Monday, September 8, 2008

My Family

I'm always interested in finding out more about an author's family, so I thought I'd tell you a little bit about my family.

My husband Tim and I were high-school sweethearts and have been married for a little more than 19 years. We have two children; Cody, 16, is a junior in high school, and Morgan, 14, is a freshman. Having two teenagers is . . . an adventure! It's neat to see the kids grow and become more independent, and they really are fun to be around . . . most of the time . . . (and I bet they say that about us, their parents, too!)

We all live on the family ranch south of Genoa, NE. Tim raises show-cattle full-time. He's been a cattleman since he was a young child. The kids show cattle at shows around the state and around the country. Traveling to shows is our favorite family activity, and it's an activity that has many benefits for the kids and for our family and business.

Cody and Morgan will be home from school any time, so I'm going to sign off for now.

New Venture AND Adventure

I have always wanted to be a writer. When I was in grade-school, I wrote "manuscripts" on wide-ruled spiral notebooks. (I don't remember what the stories were about, but I bet my mom has them packed in a box somewhere!) I remember sitting on my bed and writing for hours about my characters and their trials.

Let's jump ahead to TODAY! (I'll tell you more about my writing and nursing careers, and my family, in future posts.)

I've been writing for the Nebraska Family Times for over a year, as the Nebraska Editor. As the Nebraska Editor I searched for Nebraska news and stories that readers would enjoy and/or could benefit from. I then condensed/compiled/combined the article(s) into the format required for the Nebraska Family Times (known from here on as NFT).

Newspaper writing was new to me--in the past I'd written for various magazines (from cattle publications to childbirth and nursing magazines) and I even wrote and self-published several books.

I found I really enjoyed writing for a newspaper. There is a long period of time that elapses between writing for a magazine, or writing a book, and seeing those words in print . . . a fun part about writing for a newspaper is seeing "my" words in print just a few days after I'd written them.

I was very surprised when, earlier this summer, I received an e-mail from Vyckie asking if I was interested in taking over the NFT from her. My first thought was, "Heck no, I can't write and publishe a NEWSPAPER!" But I believe God puts opportunities into our lives for a reason, and I knew I needed to think very seriously about this opportunity.

After prayer, asking Vyckie many (many, many) questions about what is involved in editing and publishing a newspaper, and talking with friends and family, the answer was clear; YES, I could and would take advantage of this opportunity!

And so the venture . . . and adventure . . . began . . .