How did I get here as a writer?

When I was in high school and college, I wrote a lot of short stories and a few poems. When a husband, two  kids, a job and the mortgage swamped me, I didn't write too much at all. Probably sappy poems were all I wrote for many years. A few women I worked with were always consigning me to pound out personalized poems for them, to celebrate a wedding or birthday or some other life event. I was often paid in candy bars.

For a short period of time in the late 80's I belonged to a writer's group and worked quite a bit on what I hoped would some day become a novel. When all I could get out of it was 25,000 words and a lame ending, I shelved it. 

At some point during all that writing, I heard of the Green Lake Christian Writer's Conference. But never seriously considered going to a conference at the time. 

In November of 2008, I wrote 40 days of devotions for the Christmas season, mostly for my then college-aged children. I came up with the idea for a whole series of devotions, but didn't have a clue what to do with it. I was inexperienced, had lost all contacts with other writers and didn't think anyone would read anything I wrote. 

In the spring of 2010 I started writing a blog, The Dino Chronicles, at the suggestion of my kids. My daughter had started a travel blog because she was going to Kenya for six months, and they thought that since I had always wanted to write, I should start one too. 

When my next door neighbor found out that I enjoyed writing, he told me he was going to a writer's retreat in California that fall (even though he had never done much writing, had only thought about it). He said that I should think about going to it also. A quick internet search told me what I already knew - it was going to be way too expensive for my budget. 

But then I remembered having heard of the Green Lake Christians Writer's Conference. That seemed to be within my financial means. The conference was great. I was able to connect with other writers and learned a lot about not only writing but the business of writing. Mostly, I became inspired. 

The rest, so they say, is history.