The Writing Challenge #Writing Opens Doors #Motivation

Looking for motivation? Read on.

"Why are you here?" I challenged my college writing students at the beginning of each class. 

An older lady who had never written said,"I want to be rich, famous, and loved by all." She never achieved her first two goals, but became a treasured example to the  class with her hard work and positive attitude. Decades later, I chuckle and often quote her honest reply. 

 What motivates you? Why do you write? For money? Prestige? To encourage, inform, entertain, or inspire? All of the above? Identifying your motivation can make all the difference between wanting to be a writer and actually writing.

Echoes from the Past

• From beneath the rays of a kerosene lamp when I was a small child. "Someday I want to write a book."
• A later vow. "To make a difference, so the world will be a little better place because I lived."

Writing opened the door to both dreams.

My motto:  Writing to Inspire and Entertain

It is impossible to give without receiving. A little boy misquoted Ecclesiastes 11:1,  which says to cast your bread upon the water and you will find it after many days. His version? "Throw your bread in the water and it will come back sandwiches."

Authors are rewarded with "sandwiches" in the form of grateful readers. Among my most responses cherished are:

• From children. "I want to grow up and write books like yours."
• From a teenage girl. "It's hard to be a PG-teen in an R-rated world. The way your characters struggled and overcame tough obstacles helped to show me that I can, too."
• From a grandmother. "Thank you for writing the kind of books that both I and my twelve-going-on-eighteen-year-old granddaughter can enjoy without a qualm."
• From an editor: "This came at a time in my life when it was desperately needed. Rest assured, if it never blesses anyone else, it has done its work."
• Former students: "Your encouragement made me keep on writing and submitting manuscripts long after I would have given up. Now I am published!"

 My latest reader approval comes from Kristi Ross of California. Her grandmother (Susan K. Marlow, award-winning author of the Circle C and Goldtown Adventure series) wrote, "Kristi loves the book.* Buried herself in it. She is seven and can read pretty much anything." 

*Mudpuppies to Mountains is the exciting true story of my mother and her family coming to the little logging town of Darrington in western  Washington from Michigan in the early 1900s. Filled with adventure and fun.

The kind of news authors love to receive. 🙂

 GOOD WINTER READING

Cherished Romances #2, Angel of the North, revised edition

Late 1890s. From a Toronto mansion to the wilds of Canada

A remorseful young woman seeks to atone for words spoken in a fit of anger that drove away the man she learned too late had captured her proud, rebellious heart.



Cherished Romances  #1: A Girl Called Cricket, revised edition

1920s. From Long island to the far west

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Haunted by tragedy and scandal, a disillusioned young woman and her millionaire grandfather search for peace on a Wyoming cattle/guest ranch.

  
 Coming--revised editions of

#3, The Hills of Hope

#4, Legacy of Silver

#5, Storm Clouds over Chantel

#6, To Love and Cherish

Have a blessed and joyous

Christmas season.  Colleen

Colleen's books