My EEEK moment!

So, it all began last week, when I'm glancing through my facebook posts and I see a 'request' of sorts from the Springfield News-Leader. They are starting a new outdoor section, 'GO: Get Outdoors' and looking for articles or essays for it.  Instantly I think of these random thoughts I jotted in some notebook, last Spring, while on a visit to Roaring River State Park and know it's perfect for this! :) So, I literally spent an hour looking for every 3-ring notebook I've ever scribbled anything in - apparently I have this bad habit of not writing my stuff in one nice little journal - oh no, I have to scribble it wherever, whenever I feel inspired! But I digress, I finally find these scribbled notes in one of the journals! So I type them up, revise them a bit, and click 'send' to the editor at 10pm! 


And the next morning, I get an email saying "Cathy, this is great. I'm sure I will use it – maybe for our first one!" -- thus, I let out my first EEK! They like it! They are going to use it! Okay, I know it's just the newspaper, not a publishing company - but to me, it's big. Someone else (besides just friends and family) likes my writing! This makes me smile. And I wonder all week, will they really put it in the paper? (Yay, I lack a bit of confidence! In fact, Mike even said to me something like, "I'm glad they like it - maybe this will give you the confidence you need!") 

So I woke up this morning, half asleep, checked email, FB on my phone -the usual. Then I bolted upright! The article - I almost forgot the article! I ran to get my laptop (literally!) and dared to look - and sure enough, they did publish it! Thus, my 2nd EEK!!  

Here's the article if you'd like to read it: The Treasure of Roaring River State Park.

I then woke up the girls and told them about it - they smiled big for me (awww!) - and then they were mad at me when I told them their picture was in the paper. But I told them to hurry and get ready so we could stop and buy a paper on the way to school. Then we get to school - and Morgan is like, "Can I show my teacher I'm in the paper?" I'm like, "I thought you were mad you were in the paper?" Morgan, "I am, but I still want her to see!" (She's a bit like me, never wanting the spotlight!)  It also made me smile that Sarah wanted to take the time to read the article in it's entirety.

And it has inspired me a bit. I've wrote a couple more articles this week. I've typed up some letters to editors, and polished up a few drafts to send off to some publishers. Now I just need to find some time to finalize them and send them off!

My writing may never be famous - but I hope that it will encourage as many lives and God needs it to on this brief journey of life I get to live! That it makes people smile, think about God, and encourages them to live deeper, fuller lives.