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As most of you know, I love to write. So I thought it would be fun to give you a sneak peek of how and when it all started. When I was 11 or 12 years old, I started reading books on my own (not boring books from school!) Nancy Drew Mysteries, Trixie Belden mysteries, The Hardy Boys, The Boxcar Children, The Mandie books, and the Elsie Dinsmore collection were the sum of what I read those days. Then I stumbled upon the beautiful cover of this book that my Mom had on her night stand. Once I got permission to read it, I read right on through the whole series and absolutely loved it. Every birthday and Christmas from that year on, I requested Beverly Lewis books and received quite a collection over the years. It was while reading these different stories about the Amish people that I started writing my own little Amish stories. Earlier this week, I looked back through the old stories I wrote in those early days and had a good laugh at some of the silly things I wrote. Since then I've progressed rapidly out of the Amish fiction phase and started on more contemporary and romance stories. And I believe this is where the story begins! (A word to the wise: I usually refer to some of my stories using the main character's name and not necessarily the title, so bear with me!) Time unknown: Around the time I was 12, I wrote a three part story about an Amish girl (Abby) who fell in love with a converted Englisher (Charlie), who became Amish. :P 2012: This was a big deal for me. I wrote a 19 chapter (two part) story entitled, "Meredith's Test," about a love story between Meredith and a guy named Matthew. You'll learn more about that as the years go by. ;) It's funny, one particular memory I have of writing this story is bringing my notebook with me out to my cousin's house in western PA and talking about it with my cousin, Taylor. 2013: These particular stories were so fun to write! Brainstorming some titles, I believe my aunt came up with the name of the series "Seasons of Love." It was a 4 book (they were literally 8 pages long) series about Naomi, an Amish girl, and how she fell in love with Isaiah an Amish guy. To this day, I only have the first two stories. Oh, and there were no chapters in them. (At the time, I dreaded the thought of long chapters!) 2014: Another fun story I did was a sequel to the Meredith one I already mentioned above, only this time it was about one of the secondary characters, Martha. I called it, "Hidden Treasure" and I wrote a few sequels to that one as well. I loved her story so much (probably because it was set in Wildwood Crest, NJ where we go to the beach every summer.) The blue notebook on the right is where I penned all the stories about Martha and on the black one on the left was the Meredith story. It was also during this year that I wrote another 2 part story (I have no idea why I did the part thing) about a girl who would always get caught up in fights and finally escaped from her tormentors by moving to her uncle's ranch. I named that one "Distant Hope" and Carrie and Bryan were the main couple in it. 2015-2016: Back in 2014, I was wrote short stories that I never finished about a girl (Leah) who lived on a dude ranch in Montana. That inspired me to write a 3-book series titled, "Leah's Adventures series." And this only led to more stories about the secondary characters in those books: Johanna's story and an 8 chapter book I started about Johanna's sister, Josie. I never finished that one so that's included in the "countless stories I never finished collection." I hardly wrote the dates down on some of the stories so I have no clue when I wrote them. Somewhere around this same time I wrote a 29 chapter story about a girl named Carrie and her friend who was going to become a youth pastor, Ted. I didn't title this one.
2016-2017: I got the bright idea to rewrite Martha's story in "Hidden Treasure" and so on, and that was the birth of my revised edition entitled, "His Love." A much improved story that actually had a point to it other than the romance. ;) 2018: Inspired by the 2016 Summer Olympics, I wrote a story about a swimmer who goes to the NCAA championship and wins a medal. I named it "Swimming His Way." Jill was the main character and she had a friend (and secondary character) Misty who is important. So keep her in mind! ;) This was a fun one to write. I even read a book by Michael Phelps to help me get into the swimmer's lifestyle. 2019: I still feel like this book is my baby. ;) I rewrote Meredith's story from waay back in 2012 and changed the plot and the title to "Her Trust." It's the second book of a series I decided to start when I rewrote Martha's story. The third book will be coming soon, Lord willing. 2019-2020: I was brainstorming to do a story about Misty (see above), when all of a sudden the background of her parent's beginnings jumped out at me and demanded a story of their own. Thus, my current book, "Wrong Move" was born. Here's the premise: 6 years ago, they made a deal. A house for Will's son (Tom), and a sum of money for John's daughter (Elisabeth, main character). . . upon their arranged marriage. They struggle to accept their parent's demands, especially Elisabeth. But when she does the unthinkable, will their lives ever be the same? 2020-and beyond: I am taking a short break after having written, "Wrong Move" and will decide between what story should come next on my list. On my agenda: last book of the series that includes Martha and Meredith, Misty's story, and a future series about sisters who come to live at a dude ranch. It's gonna be awesome! All this to say that the total number of stories I've written AND completed comes to 21 stories (not all novel length, but completed nonetheless.) And this count doesn't include the rewrites I did for Meredith and Martha. If I added those in, it's 23. So 21 originals, and 2 rewrites. :) Plus all the countless stories I started but NEVER finished. I hope you enjoyed this post and learning a bit about my writing history! Thanks for staying and reading all the way through it, too. If you have any questions just shoot me a comment (or email), and if you'd like to read any of the latest stories I've done (don't ask about the ones I did when I was 12) reach out and I'll see if I can send it to your inbox. Happy Thursday, everyone! Till next time, Carolyn "But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night." Psalm 1:2
What do you take delight in? Is it your job or your hobbies? Maybe for some of you it's your calling as a mother, a daughter, a sister, a photographer, a baker, or a writer. No matter what or who we take delight in, what will be the first thing we do? What do we usually do when we enjoy a movie, a book, or time with friends? We think about them. Notice that the psalmist delighted in God's law (or His Word). He found joy in reading the scripture and learning more about the Lord. Since it was something he enjoyed, he meditated on it day and night—all day long! What an example! This should be our focus as we seek to delight in Him: thinking about His goodness, His mercy, and all his attributes. Doing this will further lead to our praising Him for who He is and for what He has done in our lives. Will you delight in Him with me, friends? "Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." Psalm 37:4. "The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom." Proverbs 10:21
About two years ago on August 4, 2018, I was going through a study in the book of Proverbs and stumbled upon this verse. Being that I'm a writer, my eyes caught onto the first phrase. "The lips of the righteous feed many." So my words feed others. Your words feed others. Then the question that follows is, "What are we feeding others?" What comes out of our lips that is feeding into someone else? Is it truth? Hope? Encouragement? That's what it should be. But so often we regret the words that spew out of our mouths. They're hurtful, sharp, and painful. These things don't feed others the right message, do they? Again my question to you all is, "What are you feeding others?" As Christians, we're called to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone. With God's help, we can feed our friends and neighbors with the scriptures, with His truth, and with His love. So go out and let His Word pour from your lips. |
AuthorHi! I'm Carolyn, a writer seeking to glorify God with my words. Archives
February 2024
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