Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Childhood and Writing Stories

I've been thinking lately about my childhood.  I am one of those people blessed enough to have had a wonderful childhood.  We were not wealthy, in fact most of my clothes were hand-me-downs from my older sister and our cousins.  We never went hungry, we lived on a farm.  Dad raised beef cattle, we had chickens.  My Uncle, whose farm bordered ours, had a dairy farm.  Mom always had a large garden.  There was always plenty of food.  When my baby brother was found to be allergic to cow's milk we got a dairy goat to milk.

We never lacked for entertainment either. Unlike today, we had few TV channels, no computers or video games.  In spite of these hardships we had a fantastic time. We spent as much time outside as we could....preferably, for me at least, without shoes.  We spent a lot of time in the woods, or the barn.  Played baseball with just my older sister and I....assisted by several "ghost men".  Played hide-and-seek in the corn, but only after it was taller than us. We crawled though the tall grass pretending to be wild animals.  Suffice it to say that we had a great time. We did watch TV, one of our favorite things for my older sister Vikki, our cousin Lisa, and I to play was "Charlie's Angels", we went on daring missions and talked to "Charlie" via our "communicators" which were really erasers shaped like the Burger King's head.

Is it any wonder then that when I got my first really solid story idea that it was taken from actual childhood events and, well, tweaked?  So I added some magical creatures and a few made-up events. The joy of my childhood was a strong influence and inspiration. I was blessed with a wonderful childhood and wonderful family, and I hope that comes across in my writing. I also am hopeful that what I have written will help to inspire a younger generation to go out and play and discover things about the world around them.



Oh yeah....these guys made excellent communicators for talking to Charlie. :)


This was taken in my Granddad's barn last September.  Love it. Inspires my imagination in several directions; historical and magical in turn. What inspiration can you find around you? How about from your childhood?  Write it!




*note: I sent my query letter to my agent-of-choice last night (what was I thinking?)

I did sleep, though I have worries....what if my beginning is not as strong as it should be and it fails to grab this busy, successful literary agent?  I forgot to check my e-mail font, what if it was all wrong?  Still, it is high time I did this. It will be fine, or a learning experience.  *deep breath*