What’s Your Writing Story? #whatsyourwritingstory

Finding My Calling

From a young age, I knew I loved kids. Is that weird to be a kid yourself and have that feeling? In Elementary School, I would always help my classmates after I finished my work, I assisted the teachers whenever I could, and I would coo over any baby that crossed my path.

By the time I was in Middle and High School, I had decided I was definitely going to be a teacher when I grew up. That love of children’s wonder, joy of life, and yearning for education just enthralled me. I quickly went from a student in my church’s Sunday School to being a Teen Helper/Teacher. I worked in the nursery. I also became the go-to babysitter for a few families.

By young adulthood and college time, other life struggles caught up to me. Having un-diagnosed ADHD, I failed out of college my first semester. A friend’s family owned a daycare and asked if I wanted to work there. After working there for a week, I lost that job due to miscommunication. From a coworker at another job, I was referred to a local preschool and got a position there. Unfortunately, that was very short lived as well. I was a young, newly-married adult, and I felt like an absolute failure with a job at a mall clothing store.

During a church group discussion, I remember feeling like I was lost. I broke down in tears thinking how I could be so wrong with this gut feeling my entire life knowing I was supposed to work with children, and yet fail at every turn.

Fast forward a few years, I’m a mom of three daughters. We’re on a drive, and I’m put on the spot to tell a story. I make it up as I go along, taking cues from our scenery, and making sure to add in a moral as well. Skip forward a few more years, and that story has been stuck in the back of my head. I realized it actually was a pretty cute story. The seed was officially planted of maybe, possibly pursuing publication.

As those years passed, I typed the story up. I self edited it a few times, with my husband’s input as well. A new neighbor moved in who had started publishing books and was considering starting her own publishing company. I would talk (author) shop with her during school drop off/pick up times, and thought maybe this was a new sign. Now here I am, my story is publishing Nov 14, just a couple weeks from me writing this, and I have multiple other works in progress as well. I can officially call myself a Children’s Book Author.

I had an epiphany when thinking on what to write for this article. I’ve chosen a career that relates to children. My life long passion wasn’t for naught. While I won’t be teaching, I’m sharing in other ways. I’ll be able to do school events, and honestly, don’t kids like those better than class time? I won’t have 20-30 kids to call my own every school year, but instead I’ll have books on bookshelves across the country (if not the world) that could reach just as many, if not more, children.

Life can be funny, and life can be tricky. No one knows what will happen. I misread my passion for working with children, and it took until I was 42 years old before I accomplished it. But I’m here now. And THAT is my Writing Story.

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