Grabbed by the Heart
Have you ever been minding your own business… living your life, working your work, dreaming your dreams…? When, suddenly, an idea hits you? Not your regular “ooooh” or “ah-hah” moment; this idea goes deep inside and grabs you by the heart.
You can barely fathom what caused this grab from out of the “ether.” An idea that was never on your “life radar.” Yet, within a single moment, you developed an undeniable commitment to this idea—this “calling.” You don’t know how to do it. But know you're going to do it. Something in you knows you are meant to do it.
How do you start? You don't know… yet. You’ll have to figure that out. Are you capable? Let’s see… you now know that you are doing this. So, either the ability is already within you or you’ll just have to “put on your big girl panties” and become capable.
This very scenario happened to me. An idea from out of the ether gripped my heart: I must contribute to children experiencing that natural curiosity and open-hearted childhood state beyond their very young years. Childhood wonder is too precious a state to cut short. This treasure appears to have eroded over recent years; further challenged by pandemic lockdowns, accompanying social distancing, and added edicts. Can we diminish the negative effects? How can we dissuade an early loss of the natural open heart and curiosity of young children?
I believe my best contribution could be through storytelling.
Storytelling has captured the attention, the minds, and hearts of we humans for eons. We love stories. Children, especially, love stories. So, I now know the “what”: storytelling. The “vehicle” will be children’s fiction. First, a series of eight, or nine, titles for middle grade children. Followed by a series of ten to twelve titles for young adults. They need to be books children want to read.
The "plan": adventure/mystery stories with intriguing characters. Stories carrying a focus on curiosity, an open mind, and an open heart; illustrating strong character traits via transformative life lessons. Some story settings will be different areas of the U.S. Most settings will be areas of different countries I traveled to for pleasure or research. Stories that offer a kid’s eye-view of other countries, cultures, and regional peoples, through the experiences of peer-characters. Inspiring appreciation for the vibrance of different cultures; which, at their core, are surprisingly the same.
These stories need to be very good to achieve the desired reach and impact. As mentioned, they need to be books children want to read; a big undertaking. My not-terribly educated guesstimate is eight to eleven years. I have my work cut-out for myself.
Did I mention that I've never written fiction or a children’s book? Unless you count the never-completed Trixie Belden-like mystery I wrote in ninth grade, Mystery of the Twin Valleys (queue mysterious background music).
I have published before, years ago; four books, each of them nonfiction. What do I know about writing fiction? I acknowledge an entire scope of differences exist between nonfiction and fiction. Beyond that morsel of information, I have everything to learn! And I will learn it because this content is important. I want to contribute to elevating the experience of children’s lives despite what is becoming a fracturing society.
This requires crafting myself into a strong and prolific writer of children’s adventure and mystery. The books need to inspire and illustrate strong character traits via transformative life lessons. They must be of the caliber librarians, teachers, and educators want their charges to read; parents and grandparents want for their family, and children want to share with their friends.
No behind-the-barn experiment here. I’m penning this blog to share my journey with you. Doubtless, there will be ups, downs, and times when things get messy. To hold myself accountable for the consistent progress necessary, my journey will occur “in the light of day” on this blog.
I will note at the bottom of relevant blog posts, resources that help me along this journey. For any fellow authors who follow this journey. I will refer to these resources as the “Author Toolbox”.
So here we begin, on my journey, with you. As Sherlock Holmes often said at the start of his cases, “The game is afoot!”
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