Writing - How My Journey Began

Second Post of the Day

After I wrote my first book, Mermaid Isle, in sixth grade (a poorly disguised Cinderella under the sea story), I thought that one day I might grow up and be an author. I envisioned myself writing fiction that was centered around horses and maybe with some romance thrown in.

As an adult, I even got several chapters written about a single gal on a ranch but, like Mermaid Isle, soon realized that my story was not very original.

It was during my teaching career that I actually began writing. Really writing. I worked with three different professors in the Education Department of the University of Illinois and published four papers in education journals. 

Those required a LOT more work than a blog post - meetings, winnowing down the topic, deciding who would address what, meeting again, writing, writing, writing, revising, revising, revising, and then finally submitting the paper for publication. 

One of those papers (the one above, I think) had over 25 drafts before it was sent off for publication.

Those professors gave me an opportunity to have a real voice in Education beyond my local community and I will always be grateful for that. I also discovered that I loved writing nonfiction.

In contrast to my professional writing, most blog posts take me one to three hours to write. That includes gathering pictures, collating them, making several drafts, proofing, and finally publishing. (The teacher in me is always chagrined when, after all that, I read the published post later and find a spelling, grammatical, or punctuation error. Hah!)

It was through blogging that I realized that I had become an author, albeit not the kind of author I thought I'd be. Between my professional papers and my blogs (I have 13 of them, but Horsiemama and Teachinmama are the two I write in most) I am a writer of non fiction. 

Well, Dogs of Our Lives is fictionalized...Anything to find a sun puddle! Looks like there's a halo around Tammo's head. (This picture may be used for the next Dogs of Our Lives.)

Since I love to write and I love model horses, I was excited to begin research on the new series I am planning about the BreyerFests I've attended over the years.

Yesterday I made a huge mess in my office as I began going through boxes and papers.

This tub proved to be a gold mine of BreyerFest memories.

By the end of the day, I had a good stack of memorabilia and ephemera to look through and photograph for the series. (And Pepper and Tammo were glad to have their covered bed back.)

That will be today's project and the beginning of the actual writing of the BreyerFests series.

June Give Away

The June Give Away is related to Fonso and the 1880 Kentucky Derby. Unfortunately, what I wanted to show you is still in transit so here's a photo:

A commemorative Kentucky Derby pin! (That's the seller's photo and I don't think the colors are true.)

Comment on any blog post published beginning today (and including the previous one about Emily's birthday) through Saturday, June 14 at 11:59 PM EDT to enter. I'll spin-to-win on Monday or Tuesday.