My husband, Chad, was reading through our college’s most recent alumni magazine the other day, and paused to read a section to me. This particular “alumni note” was about a girl who graduated the same year I did. The note went on, in some detail, to describe a book she has written, and to announce her book deal with Thomas Nelson for her second book, due out next year.

I sighed.

And I remembered something else Chad told me, not long ago. He was looking into a series of books that he had recently discovered, when he suddenly said, “Hey, this author is younger than I am and she has a whole bunch of books out.”

I sighed then, too.

Why the sighs?

Well, I’ve had that whole “I’d love to write a book someday” dream for the last ten years or so. And the older I get, the more often I find people younger than me (sometimes far younger than me) who are writing books…and getting them published, too. By real publishing houses. To be sold in real bookstores. And read by real people.

I could give you a long list of reasons why I haven’t written a book yet:

• I haven’t quite narrowed down what kind of book I’d like to write first. I’d love to craft a suspense novel; but then again, writing for children would be neat. And then my bossy tendencies tell me a non-fiction book is actually the way to go. Hmm…what to do first?
• I’m not sure I have what it takes to write an entire book. Yes, I’ve written articles for magazines, but 1,200 words is a far cry from 70,000 words.
• I fear failure. Either the failure of not finishing the book or the failure of rejection after rejection after rejection by every publishing house in Writer’s Market. Or the failure of actually getting a book published, and then only two people buying it.
• I’m in a busy season of life. Motherhood takes up a sizable chunk of my daily schedule.
• I’m still learning the craft. Don’t even ask how many books on writing I have — the number would stagger you.

But to be honest, I think I’m just too lazy or simply not motivated enough to sit my butt in a chair and write. Sure, L. keeps me busy, but I could find 20 minutes a day to write something…and those 20-minute chunks would add up. And yes, I still have plenty to learn about the writing craft, but I could learn along the way, as I write. As for the failure thing? Or not knowing if I can actually write an entire book? I’ll never know until I try, right? So there’s really no excuse.

And then there’s that little voice in my head that tells me, “You’ll never do it. You’re just one of millions of people who say they’re going to write a book someday. Everyone wants to write a book. Everyone says they have a ‘book inside them.’ And how many people actually follow through?”

Thus, the sighs. I could say the sighs are because of an unfulfilled dream. But mostly, they are sighs of frustration at my own laziness, my own fear, and the nagging feeling that it’ll never be more than a dream. Because I’m unwilling, unable, unmotivated, un-whatever. It’s all rather annoying.

So, are you tired of my whining yet? Me too.

I headed to the bookstore yesterday and decided that it was time to do something tangible about writing for publication. No, I haven’t started a book, but I did decide to pitch some magazine articles. It’s been almost two years since I submitted an article anywhere, and though I’ve talked repeatedly about “starting again,” I haven’t moved past the talking and into the doing. Until yesterday. I made a list of article ideas, and fleshed four of those ideas out into mini-outlines, ready to shape into queries.

I don’t know if I’ll ever write that book. I might decide that I don’t have enough “want to,” after all. Or I might decide that writing a handful of silly haikus in a notebook for my son is fulfillment enough in the book department. Who knows? But I’ll take this step, put in the work, hope to improve my craft, and see where it takes me.

Here’s where you come in:

Hopefully, I’ll be writing articles for women’s, parenting, and “Christian living” magazines (among others) in the not-too-distant future. Many of those magazines like their writers to include quotes or anecdotes from real people in their articles.

Are you a real person? Would you be willing to answer a few questions for me every now and then, to possibly be quoted in a article? May I put your name on my list of “real people” to use as potential sources for articles?

If so, please send me an email at: callapidderdays @ gmail DOT com — except get rid of the spaces, and change the DOT to a dot. I would appreciate it so much. In a week or two, I’ll send an email to you, asking for a little information, so I know which topics you’d be a good reference for (for example, if you don’t have kids, you won’t want me to annoy you with questions about parenting). All information will remain confidential, and you can tell me “take me off your list” at any time. Thank you!