Me? Write a Book?

Can you keep popcorn from popping out of the pot if you open the lid?

I had a full pot of life experiences, entertaining stories and lessons learned just popping inside me. I lived, and I learned, I laughed, and I cried for over sixty years. I now had the equivalent of a PhD in the school of life.

But why? For what purpose? It was too late for my kids. No one else was waiting to hear my life experiences. Will I simply take the wisdom learned to my grave? Was there anyone who would like to hear the funny, the sad, the crazy and the inspirational anecdotes?

How about a blog?. How does a person start a blog? I had no idea!

One step at a time. What platform to use? Where could I get a logo? Colors? Name? Mission? Bluehost? Squarespace? The internet is very handy for tech-challenged folks who don’t know North from Tuesday. For that which was beyond my capabilities, I hired out. It started coming together!

I was scared silly. What would people think of my stories? Would they be critical? Could I handle criticism? Was I crazy? I kept taking another step. Before long, lookingintherearviewmirror.com was born! It has evolved into www.elevenkidslater.com

With a deep breath, I posted my first story. I edited those first stories a million times. It took me days to have one ready to post. I took interested folk on an ‘excursion’ with an old jalopy on social media to promote my stories. It was so much fun!

“Will you write a children’s story for our church market?” Who, me? I guess I could try! “Why don’t you publish it?” Who, me? Publish a book? How do you publish a book? I had no idea!

One step at a time. I wrote and edited and edited. Friends read the story. I hired an editor. I hired an illustrator. I hired someone to format it for publishing. It took hours and hours and months of work.

Then one scary moment, I hit the submit button and became the author of a published children’s picture book, Snitcher Snatcher Cookie Catcher. Eeeek! So exciting!

The popcorn is popping, and it’s been SO much fun to serve it as stories and books. It’s been so much fun I published another children’s book, The Three Boys and the Chewy Gooey Licorice.

I’ve sold books and signed books, written more stories and even poetry. Who knows what a person can do if they just take one step and then another.

Write a novel! Who me? I have no idea how to write a novel.

Oh, that’s right. One step at a time, just one step at a time.