I’m a writer. I long to be slipping into an alternate universe and writing about the landscapes and characters. When I write everything plays out like a movie in my mind. I can see what’s happening and feel the emotions of the characters. Their stories are real and I’m the one who is putting them into written words.
Writers are different and yet not different from those who don’t understand us. Our minds are thinking of how things that play out in our lives can be written into stories. This is who God created me to be. He gave me a gift and it is to be shared. Many share words in audible ways. Listening to those who have a gift for speaking and sharing words of inspiration and hope enrich my life and help me to be a better person. I seek out opportunities to hear different speakers. I enjoy going to church on Sundays and hearing a good sermon rooted in Bible scriptures. I’m a better listener than I am a speaker.
My words are spoken in my mind and then are transcribed onto a computer screen, a journal, or a blog post. This is who I am. I am a writer. This has always been me, even when I ignored the passion to write. I began reading fiction at a very young age, and soon began creating stories in my mind. In school these took form in assignments from teachers. In high school, I gravitated to literature and journalism classes. My teachers encouraged me, but my parents didn’t.
Then I got married. I had children. I still had dreams of writing, but my time was filled with caring for a family. After the children were grown and married, my world was shaken by a job loss at a critical time in life. My husband was retired, and I wasn’t old enough for retirement. During a long six-month period of searching, I turned to the computer and began to write again. I took creative writing classes and found the passion I’d stifled for too long spilling out.
I did find a job eventually. One close to home and I began to share with everyone that I was a writer. I had two books published before I retired, and my coworkers were my biggest fans next to my husband. My writing was finding wings, but it wasn’t quite what I wanted. I didn’t want to write scenes publishers felt were necessary for romantic suspense books. I wanted to write about God using the bad choices we make and turning them into good, into happy endings. So, I did. My third book was published by the same publisher, although they split into two separate publishers. One for traditional secular books and one for Christian worldviews. That’s where my book was placed.
From there, God has directed my writing career into one of sharing hope and inspiration. I’m not a speaker. I am a writer.
Carol Ann Erhardt, Author 