When I was ten, I spent
a week in hospital, on the Children’s Ward. While there, I discovered Mark
Twain’s, The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn. His words transported me into a
world I hadn’t known existed, life on the Mississippi, a culture far removed from
mine.
Twain’s words created a
hum in my chest – I not only read his words, I felt them. And I loved the feeling of them.
I wanted to re-create
that special feeling with my words. I tried a few times and occasionally
thought of writing, but other more active pursuits caught my eye and I followed
after them.
I graduated from
Eastern Pentecostal Bible College in Peterborough, made a disastrous attempt at
ministry, became disappointed with God, followed my own path, got married,
re-discovered Jesus Christ, had three children and poured myself into lay ministry,
mainly with women. While driving to a women’s event one early morning, a flock of geese flew over. They caused me to think that as their honking introduced the onset of Fall, the heavenly trumpet will one day precede the return of our Lord Jesus.
Then, another thought came clearly – you need to write about this.
I did. That little piece
was published. After that, God placed two men in editing positions who
encouraged me to write. One said, “We need more women writers in our
denomination.”
My writing life has had
its ups and downs – downs when work gets in the way of thinking writeable
thoughts – and ups when acceptances and awards have come my way.
My present work in
progress is a collection of British Home Child Stories, titled, Promises of Home, which will be
published later this year. The Child Immigration period of Canadian history is a subject I’ve
always been interested in. My grandmother came to Canada at age eight, an
orphan, went through a tumultuous childhood and finally found contentment as a
wife and mother.
I have two blogs – a faith
blog titled, Listening to my Hair Grow,
and my Canadian History blog, Promises ofHome, where I tell the stories of British Home Children.
In 2013, I published a
collection of some of my published articles and devotionals in One Good Word Makes all the Difference.
In 2012, Sandra Nunn
and I wrote and published her love story, He
Loves Me Not, He Loves Me.
Prior to that, Shirley
Brown and I published the story of how she coped with her son’s disappearance
in Vanished: What Happened to my Son?
My writing is still
evolving. The publication world is also evolving.
I still often sense the
Spirit nudging me, saying, write about this or that, often more than one nudge
is needed.
For today, I’m focussed
on my book, Promises of Home. As I
delve into the lives of these little ones, I often discover that they had a
strong faith, even as children, a faith that carried them to the end of their
days. A reminder to me to be faithful to the Faithful One because one day, as
sure as the geese honk overhead in the Fall, a trumpet will sound and our Lord
will return. 
http://writingfromtheheart.webs.com
