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Blogs by Joanna Blackburn
How I came to be a writer 7/7/2017 11:49:01 AM
Learn how I got where I am by following my life. My Story
Have I always liked to write?
Things people don’t know about me.
I hear this a lot. No, I haven’t always liked writing. Yes, I have always loved storytelling.
Let me show you what I mean. Follow me through my life to understand where my writing and storytelling comes from.
In 3rd grade, I loved making up stories to tell the children on the playground. I did this for many years.
In 8th grade we had to do a paper for out English class. I did mine on a seminar I had attended called “Footloose.” After I turned it in on the teachers desk, another student stoled it and copied it and turned both in. Then I was accused of cheating. So I went back to storytelling and only writing in my journal.
In my 9th grade year, I lost everything in a flood and had to start over in a new town. This was a turning point in my life. It reinforced that storytelling was the way to go.
In 10th grade one of my teachers talked me into entering the school writing contest. I didn’t want to do it, but she wouldn’t leave me alone. She even had someone type it up for me. Finally, I gave in and did it. I won Honorable Mention and made front page news. But I still didn’t like writing.
At my High School Graduation, my cousin tells me that she had entered one of my poems into a contest and that I had won another Honorable Mention for one of my private poems. Still I choose to only tell my stories and not write them down for people to steal.
Then during my 18th year tragedy struck. My uncle was murdered. I stopped storytelling and picked up the bottle. I wrote every day in a journal about how cruel life was. I spiraled downward in to the abyss. Nothing mattered to me during this time. The anger I felt almost destroyed me. If it was for me writing it out I would have destroyed my whole life.
By the time I hit 21, I started to pull myself together. I landed a job at the Women’s Weekly working the front desk. I spent my extra time learning how to create ads and how the newspaper was put together. This put a flame in me to write. After several attempts to show I could do it, they gave me my own column, “Does Anybody Know My Name?” I loved interviewing people and creating their story on how they got to where they were. This job ended suddenly when the owner passed away. I went to the funeral and learned that everyone knew who I was because of my column.
From there I began traveling around the United States. Let me explain, back then it was easier to get a job. I had plenty of waitressing experience so I could earn the money as I went. I landed in Knoxville, Tennessee, at Job Corp. I quickly made friends that enjoyed my storytelling. I did more living and learning during this time of my life than any other time. I opened myself up to experiencing new and scary things.
At age 23 my worst nightmare happened, my grandfather passed away while I was holding his hand. He was like a father to me, and I couldn’t cope with his death. I went spiraling down into the bottle again. I lived there, no storytelling and no writing in my journal.
Then after three kids and a divorce, I found a man that turned my world around. I was 28 when I met him, we became great friends and later we married. He encouraged me to begin living life again, by taking me on many adventures.
I once again began to tell stories to my children at bedtime. I loved making up stories as they settled down to sleep. One night my second child suggested that I write them down. So I began to write and tried to publish them, but at that time my writing really wasn’t that good. I never happened. So I went back to storytelling.
At age 30 I started doing family research, not for the names and dates, but the stories of their lives. I learned I came from a long line of storytellers.
At age 33 I switched careers and went into child care and started college. This is where I began to enjoy writing and sharing my stories.
Then once again at age 35, tragedy hit again. This time I stayed sobber. My brother in law passed away. My husband and I hit the road, driving to no special place, just driving. The beauty of the country side we drove through made me feel close to nature. It gave me a sense of peace. After that trip, when we went to a lake, I really looked at what was there: the flowers, weeds, trees, plants, animals, signs of nature changing and the people surrounding me. This was the beginning of taking pictures of Mother Earth and learning about the plants that grew on it.
At age 38 my second child went missing while I was at work. It took me two weeks to find her and when I did she was in a psychiatric ward. During this time I wrote every single day about everything that was happening. It took six months to get her out. My whole world had once again turned upside down. I wrote and wrote. Finally, I decided that other parents didn’t need to go through what I did, they needed to know they were not alone with the way they feel. I wanted to stop this from happening to anyone else. So I wrote a book about it, Through The Eyes of a Mother, and published it on Amazon. The first day it hit bestseller and it is still selling to this day.
This was my final eye opener. I knew I was meant to write. I love it now, my stories run through my head until I write them on paper. I went through years of notebooks and journals and realized I’d been writing all along.
The passion inside of me took hold and hasn’t let go. I dream of fantasy worlds until I wrote them down. Random stories ran through my head until I wrote them all down. Before I knew it I had written a whole series for Young Adults. I turned it into my Silverleaf Series. I have the first two published and working on editing the next one.
At age 46 I rediscovered article writing, I found a site where I could publish them and jumped in. I call them my Oklahoma Adventures.
So in the end, I found out I do love writing and creating fantasy stories. All my ups and downs have made me the writer I am today.
Want to see my work? Here are the links:
