Last month I got to play with photography, this month I get to write. I love my job!!! For Writing 101 at the Blogging University, we are instructed to do some stream of consciousness writing. It makes me think of all the different types of writing I’ve done in my past.

My Pop Pop encouraged me, rejoicing with me as I won an award for writing in first grade. I think that was a poem (or as he insisted, a po-EM, not a pome). Words wended their way from mind to page during my teen years. All those things you wouldn’t say out loud, yet screamed for release.

Eventually I found my niche in children’s writing. Stories are around me everywhere. My piano professor once told me I was like a talented actress who didn’t know how to read. It was his kind way of saying I was clueless on music theory. And he was right. After decades of playing, I can’t tell you what key I am in when I play (unless it’s C or G). Frankly, I don’t care. What I love to do is play the story I hear in my head, and people seem to like it.

For several years I tapped out stories for children, and they filled my shelf nicely. But never got much further than the shelf. Then it evolved. By this point in time I was part of a writing group, and there was a day where I had to tell my writing buds that I was crossing over to the dark side. Writing for adults. But it was kind of okay, because I mostly wrote about children and children’s media.

That journey took me on a path that included editing and writing for magazines and websites. It was fun. I connected with other writers and loved the writing community. We all shared highs and lows in the market’s ebb and flow. Always the constant struggle of remaining true to self, topic and unique approach — while balancing the SEO.

It makes me think of my favorite writers. My Aunt Anne sent amusing, detailed observations of life to dear ones back in the typewriter days. Now she continues on computer. My writing group gifts us with historical fiction books, ghost stories, vampire tales and stories about animals. My cousin Lars pens Byzantine and Nordic history. Some writers allow words to dance across a page, while others dare you to continue reading. Some make you think, some make you laugh. All so different, and all so inspiring.

That’s it. My stream-of-consciousness time is up. But my writing continues. At least in my mind. I don’t think that will ever stop.

* Featured image credit: Incessant Flux on Flickr
* My writing heroes:

Linda Stanek
Linda Covella
Jen Funk Weber
Dale Ibitz
Lars Brownworth
And Mary Beth Schewitz whose writing dreams were a bit deferred as she focused on a truly amazing cause–the Max Schewitz Foundation.