It All Started with a Ghost Story

People have asked me lately how I got started writing. How did I know I wanted to be a writer?

I've answered the same way every time.

I fell in love with reading as soon as I realized that words could become sentences, sentences could become paragraphs, and those paragraphs could become entire stories. I was hooked.

After reading enough books, I eventually thought, I can do this!

As it turns out, writing a good story is significantly more difficult than reading one. Who knew? Ha!

But recently, while working my second job, a memory surfaced that I'd nearly forgotten.

My love of storytelling began long before I ever tried to write a novel.

And it began with a ghost story.

The Night I Discovered Storytelling

I was in fifth grade, probably ten or eleven. One evening, several neighborhood kids gathered outside as daylight slipped away. Someone suggested we take turns telling stories.

One or two kids went first, and while they talked, a story began taking shape in my imagination. I could see the characters and the setting as clearly as if I were watching a movie.

By the time it was my turn, I had the beginnings of a story, but no idea where it would lead. I simply started talking, following the characters and events as they unfolded in my mind.

And did I mention it was a ghost story?

By the time I finished, the sky had gone dark, and the streetlight on the corner had come on.

Nobody moved.

Nobody said a word.

Then someone finally blurted out, "Where did that story come from?!"

I'd scared the daylights out of them!

And I LOVED it.

Not necessarily because I'd frightened my friends (well, perhaps a little), but because I'd taken something that existed only in my imagination and made other people experience it with me.

I didn't realize it then, but that was my first taste of the joy of storytelling.

The Trouble with Getting It on Paper

You might think I went straight home and started writing books.

I did not. Ha!

Around my tween years, I began writing poetry. Apparently, I had a lot of feelings, and naturally, they all needed to rhyme. I'm sure those poems were masterpieces of adolescent angst. Ha!

Eventually, I wanted to write stories instead. Unfortunately, one rather significant obstacle stood in the way.

I was terrible at it.

The characters and their lives were so vivid in my imagination, but when I tried to put them on paper?

Boring.

Flat.

Nothing remotely close to what I could see in my head.

I had the imagination, but I hadn't developed the skills to bring those stories to life on the page.

So I'd try writing, get discouraged, and quit. Then I'd have another idea and try again. Throw my hands up in defeat. Walk away. Come back.

For years, I repeated that cycle.

Learning to Write, and Learning Why

Fast-forward through a whole lot of life, and here I am.

I've completed my first historical Christian fiction novel, His Voice, and I'm working toward publication. I've begun its sequel, His Mercies, and I'm writing blog posts, devotionals, and reflections about faith and everyday life.

I'm still learning the craft. Some days, the words on the page don't quite match what I see in my head. But I've grown more comfortable sharing my work, receiving feedback, and facing the possibility that not everyone will like what I write.

Of course, I'd love for everyone to enjoy my stories. What author wouldn't? But my faith, my perspective, and the subjects I'm passionate about won't resonate with every reader.

And I'm okay with that.

I wasn't always.

That's been a big part of the growing God has done in me.

Would I Have Started Sooner?

Oh, absolutely.

I wish I'd taken more writing classes, studied the craft more seriously, and pushed through those years of frustration instead of walking away repeatedly.

I wonder how much further along I might be today.

But I also recognize that I'm not the same woman I was twenty or thirty years ago.

Life has changed me. My relationship with God has deepened. I've experienced joy, heartbreak, disappointment, healing, and more than a few lessons I'd rather not repeat.

Those experiences have shaped the way I understand people and the stories I want to tell.

I can't go back and recover the years I didn't spend writing, but I can trust God with the years ahead. And I believe He can accomplish far more in His timing than I could ever manage on my own.

My part is to remain obedient, keep learning, and do the work He's placed before me.

Praise the Lord that the rest isn't entirely up to me!

And isn't it funny? All those years ago, I was a little girl making up a ghost story to entertain the neighborhood kids. Today, I'm writing stories about faith, hope, and redemption.

Quite a change in subject matter. Ha!

But that feeling I had when I finished my story and looked around at those wide-eyed kids?

I still love the thought of someone getting so caught up in a story I've told that, for a little while, they forget they're reading.

What about you? Is there a dream or passion you've set aside more times than you can count, yet it keeps finding its way back to you? Maybe it's time to give it another chance. You might be surprised by what God has placed within you.

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