Amy, The Writer

I love to read.  I love to write.  I can remember sitting in the back seat of my parent's car when I was in the 2nd or 3rd grade copying the words from my text book about Ponce de Leon and the Fountain of Youth.  I loved how the words could be put together in different ways to mean different things.  I loved to write in grade school.

I remember crafting note after note to friends in jr. high school taking great care to convey my thoughts correctly.  Note writing, and eventually note passing, was an art form when I was a tween and later teen.  I wrote notes during school, after school, at night, on the way to school, you name it.  If I had a minute, I was writing somebody. 

In the 9th grade, Mrs. Billie Sullivan was my English teacher and the lead player in my most of nightmares.  This lady was tough.  She scared me to death when I was awake and often appeared in the aforementioned nightmares.  However, I owe her a debt of gratitude because I can still diagram a sentence like nobody's business and she had me read Fahrenheit 451.  This book changed my life and it is probably the only work of science fiction I ever enjoyed.  I learned the value of words and the power of their meaning in this novel.  I fell in love with literature because of Fahrenheit 451.  I not only wanted to read every word I could, but also command as many as possible. 

In the 11th grade, I met Mrs. Helen Nicholson, AP English teacher and literary giant.  She opened my eyes to even greater literary works and began my life long love of journaling.  For the first 15 minutes of every class, we journaled about anything on our minds.  I loved it.  And she was the first to make note of my words.  She thought I had talent.  The following year, Mrs. Lois Rodgers, changed my whole world and inspired me to become a writer.  She told me I had the honey that made everything flow.  My writing was sweet like honey and everything stuck together beautifully.  I thought Lois Rodgers was quite possibly the smartest woman in the world. 

For years, I have written letters, poems, articles, columns, journals, and anything else I could find.  I love words.  I love the power of being able to make other people laugh or cry.  I love being able to inspire others with my thoughts committed to paper.  I even fell in love on the internet, another world of words. 

Today I met with the Carolyn Scarborough, aka the Book Whisperer, to gain focus and direction in my writing.  She took the shell of my book and worked miracles.  She helped me devise a plan, design a schedule, determine what really matters and say for certain what it is that I know.  After meeting with Carolyn for 1 1/2 hours, I left Panera Bread a changed woman.  For the first time, I felt like a writer.  While I may be Nora's daughter, Kim's partner, mother, sister, saleswoman, friend, neighbor, PTA member, and Christian, I am also an author.  In my heart of hears I have always known this to be true.  Today someone confirmed the truth to me and the world has taken on an entirely new glow.