10 Years and the Long Road

Happy 10th Blogiversary to Teaching Authors. Ten years? Already? Blogs come and go, but we're still here, because you ... our faithful followers...are still here. Thank you for reading and commenting and supporting us through this...oh wow...decade!

Before proceeding, a reminder that our current giveaway deadline has been extended to Tuesday, May 7.  We are giving away a copy of The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults by author and editor, Cheryl B. Klein. Check Carmela's March 29th post for details and how to enter.

For the Blogiversary, each Teaching Authors is choosing a favorite past post to share. Mine is a letter to my younger writer self.  I've kept journals my whole life, as a reminder of who I was and the long, long road to becoming a published author. I won my first writing contest when I was a sophomore in high school. I knew then that whatever else I would do to support myself, writing would always be my true love. Sometimes I need a little reminder of why I write. Or even that I can write.

15...the journey begins

This post from four years ago reminds me how far I've come...and that the journey is not yet over. I'm in a place where a lot of you are...first, taking care of elderly parents and a high maintenance adolescent; now struggling through the labyrinth of a complicated estate while keeping my college student focused from 200 miles away. What gets shifted to the bottom of the to-do list is my well-being as a human. Rereading the original post has me itching to return to WIP's I left when I "took a break"several years ago.  I hope this trip back to Sept. 2015 will stir memories of your own writer's journey, evaluate where you are, and to find the courage to keep on writing.

If you'll forgive me the indulgence, two of my books have had milestone "birthdays" since my last post. A Tree For Emmy celebrated 10 years in print in March, while Yankee Girl hit 15 years in print in April. (A double digit anniversary!) I am blessed and humbled to have had two books still in print after all these years. Thank you, readers and friends, who keep us children's writers in business.

Posted by Mary Ann Rodman