As a teenager I once wrote an article to 73 Magazine an Amateur Radio Magazine and a short time later I received a rejection letter (the first of many). While I was discouraged the desire to be a writer never left me yet for many years it lie locked away deep in my heart. Then many, many years later I found myself writing a very short story about a common house fly I affectionately name Sigmond. And the “writer seed” germinated once again.
The idea for Sigmond was born one day at work when a fly found his way into my cup of coffee. My immediate response was to dump my coffee out and stomp on the devil who ruined a good cup of vending machine coffee (oops, sorry for lying about the coffee please remove the word good). So I picked up the cup and headed for the office door then I noticed the fly desperately trying to escape and suddenly I found myself having a compassion attack.
Walking back into my office I carefully sat the cup down grabbed a pencil placed it in the coffee under the pesky fly and lifted it out of the “valley of the shadow of death” and carefully sat it down. Then several minutes later “Sigmond” flew off in search of another cup of coffee!
Later my God given imagination my brief encounter with Sigmond in a new direction, a direction that would change my life’s journey. And I wrote a short story was about Sigmond flying through an open window at night and when sensing danger because of a house fire pestered the sleeping father of the home until he woke up so he could get his family to safety. The story ended with Sigmond going in search of another family to save. Which he did. And my desire to be a writer was resurrected.
After writing the Sigmond stories I tried to get them published and after several rejection letters I decided to look for an agent. I quickly discovered agents come with a cost and because of financial limitations that was out. However, my good friend and encourager Sue White went to work and several days later another co-worker Dana Tatman presented me with five one-hundred dollar bills so I could hire an agent.
Sue and Dana gave me the faith to believe in myself as a writer even though they were the only two. But as fate would have it the rejection letters kept coming. Then in 2000 the Holy Spirit hovered over my chaotic writing career and over the internet I met a woman named Denise Hood Owner of the Website Wingonaprayer.net and my writing career had a growth spurt. And Denise published for me a book titled “Journey Verses: the Collection” and she even had the famous artist Danny Hahlblohm do the cover art for me. And I thought I died and went to heaven! But my excitement was short-lived and Denise was gone and with her went my writing career.
