I’m trying to remember just how long I’ve wanted to be an author. Not sure, but it’s been a long time. Since I checked out that first book with all its beautiful pictures of dinosaurs in my first kindergarten trip to the school library, probably. Once I realized that amazing book had been created by an actual human being somewhere, I knew that’s what I wanted to do, too. My journey has taken awhile. I’ve written lots of stories and articles, interviews and poems, but it wasn’t until 2021 that my first book came out. And that dream come true was celebrated right here on these pages! For those who have been along on the whole journey–thanks so much!
This author life hasn’t been what I expected, though, I’ll have to admit, I don’t know what, exactly, I expected. 🙂 My books crowding the shelves of Barnes and Noble, or the local library? Juicy royalty checks? Hmm. Well, some things have certainly not happened! But it’s been good, anyway. I get to create characters I like and put them in worlds I’ve made up in my own mind. Brave heroines, noble knights, non-human characters who are, in their own way, more human than many of us. I get to write what I want to read and what I want to believe in. That there are good people in this world, people of honor who consider others’ needs above their own, and who, when called upon, will sacrifice themselves for them.
A wonderful side effect is the people I’ve met on the journey. The authors, critique partners, editors, publishers and the READERS! This week I’ve discovered one of my newsletter subscribers is an aerospace engineer! Who would have thought?? And another person, one I’ve never met, wrote to ask if I’d pray for her about a worrisome health issue. I am so blessed! God is so good. I don’t talk about my faith a lot in these communications because I don’t want to potentially push away readers who come from a different–or no–faith tradition. All are welcome in Argonia! But the longer I live, the more I realize I’ve never been alone on this journey. The One who created geoducks and galaxies, atoms and astronomers, has been with me all this way. And on this Thanksgiving season, 2024, I am very grateful!