I have never been a big “bucket list” person. I like lists, and I make a to-do list almost every single day, but when it comes to the far-off-adventures to check off I haven’t been strategic about it. However I do have one big milestone I want to complete. It’s not going to be something to check off before I die, but before I am what some refer to as “over-the-hill”. As of this week I am officially less than a year away from the big 4-0 and I have one goal in mind.

I want to write a book. I want to have a book with my name on it available to read before I turn 40.

This has been a dream of mine since I was a little girl. It’s been something I’ve actively pursued in the past 6 years but every time I made it a priority to finish one of the books I started I somehow got interrupted, or distracted, or lazy, or whatever. This is my year though. I believe it!

The book is going to be a memoir from the season of our life when we were on welfare. It’s not really going to be about welfare, but the journey from having “the American dream” to having almost nothing and then back again. It’s about facing unemployment, poverty, disability and more while keeping our faith and family intact. I started this book years ago. One reason I never finished it was because I was waiting for the day that we were completely off of medicaid to consider this a full circle journey. Then at the beginning of 2020 we were finally self sufficient again (you can read all about it in the “Goodness of God” blog post, which is one of my favorites).

I’ve got a lot of work to do, but I am excited. I LOVE memoirs. I’ve read dozens of them. This is my chance to compile everything God miraculously brought us through in one big story. Even if it’s just for me or for our family history it will be worth it to have the words bound.

I need to be held accountable. If I fail at self publishing a book within the next year it won’t be the first time I fail to hit this target. Maybe this would be an appropriate place for an inspirational quote.

Seriously, I think I have some really good shot at it this time.

  1. It’s the ONE thing I’m focused on for the next year. Not at all saying I don’t have other obligations or plans, but it’s really the one BIG goal.
  2. This will be the first year since I became a mom almost 14 years ago that I will regularly have a couple hours to myself because Elle will be in half day kindergarten. It’s a very short class, only two and a half hours. I plan to maximize that alone time though. I told J that I have a job that I will be doing in that window of time and that I am a writer!

Speaking of J, can I just pause to talk about how blessed I am to have a man that really believes in me and in my crazy entrepreneurial endeavors? He has always encouraged me. I know that having a spouse who values creativity and dreams is a blessing. This photos was taken on my 39th birthday by the way.

I’ll keep you all posted and will probably need some feedback and help along the way. Thank you for supporting this little writing side gig of mine. It means the world to me.