A Writer Reflects

I have always loved to learn. I think it may have been a trait passed on by my father. He had to work instead of finishing high school, but he educated himself. He would pick up a book and read it in any spare time. When he worked as a school custodian, he would often go to the library during a break and read the encyclopedias.

I became a teacher, in part because of my love of learning. It is also why I enjoy traveling so much. To me, going and

seeing is an exciting way to learn. I've been blessed to have gone to all fifty states and over forty foreign countries. In addition, I have also been a life-long student. I like to continue to take university classes that interest me.

Writing pulls all of this together and uses everything I've learned and everything I've experienced. The extra research I need to do for my writing just adds to my learning. My plots, characters, and stories come to me in a way that compels me to write them. For me, an important part of who I am includes my relationship with God. I can't separate my experiences from my walk of faith, because they blend together. In fact, one of the main reasons I write is to glorify God.

Karen Ball summed it up very nicely when she wrote, "More and more I believe God plants the love of writing deep within the fabric of who we writers are. That it’s there from the

moment we come to life in our mothers’ wombs. That He nurtures and refines it through our life experiences. That we write because He looked at us at the moment of conception and said to the heavenly hosts, 'There. That one will tell My truths to a weary world. That one will use the beauty of words to shine My light into the darkness.'”

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