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“Poetry! Some Prose! Mine, for sure, as well as other pieces about poets I’ve found inspiring. There will be a place for discussion of their writing and a dive into mine— insights into why I wrote, what kindled me, and some….deep, dark secrets! Haha! If that doesn’t get you to read some poetry, what will?!! Most of all, I just hope you will enjoy them and keep on reading!”
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A Little ‘about’ me…
My name is Wendy and I love writing! I have been writing ever since I could hold a pencil…well, maybe since I could write words and form sentences! I remember making my first book when I was around 8. It was called For the Love of Tammy. (Just for context: the title was similar to a movie out at that time— For the Love of Benji). My book was a story about a stray dog I had found, fell in love with, and the heartbreak that came when the owner showed up and I had to return the dog. With complete dedication to the story, I even created illustrations! My entrepreneur spirit was also budding and I decided to see if my friends would buy the book for 10 cents each. I had 5 takers! So, I wrote five little books; no photocopiers back in the day! That was the beginning of a lifelong passion!
Around that same time, I was also introduced to poetry. I not only fell in love with the medium, but at age 11, it SAVED me and it has been my life raft ever since. Poetry allowed me to write about anything and everything. It opened up a wide range of options for expression as well as a safe place to deposit my feelings. Once I discovered that not every poem had to rhyme, the words just flowed and sometimes GUSHED—It was all of me on the page. Those early rhyming years, though—Whew! Most of that mid-teen work is Super Sappy! I’m sure you can imagine! Oh my, has my poetry evolved over the years!
In college, my writing really intensified as everything inspired me! Simultaneously, oh, so MUCH about LIFE tore me wide open. Why? What? Who? Do tell!!! —I’ll leave that to your wondering, for now! Don’t worry, you’ll have an opportunity to fix your eyes on what came to the surface and hit the page! As a consequence, I wrote volumes of poems. Several were published in Western Montana College’s biyearly poetry magazine, Solstice, and two national poetry anthologies, A Far Off Place and Edge of Twilight. Those were the get-your-foot-in-the-door days. No need to mention the days of rejection letters, particularly for the manuscripts. Livin’ and learnin’! Anyway, rejected submissions are a subject for another time!
I had hoped I would eventually have a writing career of some sort one day, one that would make a few dollars anyway. BUT…What was I thinking!? Getting a degree in education did seem a parallel, though. Of course, it was! (Smirk) Still, if you know anything about teachers…would there ever really be TIME? Not so much as it turned out! I did make a choice, though, in priorities, and writing to publish no longer made the list. What did? Teaching, tutoring, reading piles of essays, after-school events, falling in love, marriage, family… Well, you get it! In a blink….nearly 30 years have gone by!!!!!!
Don’t get me wrong…I still wrote. My sanity could not have been kept without it! Still, my work did get set aside to accumulate in drawers, and closets. Well, except for a short story published in 2004 in an anthology, Haunted Encounters: Personal Stories of Departed Pets, which, by the way, was my first paid submission: $50 and 1 free copy with an added discount on additional copies! Yahoo!! There is a special feeling that comes with seeing your name after ‘author’ and that—something—you wrote is in an actual book! Quite thrilling, no matter how not-a-best-seller it is!
That would NOT, gratefully, be the end of the story. It was just a dream— delayed.
Until NOW!
I am putting my writing—(next career—think POSITIVE!)—back on my priority list! Isn’t that what you do at 50-ish??!
This blog on Substack is PHASE ONE of my 2nd beginning!
So…
Come on in to my humble newsletter! Welcome! Get yourself something to sip and nestle into a comfy place. You can join me for a cup of tea and read a poem or two! OR, you can stay for dinner! I invite you to have a seat at my table to taste the whole meal! So glad you are here! Should you want to invite a friend along, please share! There are plenty full-flavored words to go around!
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