I was thinking today about just where these stories came from. I mean, I’m not a writer. They mostly just, well, came to me. Some of you might remember that ATOFC was written in serial form. I assigned myself a chapter a day and wasn’t entirely sure what was going to come out when I sat down at the keyboard. Many times I had the feeling of just transcribing a story I was being told, so I had the experience of reading it rather than writing it. At the twists and turns of the story I was just as surprised as any of you reading it.
Because, as I’ve stated, I’m NOT a writer, my impulse is to stuff these stories in the back closet and let them go. The only thing that keeps pulling me to do something more is the fact that when I get them back out and start reading, I actually get sucked into the story, lol. I still tear up at the end and laugh at the funny parts. And I wrote the things! Heck, I know what’s coming!
So, while it’s completely crazy that an almost-39-year-old mom with a nursing background, not a writing background, write some little stories and have the audacity to contemplate submitting them for consideration, I guess that’s what I’m doing. The most likely result is a polite little rejection slip, but at least I will have done all I can for them. I’ve got to get past this fear of failure and rejection and make myself vulnerable, at least for the sake of the characters I created.
Praying With My Feet 
You're a storyteller, and that beats being a writer any day in my book! And I say that as someone who technically knows a good bit about writing and has exactly zero characters who have ever been in her head begging to come out. 🙂
If you feel like making it a trilogy, I love the story about the man who learns to swim for his daughter… I can't remember the name of it, though. ❤
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Oh yes, “Walking on Water”. 🙂 I like that one too. (I'm pretty sure I tagged all of my stories with the tag “writing” in case someone is looking for something.)
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go for it!! i heard EB White talk about crying at the end of Charlottes Web and he was the author! In my past life I did some editing, so if you need another pair of eyes, I would be happy to help you get it ready to share.
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Monica, I'll certainly keep that in mind! Thank you!
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You should go for it, definitely! Remember, JK Rowling wasn't an author when she started out either. And don't worry about rejection slips – I used to say that I felt successful as a poet because my rejections slips were handwritten with suggestions and not just printed. One of my professors who was later Poet Laureate of Kentucky told me he could paper his office with rejection slips!
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Count me in on the encouragement chorus of “Oh, please, go for it, yes, yes.”
And I'm not exactly sure why, because the stories don't have to be published to enjoy them, since you share them here — so there is something else motivating the encouragement.
Maybe it's the sense that because they feed and inspire the moral imagination, they deserve a wider audience and a less techy setting – i.e., to be read from a book, to a child cuddled on one's lap…
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keep at it! you can write and have always had such fun stories over the years…
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