The joy of words - Ruth L. Snyder

I will always remember the day I understood how the squiggles on a page translated into words that told a story. A whole new world opened up to me that day!

As a young child, I lived in South Africa with my parents who served as missionaries. My father worked as a printer. I loved visiting the print shop and watching the paper fly through the machines. My Dad showed me how he set the type and checked the ink. It was fascinating. This was when I first fell in love with the smell of paper.

Around the same time, I started to pay more attention to the letters my mother read to us. Letters from people far away. I learned about my paternal grandparents who lived in Canada, where my grandfather also worked in a print shop. Letters from my maternal grandparents in the United States were full of descriptions of family adventures and funny family nicknames like Uncle Snort and Uncle Bub.

When I learned to print, my Mom encouraged me to write thank you cards and letters. My sister and I used to set up desks and play school and office. I also remember signing my letters, "Praying for you." Several months later my paternal grandmother thanked me for my prayers.

Stories were immensely enjoyable to me. I looked forward to the mobile library that visited our village. Not only did I learn life lessons, but I also experienced different places around the world through the eyes of many different authors.

A few years later, my siblings and I attended school five hundred miles from where my parents were stationed. Weekly letters were the only connection I had to my parents. I worked hard to describe interesting events and people and appreciated when my parents did the same. Each letter was a treasure.

In high school in Three Hills, Alberta, I had the privilege of working on a school newsletter as reporter and layout editor. I remember exploring events from different perspectives, including that of a mouse. Language Arts was one of my favourite subjects. My sister and I stayed with our paternal grandparents for one year during high school. We would visit the print shop where I observed my grandfather proofreading a book with one of his fellow printers by reading the words, letters, and punctuation out loud. That year I also served on the yearbook committee and received training in layout and font styles. At that time the layout was all done manually with actual pictures and type.

During my Bible College years I enjoyed being an administrative assistant for one of the professors. He taught me the difference between using a typewriter and entering information on a computer. When he noticed my ability to produce well-formatted documents which contained no spelling errors, he recommended me for a summer job producing syllabi.

After Bible College I worked in the Prairie Bookstore in customer service and then became assistant manager. Along with lessons in stock control, specialty orders, and placing orders through major distributors, the manager taught us many life lessons. During this time my mom encouraged me to take a writing aptitude test from the Institute of Children's Literature. I was delighted to be able to study article writing with a published author. Later that year I met Sigmund Brouwer when he did a book signing in our store.

As I look back, I am amazed at how God prepared me for what I am doing today:

• Writing articles, devotionals, blog posts, copy, short stories, and books
• Working as a layout editor for a quarterly newsletter as well as formatting my own and other people's books and book covers
• Coaching other writers so that they can share the messages God has laid on their hearts

How thankful I am for the joy of words! What do you enjoy about words, reading or writing?


Ruth L. Snyder spent the first ten years of her life in southern Africa where her parents served as missionaries. In 1977, her family moved to Three Hills, Alberta. She now resides close to Glendon with her husband and five children. 

For more information about coaching or publishing visit http://ruthlsnyder.com