Beginning at the Beginning

 “It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.” Ursula K. LeGuin

For the better part of 12 years, I've been guarding a secret dream, not really doing much about it except keeping it warm.  However, in recent months I've experienced a shift in my thinking and I think it's time to give this dream the attention it is due.  Sometimes, if we hold something too close, it can suffocate and expire right inside our watchful hearts.

But since this is the first post of a brand new blog, let's go back to the beginning.  Back in 2000, as I began my journey towards an art degree, I created a little realm called Fiddlestick Hollow.  Initially, it was populated with talking insects dressed in elaborate Victorian clothing.  My brother teased that it was "like the movie Archanophobia but with more flowers." Anyway, I did A LOT of work on this make-believe land:  developing characters, mapping key landmarks, researching insects, brainstorming names for critters & places.  And then I just abandoned my creation.

There are so many reasons for my decision to stop work on this project.  Some reasons were incredibly valid and others were simply imagined justifications.  The bottom line, no matter my reasoning, was that I closed the sketchbook on my dream and walked away.  Over the years, Fiddlestick Hollow expanded to house any creative writing/illustration project I considered too foolhardy or impossible to pursue.

Fast forward to late 2011/early 2012:  I realized that I was opening my sketchbooks more than my journals.  I was dooding new characters every day.  I had been seized with fresh enthusiasm for old projects.  All the beings I had tucked away in Fiddlestick Hollow were shouting in one, collective voice:  "Set us free!"  Slowly, I began to reacquaint myself with the world I had abandoned and in the process, I realized it was really about setting myself free.

I have always dreamed of being a writer & illustrator of children's books and this blog is a place for me to begin exploring that possibility.  I have no experience, no connections in the industry, no idea where to begin, little confidence, lots of hesitation, and certainly no assurance that this dream will ever come true, no matter how hard I work.  Perhaps all I'll end up with are privately-viewed stories for young relatives.  Maybe I'll just have a bunch of sketchbooks filled with little characters.  Those things have their own value.  Where I end up matters not.  What's important is that I am honoring my soul's desire and that is really what it is all about...