Christmas Article Accepted

I just received word that my article, “The Abandoned Christmas Tree,” and my gingerbread cookie recipe were accepted to be published in an anthology of Christmas stories. Edited by Donna Goodrich, it will be published before Christmas in 2012 by Hidden Book Press.

Donna Goodrich is the author of 22 books and over 700 articles, poems, short stories, devotionals and book reviews. Her latest book is A Step in the Write Direction: The Complete How-to Book for Christian Writer. Her website has a wealth of information for writers. Check it out: The Writer's Friend

We’ll talk about writing here too. How did I become a writer? My first career was nursing. Well, not quite, I spent four hours as a bus girl the summer after high school. Then I got word I had been hired at the local nursing home as an aide. I never worked as hard as those four hours in the restaurant my mother worked in. I remember talking to my aunt on the phone, telling her how tired my feet were and thanking her for paying for nursing school.
In high school I had taken a writing class in my senior year and there my passion for writing was ignited. I wrote my first poem:

Lilacs,
Like some people,
Look nice on a bush,
But not in a vase.

I wasn’t the type to take too many risks, however, and a writing career was a risk. Nursing was safe and I did want to help people. I became a registered nurse and spent twenty years as a nurse. Then, at the age of 40, something happened to my brain, I was suddenly struck by the urge to check. I developed OCD. You can read more about my struggle with OCD at http://CherryPedrick.com