About 2 years ago I had a conversation with my kids about goals and dreams. Somewhere in the middle of discussions about being a video game developer (courtesy of my 11 year old son) and becoming a princess (my 7 year old daughter), my 12 year old daughter asked me what I had wanted to do when I was her age. I had wanted to be a novelist. It’s funny how life can get in the way of dreams. I am a stay home mom working hard to make sure that my kids achieve success in their lives. I love my life and feel blessed for the opportunity to teach my kids everything they need to know in order to thrive in the world we live in, but how can I expect them to go out and conquer their dreams when I let my own fade away with the passage of time? This thought seemed to stick with me as the days passed. One sunny afternoon an idea slipped into my head as I was driving home from the elementary school. Characters and places, a whole world started to take shape in my mind. I struggled to stay focused on my kids, each taking turns telling me about what happened at school, but the images were so bright that I couldn’t ignore them. That night I opened a word doc and started to write. I hadn’t written in such a long time, it took me a while to settle in. I wanted the story to be something I would let kids read, that they would want to read. I worked on it each night and when I finished the first chapter my oldest daughter begged to read it. When she had finished she was so excited she blurted out”Mom, it’s like a real author wrote this!” I couldn’t help but laugh. A year and a half later I am teaching my kids about pursuing dreams. I have been neck deep in figuring out the ins and outs of the publishing world, searching for an agent and showing my children that hard work is the only option.
