126: How Writing Has Changed My Life.

Have you ever had a dream where you’ve desired something bigger than yourself? You work hard, you strive, and you see part of your dream fulfilled but now you want more?

In today’s podcast episode, I’m opening up about my personal journey of writing and how it is changed my life. Going to hear stories of my friends and how they have touched my life, and how kinship Spurs you on to do more.

Listen to episode: (0:40:53)

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126: How Writing Has Changed My Life.

1. The beginning of my journey. For years, I had this desire to write a book. In seventh grade, my friend and I decided to write a book together. Though we had no idea what we were doing, the idea never left my mind and the seed of becoming an author was forever planted in my life.

2. The College Years. By the time I reached college, the desire to write grew–so, I gave it a shot and began writing my first book. The only problem I ran into, by the time I reached chapter 3, I reached the end of my story. I felt like a failure and wondered how people could write such long books.

3. My desire to write a book grew until it fizzled out on a story. I just completed my time in Australia, came back to finish college and that desire to write remained strong. I began working on a new novel, and wouldn’t you know, I wrote nearly 40,000 words before I had no clue where the story was headed. I gave up and the idea became void–or so I thought.

4. Winter of 2008. I had to take a 10% pay cut at work and as a result, Christmas of 2008, I didn’t have the money for Christmas gifts. I decided to sit down and write a short 1-page story. The end result, I had a 22,000-word Novella. I finished a book and my life-long dream became a reality.

5. The push to join a Writers Guild. Today I sit on the board of directors for the Minnesota Christian Writer’s Guild, but that wasn’t always the case. A writer friend of mine pushed me to attend a meeting in 2008, after she learned I wrote a Novella. I pushed it off until spring of 2009. I fell in love with sitting in a room of like-minded writers, all who have the same dreams as I do.

6. Susan Campbell and Dolores Topliff. Two of the very first people I met were these two women. Susan was the first to welcome me to the Guild and was elated that I had written a novella. Sadly, she died a few years ago. The other person, who’s been instrumental in my writing life is my good friend, Delores Topliff. In fact, she’s editing one of my books right now. These two pushed me to keep writing and never stop.

7. Publishing my first book. With some developmental help from Delores, I published my first book November of 2010. That book became the dream that has spurred me on to write a 30-day devotional, two manuscripts for new books that should be out next year.

8. The Journey of this year and how I changed my approach to writing. This year I changed how I approach writing. With new tools at my disposal, I can write faster and cleaner than I ever have before. My goal is to publish nearly 3 books in the next year–we’ll see. I have enough know-how that I fell confident to keep pursuing writing and teaching you along the way, as I learn the craft.

11. Dreams do come true. If you have this dream to become a writer, I am here to tell you, you can find the path, use my story as the catalyst to push you into discovering the inner writer and get your books written. You can write, you just need the tools to write, now!

I put together a special series to help you along your journey… It’s called, How to Write Your Book the Right Way. Take a listen to these popular podcast episodes and get writing your dream, today.

Check out a special page where you can learn to write your book the right way. Click Here!