Before I Was Old Enough to Read: The Way My Life Began

Before I was old enough to read, Mom hooked me on fairy tales. She bought a new one for me each month out of the small social security check she received after my father’s death. I was only four years old when my father died one cold Christmas Day in a charity hospital. Four years earlier, I’d been born in a charity hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana. We never had much, but I hadn’t realized it. To me, before Daddy died, we had everything. We lived on South Third Street, in a rambling, white apartment house. We only rented, but I didn’t realize what that meant. I was rich, living in my make-believe world of fairy tales, rich in sunshine and fresh air, swinging in my board-and-rope swing underneath the giant pecan tree in our front yard. I was a happy little girl, who had everything I could possibly want. I had a doting dad and a loving mom. Daddy would rock me and sing me to sleep, singing about my beautiful blue eyes. Mother would read and rock me to sleep with fairy tales. My world was rich, happy, and content. I wanted for nothing.

This was only the beginning. Books and reading were important for me early on, and I've come full circle, from having them read to me, to reading them myself, and finally, to writing them. Stay tuned for more. The first few paragraphs are only the beginning.

Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading,
to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs,
is good for him.
~ Richard McKenna ~

The greatest gift is the passion for reading.
It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites,
it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind.
It is a moral illumination.
~ Elizabeth Hardwick ~

This is What the Lord, the God of Israel Says:

This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “Write it in a book all the words I have spoken to you.” Jeremiah 30:2, NIV

And that book is the Bible. Jesus speaks to use through its pages, His Word. He speaks to my heart and tells me to use my writing for Him. My novel True Hidden Treasures is in the revision stage, and I've nearly completed it. I plan to have two sequels.I loved and devoured family sagas growing up, so it's natural for me to want to write them. I also grew up on Nancy Drew mysteries, and I find myself spicing up the romance with a bit of mystery and intrigue, suspense. It keeps the pages flowing.

I'll have an article published in Christian Fiction Online Magazine in March at
http://christianfictiononlinemagazine.com/home.html. If you've ever considered Published on Demand (POD) publishing, you will want to read it. I've interviewed Janet Eckles, a gifted Christian Author/Speaker, who writes and publishes using special software, though she is blind. She chose Xylon Publishing for her POD book: Trials of Today, Treasures for Tomorrow. Read the column and find out why. I also interviewed Eva Marie Everson, a talented writer, speaker, and my mentor at Christian Writers Guild. My own POD publishing experience as well as that of these two talented authors will help you decide whether POD publishing is for you.

Stay tuned . . .