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My Writing Journey

Writer's picture: Jennifer ConklinJennifer Conklin

Woman typing on laptop

Hello Readers,

Welcome (or Welcome Back) to my Happy DETours blog. I wanted to take this time to give a little background on my writing journey.


It certainly wasn’t a ‘woke up one day and I decided to become a writer’ type of thing, but I did make the conscious choice to finally write down all the stories I had crafted in my head over the years. I don’t think I knew at that point writing these stories down would turn into a full author journey.


I had gone through a sudden work change in July of 2020, (my school closed where I had begun my career due to the pandemic) which rattled me more than I had realized. I got another teaching job two weeks later, but it was still jarring to start over again at my age (I had kids in college). I’ll let you do the math. 😉


Throughout that school year, I started questioning the goals I wanted to accomplish in my life moving forward. As I contemplated this, my “brain stories,” were in my head trying to get out, (I can't take credit for the label "brain stories"... so thank you, lil’ sis). When suddenly, the lightbulb went on for me. Life obviously can turn on a dime, so I asked myself, “What am I waiting for?” I certainly wasn’t getting any younger.


So, I literally sat down at my laptop on the night of December 19, 2021, and started writing. I wrote a working title and a quick plot summary for EVERY story idea I had in my head. All 22 of them.


The saying “I should write a book someday,” was something I had said to myself many times over the course of my life but never did anything about it. So, as I sat there staring at my laptop, I set a goal. A resolution if you will. That I would write a book in one year’s time, come heck or high water. And I did.


Not only did I write a YA novel (my debut novel Pretend OUT SOON!), but I also wrote a children’s book series of three books with the possibility of more (the first book in the series, She Who Walks Above The Trees, due out November 2023). From there, they just kept flowing out of me. I now have several writing projects in progress including YA novels, another children’s book, and a chapter book related to my teaching profession. I literally opened the floodgates of “brain stories” in my head and they fell out onto the page.


During 2022, every free moment, I wrote. I also taught full-time, so it took me a year… well 11 months exactly, to finish book one in the children’s book series and my YA novel. I couldn’t believe that I actually wrote a novel. I was so excited.


On Thanksgiving weekend, 2022, my sister and her family were in town, so I broke the news to everyone about what I had done. No one knew I was writing a book. And when I say no one, I mean no one. Not even my own husband. Everyone was in shock, but they were so supportive and excited to read my books, which they did that very weekend. 😊 It was nerve-wracking to share my brain stories with others, but it was exhilarating too.


I achieved my first goal of writing a book. So, now it was time to set my next goal.

To publish. But that’s a story for another day!


Happy DETours,

Jenn

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3 Comments


cole110699
Aug 15, 2023

I’m so excited and happy for you! What an amazing accomplishment! Thanks for sharing your journey.

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Unknown member
Aug 15, 2023

What an exciting time in your life, Jen. I'm looking forward to reading your books!

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Aaron Trudell
Aaron Trudell
Aug 15, 2023

Keep chugging along, we got this!

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