Friday, April 12, 2013

My writing life: Random 5 Friday

When I was a little girl, I dreamed of being many things, including an archaeologist, a music teacher and a private detective. I’ve had numerous jobs over the years, among them teaching English and being a health educator.
But one thing has always been in the background: writing. That’s what my Random 5 Friday post is about this week. I’m linking up with Nancy’s A Rural Journal.

1. I work as a newspaper reporter for a weekly newspaper. My job title is actually staff writer. I applied for the job almost on a whim in 2009. I saw the ad for it in the paper, and I thought, I could do that. When I was much younger, I dreamed of being a journalist. I applied and got hired, and it’s been a wonderful experience overall.




2. I’ve been writing since I was a little girl. Pictured above is the copy of a story I wrote when I was in first or second grade. It’s called “The Foolish Cat.” It starts out this way (misspellings and all): “Once there was a foolish cat. He never did anything for any body and he just thought about him self. One day when the foolish cat was at school, a girl named penny droped her books. She must of had six books. Will you please help me pick up my books asked penny? I will not said the foolish cat.” The story ends with the foolish cat becoming a nice cat.

3. I love words. I love how choosing just the right word can affect the whole meaning of a work. I love words with layers of meaning. Reading and writing make me happy.

4. When I was in my 20s and in graduate school, I wrote mostly fiction. In a creative writing class I took, the teacher kept telling me she didn’t hear my voice in my writing. I got frustrated and started turning in poetry, and she said she heard my voice in that. So I switched gears for many years and wrote reams of poetry. I think it helped me learn more about the power of the individual word.

5. Now I write what I most enjoy reading, nonfiction and creative nonfiction. I’m working on a memoir about growing up with OCD and depression. The work is in bits and pieces. I need to set some goals and get more serious about the work.

To read more Random 5 Friday posts or to link up, visit A Rural Journal.


What has been in the background of your life? What do you love to do like I love to write?

P.S. I have been getting slammed with spam. I went back to not allowing anonymous comments to stop it. If you're unable to comment, please send me an email.

54 comments:

  1. Oh I love your little story, I have always wrote too and have never had a writing job you were so lucky I bet you were good at it but restrictions in writing is hard.
    I find that everything in my life turns into a story in my head is that how it works for you? I would love to read your book someday you are a great writer. B

    (A word of advice I had to turn on no anonymous comments to get rid of spam) hated to do it but now I don't get any. B

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    1. Buttons, thank you. Yes, I find myself "writing" in my head even as things are happening around me. I've been doing that since I was a little girl. I'm so glad you do that, too, because I love it when you tell your stories on your blog!

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  2. Tina you should share your poetry with us someday!!

    p.s. It appears that you're getting spammed. If you disallow anonymous commenting it will prevent it! That's what I did and I haven't gotten one spam message since :)

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    1. Thank you, Keith. I have shared some in the past. Some of them are under the "poetry" keyword. I'm feeling the need to write more. Writing poetry puts me in touch with language.

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  3. Oh I love the foolish cat story. I used to write fiction on my blog on Fridays, but haven't in ages. Mostly because it's a lot of work to create fiction, and I don't have the time to do it. But I still miss that type of writing at times.

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    1. Thank you, Lisa. Seems like cats inspired me long before I became a cat mom!

      I didn't know you wrote fiction. That's cool. I bet you wrote some good stuff. You're a great writer!

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  4. I LOVE your five! AND - Really like that you still have an original copy of your earlier work.
    Thank you for sharing with us.
    Happy 5 day!
    -g-

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    1. Thank you, Georgy. I don't know how I managed to hold on to my early work through all the years, but I have a folder file of things I wrote in elementary school It's fun to look it.

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  5. I love to write - that's why I blog. Both my sister & my husband tell me I need to write a book. HA! Where & how would I begin that?
    So I journal & blog.......maybe, just maybe someday I'll sign up for a community college creative writing class....

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    1. Patti, books sometimes start out small. Journaling and blogging can lead to books--keep that in mind! :-) Thank you for visiting and commenting.

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  6. Your words are wonderful - even as a young child. I love to write, like you do. I finished my memoirs of the early years growing up in Alaska (see the top of my blog) and it has been a joy to have people read it and give comments about it. Keep on with your writing - and good luck with it.

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    1. JoAnn, thank you for your encouragement. I want to read your book about living in Alaska. I've seen the link on your blog, and it looks like a wonderful read! I hope you are continuing to write, too.

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  7. i enjoy writing - i use to do more when younger. i wonder what happened to that artistic said of me - i need to find it again. ( :

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    1. Beth, I think you're very artistic on your blog, with your photos and observations. You do good work! Thanks for visiting and commenting.

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  8. What a beautiful story you wrote! :). I love it.

    You and i have so much in common! We share a love of words, language and writing! I was a journalism major in school, and my first job after graduation was as a reporter at a small weekly paper. Best job ever!

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    1. Thank you, Mary. We do have a lot in common! I was an English major. Some years ago I worked at a daily paper in the editorial department, where I edited letters to the editor and commentaries. I enjoyed that. But a weekly paper and my duties here are a much better fit for me.

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  9. Wow - that is pretty impressive writing for a first or second grader!!! I love your Foolish Cat story! So sweet. I really like this Random 5 thing too. It's neat to learn a little more about you all the time.

    I like words too. Though mostly I'm about the spoken word. Oh, I just downloaded an app to my phone that's supposed to help me learn poetry. Can't wait to get started with it!

    Spam stinks, doesn't it? Luckily, most of my spam just ends up in the spam folder, but it's still a pain in the neck. Some of them are pretty funny though. My husband and I sometimes have a pretty good laugh!

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    1. Thank you, Sunny. I remember I had recently learned how to spell foolish, and I wanted to use it in a story. :-) I communicate better with the written word than the spoken word. What app are you using for poetry? That sounds neat.

      Spam is so annoying. Some of them end up on the site, not in my spam folder. I'm trying to stop them.

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  10. What a delight to come and visit your blog. I loved reading about your love of writing even from a very young age....Good look on the book....

    I love creating with my hands the way you love creating words with your mind. I am kinda all over the place and enjoy any new challenge that come my way.....

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    1. Thank you, Nancy. I appreciate your visit and follow. I think it's great that you enjoy new challenges. I can see from your blog that you're very creative.

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  11. Such a cute story and love that you still have it to share with us Tina. xo

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    1. Thank you, Nancy. It continues on to the back of the page and ends with the foolish cat being a better cat. I guess I wanted to show him changing! :-)

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  12. I love the story from your young years. Precious that you still have the original. So nice to visit your blog. Have a nice weekend.

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    1. Thank you for visiting and comment. I'm glad I have the old stories to look back at and remember. :-)

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  13. When I was young, I wanted to be an illustrator. (And I said, a farmer, but that was just because of my overalls.) I started writing in middle school, and worked on a novel in high school. In college, I wanted to be an editor, but I still did writing, too.

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    1. Kristina, I'm glad you're still writing. That's so cute that you wanted to be a farmer because of your overalls. :-) Thank you for your comment.

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  14. Hi Tina, it is so sweet that you kept the story you wrote when you were in first or second grade! You write extremely well, you have a great talent. As far as the spam goes, I DO allow anonymous comments but I haven't (thankfully) been spammed, except on one or two occasions. Since I moderate the comments I catch and delete them so nobody has to see them. Great post, as always.

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    1. Thank you, Linda. I appreciate it.

      I've thought about comment moderation. Thanks for sharing.

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  15. I envy people who have a way with words... My words always seem to come out wrong!

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    1. Bev, I don't think your words come out wrong! Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting.

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  16. You write so wonderful Tina, I always enjoy your posts and I can see now you were good with writing from a very young age! It must be a blessing that you can still do it today, and make so many people happy with it at the same time. I definitely will read your book when you have finished it, really looking forward to that.
    For myself, as a young girl I wanted to become a missionary and go to Africa. (And marry a handsome doctor somewhere deep in the jungle, ha ha!!) I never became a missionary, but I did go to Africa and lived there for 14 years. I'm pleased I did, otherwise I would always have wondered how it would have been.

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    1. Thank you for your kind words, Klaaske. I'm glad you were able to fulfill the dream to live in Africa. You bless people with your kind and compassionate spirit.

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  17. It's really wonderful that you have a passion like writing. I've used to enjoy writing when I was younger, but I suspect my "voice" never came through. I've never thought about trying poetry. Now, I mostly just write memos and emails (ugh), and also blog posts. Your story is adorable. Best of luck to you, writing your book.

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    1. Thank you, Karen, I appreciate it. There's always time to try other writing if you want to. I think your voice comes out in your blog posts.

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  18. hee hee, me to I maveled at archaeologists- and thought maybe that would be me one day too! My favorite subject in school was English so I thought maybe an English teacher one day! Then went onto the thought of nursing, but then realized that my squiemsih tummy and big heart would never be able to be a nurse!

    SOOOOOooo neat to find your childhood writings!!! I love it when I come across memories like that.

    Isn't neat how the Lord molds us- though sometimes it's a process for us to know what it is that we have been called to do, I am in awe at how the Lord settles it with the joy of what we actually enjoy ourselves!
    It's always a blessing to read what you write here:)

    God bless:)

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    1. Thank you, Deanna. I think it's important to look at what we enjoy doing, because what we're called to do--or what we are best at--is often the very things we enjoy doing.

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  19. I am so happy that you have gotten to do that which you love Tina.
    I wanted to be a detective when I was a kid too..think it had a lot to do with my love for reading Nancy Drew books.
    Also I always said I wanted to be a nurse as a kid and I really wanted to be a nurse in the Army. I remember being real little at my church and my Sunday School teacher and her husband had 3 sons in the military. They would all come home at the same time and sit together in full uniform at church and my dad told me they had come back from the Vietnam War and had to go back and it was real dangerous. I thought they were so handsome and brave. My cousin was Green Beret and a grenade exploded and blew off his leg, so I really wanted to grow up and be a nurse to help soldiers. Once I grew up, there were certain aspects of nursing that did not appeal to me enough to pursue it but I did work in the Chemistry Lab at a hospital.

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    1. Thank you, Krystal Lynn. I think your compassion for others and your nurturing nature that led you to want to be a nurse have helped many people. You didn't have to be a nurse to do that.

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  20. I love the story about the foolish cat! So cute!

    I feel the same way about writing. It's like breathing to me.

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  21. (It's not letting me comment from my wordpress profile ... I'm not sure if that's true for others or not!)

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    1. Thank you for letting me know, Jackie. I'm sorry about that.

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  22. Love that you are following a passion from childhood, writing. When I was in junior high I wrote a story about a dog named Boots who knocked over a bag of flour in the kitchen. Funny how we come up with things like that. Good luck to you in putting your new writing together. I have a sign on my computer desk that says 'Quit Piddling and Write Your Book' so that I would be inspired to finish a novel I started ages ago. It 'ain't working. hehe

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    1. Thank you, Latane. I love your sign. I need to quit piddling! But it's hard to do, isn't it?

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  23. I love your random 5 Friday posts! Your Foolish Cat story is PRECIOUS! I love it and your sweet little girl handwriting.

    I also enjoyed reading about your writing life in general :-)

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    1. Thank you, Elizabeth. I think my handwriting was better then than it is now! :-)

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  24. i too am a lover of words and i love to tell a good story!!

    you write and express yourself, beautifully.....even when the topic's are difficult or painful!

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    1. Thank you, Debbie. I enjoy your stories in words and photos on your blog!

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  25. I used to write on paper like that! I love to write, too, but not if it is mandatory (i.e. school assignments) or if plagiarism becomes an issue. I've written some poetry, but I like blogging and fiction probably best. Only, the fiction stories I used to try to write were too long (i.e., I never finished writing them), and now I will usually not even start, especially since I don't know how to end it.

    Thanks for sharing about your writing.

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    1. Thank you, Abigail. Wasn't that paper fun? Ours was usually yellow or green.

      If you enjoy writing fiction, do it even if you can't figure out how to end it. Just enjoy it! :-)

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  26. Very sweet posts. How wonderful that you still have some of those stories.

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  27. You and I have similar writing backgrounds. I didn't work as a journalist, but have written freelance pieces that have been published. And I am working on some things. I enjoyed reading this...reminded me so much of myself!

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    1. Marie, I'm glad you found a connection! And I'm glad you're working on some writing projects. Thank you for your comment.

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