The Journey Begins…

January 1 is just another day in the year. Only it’s position as the first day of each calendar year (Julian calendars, that is … introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC), makes it special.

That position often marks it as the beginning of new things. The setting of new goals, the learning of new things.

Far be it from me to flout tradition.

On this January 1, I invite you to join me on my adventures in writing Christian fiction.

I have been writing stories since the early years. The earliest complete manuscript I have is a twenty-three-page, seven-chapter marvel about wild horses. It was completely handwritten in #2 pencil and is fully illustrated with my own horse drawings (also in #2 pencil).

It was inspired by the works of Walter Farley, Thomas C. Hinkle, Marguerite Henry, C. W. Anderson and many others. I devoured those flights of equine fancy voraciously all through grade school and well into high school. The best gift my husband has purchased me to date (we’ve been married seven years this April) is a hard cover copy of Thomas C. Hinkle’s Blazeface and Cinchfoot, complete with the full-color dust jacket.

In the back of my mind, I always thought I would write and that I would write horse stories just like those folks did.

But I also always thought I would become a self-supporting painter and that painting pictures of horses would be the way I made a living. The secret plan was that I would make my living on artwork, would give up the ‘real jobs’ and would be able to pursue writing as a hobby.

I do still paint and I make money at it, but I also still have to have a ‘real job’ to take care of things like food, shelter and clothing.

In all of the years since, I have written as moved to do so. I have finished or nearly finished three or four things and have compiled a list of other possibilities that includes over 70 ideas. Some of them are just thoughts in a bullet list. Some of them are 50,000 words or more in length. Most are developed enough that I could pick them up at any time and finish them with the appropriate amount of effort.

Recently, however, I have come face-to-face with the thought that maybe I need to rethink the writing thing. I wrote quite a lengthy commentary on that called What’s Your Passion, which is posted on my Horse Painter Blog, but the gist of it is that I have always treated painting like a beloved child and writing like a pet. A much-loved pet, perhaps, but still a pet.

The Lord has used a long and interesting series of events over the course the last several years and months to bring me to the point at which I realize I need to be treating writing like a beloved child, too.

Not a pet.

Not a hobby.

This blog is one way I am going to share that process with all of you and, hopefully, keep myself accountable to more than my husband, my family and my friends.

I don’t know where this journey will lead or how long it will last, but it does seem like one I need to take.

Lord willing, it will be an interesting and informative journey. I hope you will join me.

Thank you for reading and best wishes!