Let the Games Begin

I've been playing around with the idea of starting a blog for a while. It's what the cool kids do. Or did. Are blogs still a thing? (I should check TikTok.) I am, however, the type that reads blogs. In fact, a blog nearly saved my life years ago when I was a brand-new nurse practitioner.

I was desperate for wisdom and support as I flailed around after graduation. I found a blog that gave me both. It was called something like "My First Year as an NP." Unfortunately, it is now defunct. As a new clinician riddled with imposter syndrome, I clung to those words. If that writer could get through it, so could I.

And I did.

Yoho National Park

It didn't take long to realize that something was missing. I had tried to fill it with graduate school to become a nurse practitioner. I had switched jobs a few times- trying to find my niche. But nothing was able to fill that empty place, not even chocolate.

A common thread in my life has been storytelling. I've written short stories, plays, and overly sappy poetry since I was a kid. So, I turned back to writing. I started a few novels for adults and worked on a couple of my plays. But, while writing made me feel better, it still wasn't clicking. 

Then, out of nowhere, I had a crazy idea for a children's picture book. I don't even have kids. Who was I to write a picture book? But, man, it was fun to try. I played around with it. Did some research on writing picture books and fell right down the rabbit hole of kid lit. I found my niche, and I have never looked back. 

Three years ago, I went part-time at my clinical job and focused on the craft of writing for children. I joined the Society for Children's Writers and Illustrators. I attended the Picture Book Summit. I found Julie Hedlund's 12 x 12 Picture Book Writing Challenge. I joined Inked Voices. And I wrote. And rewrote. 

My dream is to get an agent and become traditionally published. This blog will serve as a journal of this wild quest. Maybe no one will ever read it. But if someone does, it may help them the way that a blog once helped me (with support more than wisdom, likely). Most importantly, it will help me chronicle the work that I am doing and remind myself that no matter how far there is left to go, I have already come farther than I ever thought possible.