By JANET HART LEONARD
From the Heart
A writer is an artist who paints a picture with her pen instead of a paintbrush.
The beauty is still a picture one sees with her mind, using one’s own imagination.
When God holds her pen the beauty is magnified.
Words are the brushstrokes of the detail of a story.
A good writer shows in her words a picture of a barn.
A better writer takes you inside the barn.
A gifted writer makes you want to stay in the barn.
Those were my thoughts this week as I began writing my book.
Oh, how I aspire to be that writer who makes you want to stay in the barn … at least for a little while.
When I read an intriguing novel, I become captured in the storyline. I see the places the writer is taking me. The better the writer the more vivid the pictures I see in my mind. The characters become part of my life in the short time I am reading.
A really good novel makes me sad when I finish it. A gifted author leaves me wanting more.
My love of reading and writing began in the fourth grade with Mrs. Jacobi as my teacher. I began planning trips to the library to be introduced to more authors. By the time I got to junior high, Mr. Purvis introduced me to the classics. Oh, Mr. Twain, how I did love thee.
As long as I have a book to read, I am never bored. I am a bookaholic. I have one in the car, by my bed, on the ottoman and in a grab-and-go bag.
My latest read is Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. It was suggested by my writer friend, Donna Cronk. Our meeting was a divine appointment. While the circumstances of our meeting were a bit bizarre, we have found a friendship as we cheer each other on with me writing my first book and her writing her third. We even added another writer friend to our lunch bunch writer chicks, Cathy Shouse.
We are women of many words. I hope, someday, to be able to change my title from writer to author. It’s a process. A very long process. I have 15 years of newspaper columns I have written to sift through to find the words I want to say. I want to entertain and inspire.
My story has not been the happily ever after story I imagined it would be. It has been a journey of shattered dreams and broken roads with many detours and lots of turbulence. My faith held me together when life became more of an endurance test.
And yet … God had a plan.
Here I sit and write and I smile. At the age of 65, I am enjoying my second chance at love with a man who encourages me to write. He loves me and makes me feel cherished. Yes, there’s a love story in my book. It’s kind of schmaltzy but … it’s my story. I’m sticking to it.
Remember how my writing started? On a dare. I took the dare and now I’ve been sitting here at my computer for 15 years preparing for and dreaming about the day someone would say, “I read your book.” I can only hope they will then say, “It kept me in the barn.”