It all began late, last winter when my husband was cleaning
out the shop and found a floppy disk with a title of a children’s picture book
that I wrote 15 years ago. He asked if I still wanted it. At the time I wrote
this book, I had young children and was in about my 6th year of sobriety. Searching
for a simple children’s picture book explaining alcoholism and sobriety to a
young child, I found no such book, so I wrote one. It is titled, “Mommy, Why
Don’t You Drink Beer?” At the time, I had a good friend, who was a
screenplay writer in Toronto, who offered to read it. I sent her the pages and
she willingly read them and gave her suggestions. When I received her pages
back, they were marked up in red with comments like, “make this more fun” and
“be more creative”. Not receiving the criticism well, or just not having the
energy to pursue the revision (having 3 little ones 5 and under) I just let it
go. When it resurfaced years later, I re-read it and realized I still liked it.
I did a google search to see if such a book had been written and I could not
find one. On a trip to Vancouver, I checked out many bookstores asking for such
a book. There was not one to be found targeting that age group. After a few
revisions, I am now on a quest to find a publisher.
This book was the catalyst to my writer’s self-reawakening. I’ve
always journalled, every day, all the time, for my whole life. My journals have
changed over the years. They have become more of a God journal; a prayer
journal actually. I have filled two boxes full of journals since I began chronicling
my married-with-children years. It is the way I talk with God.
Sometime later, I joined a writing group and started writing
for various contests, blogs and magazines. I am also working on a novel. As my
children are older, I find I have more pockets of writing time in my week. I am
enjoying the process but realize that really, this is a gift from God to me as
a way to commune with Him. If He wants to use it for anything else, I trust He
will lead me day by day.
“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in
the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Colossians 3:17
