The Power of the Written Word

I love to write. In fact, my dream would be to make a living at writing. I enjoy putting words together, creating, using my imagination.

However, it also requires persistence and consistency. Both of these skills and/or traits are rather hard to come by for me these days. I seem to have so much going on with the family.

But my family comes first. In fact, I am such a supporter of this rule, I prefer a half-clean house with happy kids, than a pristine house with miserable kids. (This also lends itself to my utter dislike for house cleaning.)

I have found that writing a short article in this blog each day whets my writing whistle for the most part. I also have a couple of projects I work on simultaneously on WEbook.com. (www.webook.com/mommybarbie) These tend to at least keep the dream alive.

I have several friends who are professional authors. And I know that they enjoy their work. But like in any job, there are days when they would love to bag groceries just to not have to look at their writing project any more.

But, in the end, they have a block of printed paper with an artfully designed cover that is a living, breathing piece of their imagination, come to life. How fulfilling that must be!

My dream would be to walk in to Barnes and Noble and see my book on a prominent display. I would hide out in the Starbucks and watch as people picked up my book, looked at the front, flipped over and read the back and then skimmed through a couple of pages. Then I would practically shimmy in my chair if they tucked it under their arm and took it up front for purchase.

I would be thinking, "Yes! I did that! No matter how long I live, that book will be around (theoretically) forever!"

I do have a similar feeling of pride in my children: my parenting and decision making directly impacts them and how they grow. However, my control over them is not very long-reaching after a certain point. They are very much their own people, as it should be.

As an author, my characters do tend to take on a life of their own, to some extent. And I do have to stay within a story line to have it be the story that was intended. However, I also have the power to have my characters think, do and say anything I want them to. A demure school girl can win a Rock Band contest. An elderly miser can find true love. An other-world beast can become the hero.

Someday my kids will be living their own lives. They will call me and tell me how they are and how the people in their lives are doing, as well. If I'm lucky, they will invite me to be a part of their lives, too.

At that time, I will have all the time in the world to write and write and write. And I hope I will.

For now, I'll grab moments, write small blurbs and see what I can build a little at a time. But, hopefully, one day I'll have my Starbucks moment at Barnes and Noble... Or maybe just an on-line count of the people who had downloaded my book for their electronic reader... Either way, I would really like to make my mark on the world with everlasting words. And I would love to have those words last and last...