My entire life I've been surrounded by family history enthusiasts. My mother is the family genealogist. Researching her roots has been her favorite hobby for as long as I can remember. If she had been paid for all the time she has spent on this hobby, she'd be a millionaire. I never felt the urge to join her in her line-tracing pursuits. It looked boring. When my father retired, he joined my mother in the never-ending search for deceased kin.
When I grew up I married a man with a degree in French. He got a job translating old French records into English. That job led to other jobs and currently he works with family history software as a tester. Of course my mother loves that his job blends so well with her favorite pastime. Family history is almost all she ever talks to him about. I stayed out of it, spending my time on creative projects and raising our seven children.
A few years ago I decided it was time to do something with my writing talent. I started attending writers conferences, joined writers groups and online email lists. I published non-fiction articles on gardening and a true story in a children's magazine. I started a couple of fiction stories. My main project was a young adult science fiction/dystopian novel. Unfortunately, technology caught up with me and a gadget in my book that I thought was futuristic was released as the i-Pad. It took the wind out of my sails. I became rather discontented with writing fiction in general, and longed to write something true and meaningful. I stopped working on my fiction projects and took a break from almost all writing for about a year, taking the time to think about what I really wanted to accomplish with my writing.
At about this time several things happened. I made a new friend who has a compelling life story he wants told. He asked me to help him write it. I jumped at the chance. Simultaneously, my online handcrafted goods store steadily declined in sales and almost dried up completely. I saw it as a sign I needed to move in a different direction. I joined yet another writers group and attended one of their conferences. At the conference I met Paulette Stevens. She taught a workshop about becoming a personal historian. Her message resonated with me and I knew that was what I'd been looking for. I found the avenue to use my writing skills to produce something meaningful and beneficial to the world.
When I grew up I married a man with a degree in French. He got a job translating old French records into English. That job led to other jobs and currently he works with family history software as a tester. Of course my mother loves that his job blends so well with her favorite pastime. Family history is almost all she ever talks to him about. I stayed out of it, spending my time on creative projects and raising our seven children.
A few years ago I decided it was time to do something with my writing talent. I started attending writers conferences, joined writers groups and online email lists. I published non-fiction articles on gardening and a true story in a children's magazine. I started a couple of fiction stories. My main project was a young adult science fiction/dystopian novel. Unfortunately, technology caught up with me and a gadget in my book that I thought was futuristic was released as the i-Pad. It took the wind out of my sails. I became rather discontented with writing fiction in general, and longed to write something true and meaningful. I stopped working on my fiction projects and took a break from almost all writing for about a year, taking the time to think about what I really wanted to accomplish with my writing.
At about this time several things happened. I made a new friend who has a compelling life story he wants told. He asked me to help him write it. I jumped at the chance. Simultaneously, my online handcrafted goods store steadily declined in sales and almost dried up completely. I saw it as a sign I needed to move in a different direction. I joined yet another writers group and attended one of their conferences. At the conference I met Paulette Stevens. She taught a workshop about becoming a personal historian. Her message resonated with me and I knew that was what I'd been looking for. I found the avenue to use my writing skills to produce something meaningful and beneficial to the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment