The First Story I Ever Wrote

I was about 9 and 10-years-old when I wrote my very first story.  I think the title was "The Young Singers".  This was around 1970/1971.  It was supposed to be a novel, and it never got finished.  I no longer have that story.  It's long gone.  But I still remember a few things about it after all of these years (decades).

This story was about a singing group.  I think this group was supposed to be already famous and popular.  I don't remember who all of the characters were in the story.  It seems like there were about 8 or 10 people in the group.  When they performed they stood in two rows.  There was a front row and a back row.

There's two characters whom I have always remembered from the story.  Maybe they were the central characters, and that's why I have always remembered them.  These two were husband and wife.  It seems like they were the leaders of the group.  The husband may have been the front man/spokesman for the group.  They stood in the middle of the front row.  I vaguely remember three male characters who were somehow associated with the husband.  I don't remember if they were just good friends or if they were related to him.  They were also in the group - probably in the back row.  I think at least one of them played guitar.  That's about all I remember.

I don't recall now what I had going on in "The Young Singers".  At 9 and 10-years-old I was watching a lot of cartoons.  So I probably had my characters involved in various "exciting" adventures.

This past week I have been mulling in my mind a new story idea.  Basically I have pulled the two central characters from that first story and put them in a brand new story.  This time it's a love story.  Cody is a young man who has been living an unhappy/miserable life in Florida.  Melanie is a young woman who is living in Kye Valley, Oregon.  Cody removes himself from his situation in Florida and "escapes" to Oregon.  He comes to Kye Valley and meets Melanie and her family.  I'm still working on the summary of this story idea.  When this story is someday written it will be in the book (story collection) "A Light Shines In The Darkness".  No, the story won't be about a singing group.  Although Cody and Melanie may form a duet later in the story.

No, I'm not going to start writing the Cody story yet.  Right now I am working on four stories.  I really don't want to have five stories going at the same time.

Why Did I Start Writing?

When I was a little girl I was always creating stories in my head.  I always had scenes with characters playing on the "movie screen" of my mind.  Is it any wonder that it took me a while to go to sleep at night?
When I was growing up I often went over to my maternal grandmother's house.  She had a card game called "Authors".  We played that game a lot along with some other games that she had.

Then something happened one afternoon around 1970.  I was about 9-years-old.  Grandma and I had been playing "Authors".  I think she had to go outside to move the water sprinklers.  I was standing alone in the middle of her living room.

All of a sudden I exclaimed, "I know!  Why don't I become an author!?!"

I've been writing every since.

"A Fictional Place" - part 7

Here's another installment on the history of Morning Star Fellowship in Kye Valley.  I want to finish up the college years of Ed Hart, Jack Kealy, and Marty Stephens.

3 Friends
Ed Hart, Jack Kealy, and Marty Stephens all graduated with their Bachelor degrees in the spring.  That summer Marty married his girlfriend Jane whom he had met at the college.  They both moved to the same apartment complex where Jack and Sophia lived.

Ed, Jack, and Marty started seminary in the fall.  Seminary lasted two years.  Jack and Sophia's younger son Frederick was born during that last semester.

Sophia noticed that Jack spent most of his time with his college studies and teaching preparations for the Bible study.  About the only time he spent with her and the boys was to take them to church.  Sometimes he managed to spend a meal with them.

"How about we and the boys go over to the park?" Sophia asked Jack one Saturday morning.  "Little Jack loves the swings."

Jack replied, "I'm sorry I have an exam to study for and two papers to write."

"The boys need time with their father."

"God called me to ministry.  I need to be faithful to that."

Sophia said nothing more.  She told herself that Jack was right.  But she still didn't like it.

Meanwhile, Ed did not date at all during his college years.  He became casual friends with some of the female students at school.  But he never asked any of them out.

Marty sometimes asked Ed, "How come you're not dating?  I've noticed a couple of girls eyeing you."

"Not now," Ed simply replied.  "I'm staying focused on my schooling."

Ed secretly felt that it would not be fair to a girlfriend if their relationship was constantly distracted by his studies.   He sensed peace that God wanted him to wait on courtship.  Ed believed that when the time was right God would bring a Godly Christian woman into his life.