Love’s Voice

With five children, ten grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren, I have an extremely busy life, but reading and writing have always been a large and enjoyable part of my life. I’ve been writing since I was young. I wrote stories in notebooks and kept them private. They were all handwritten because I was unable to type. We lived in the country, and I had to do most of my writing at night. My days were busy helping with my brothers and sister. I also helped Mom with the garden and canning food for our family. Even though I was tired, I still managed to get my thoughts down on paper at night. When I married and began raising my family, I continued writing my stories while helping my children through school and then transitioning into their own lives and families. My sister was the only one to read my stories. She was very encouraging. When my youngest daughter started college, I decided to go to college myself. I had already completed my GED and only had to take a class to prepare for my college entrance tests. I passed with flying colors and even managed to get a partial scholarship. I took computer classes to learn typing. The English and literature classes helped me polish my stories. I found that public speaking was not for me. I was much more comfortable with the written word, but researching and writing the speeches was helpful. I was able to use those skills to build a story. I finished college with an associate degree and a 3.4 GPA. I earned several awards, including the President’s List, Dean’s List, and Faculty List. My school experience helped me gain more confidence with writing. I want to thank my college English professor for boosting my confidence with writing by telling me that I had a good imagination. She said I told an interesting story. My daughter, who is an excellent writer and has published many books, convinced me to publish some of my stories. She used her experience self-publishing to publish my stories for me. The first time I held one of my books and looked at my name on it as the author, I was proud. It was well received, which encouraged me to continue writing and publishing. I have been building my library of books since then. I’ve also written and illustrated several children’s books. Being able to type my stories opened up a whole new world for me. Access to a computer helped me research anything I needed to know and expanded my ability to keep writing my books. Joining f*******: and making friends all over the world expanded my outlook considerably. I was able to understand many different lifestyles and incorporate them into my stories. Ever heard the saying, “Watch out what you say, and don’t make the writer mad. You may end up in a book being eliminated.” Well, it is true. All of life is there to stimulate your imagination. It is fun to develop a story and to watch it come alive in your mind. When I get started, the stories almost write themselves; I just have to get all of it down as the ideas come to me before they’re gone. I love knowing that the stories I have written are being read and enjoyed by others. It is awe-inspiring to look at the books and think, “I wrote that.” I look forward to many more years of creating and distributing my stories, and I hope the people reading my books are looking forward to reading them just as much as I enjoy writing them. To learn more about Betty McLain, visit her author page on Next Chapter’s website.