God’s Gift

I love this gift God has blessed me with later in my life.  It all began while living in Ireland.  I don’t remember which of these came first, and not sure it matters.

One day I started writing the story of my life!  Of course, I don’t think I was going to write it for anyone else to read it.  Anyway, after struggling with it and feeling the pain of some of the memories I decided not to go on.  I wasn’t sure of the point of it anyway.  Hummmmm!  Why would anyone want to read it.

I read the book “The Neverending Story” by Michael Ende  and it is my favorite story to this day.  The book is so much better than the movies.  I read it five times within a couple of months and each time noticed something new.  In addition to the amazing details I love the many underlying positive messages.

I read the information about Michael Ende.  He wrote it for children, but it became so popular with all ages that it was published in many languages and reprinted several times.  I thought “what an amazing legacy to leave behind.”  I began to think about my life and not only did I have no children, but had not done anything of value with my life.

One morning, after my then husband left for work, a story began filling up my brain to overflowing.  I had to sit down with pen and paper, and wrote all day.  I couldn’t stop.  My imagination took me to other places, different ways the story could be told other than as a published book.  At that time I don’t think I actually imagined it would ever be published.  Another great gift was the day, several years later, when I held my published book in my hands.

 

Little One book cover (property of Ann Marquette)

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Have you ever considered writing a book? If so what kind?

Little One book cover

This was an earlier suggested topic and decided it was time to write about it.
Have you ever considered writing a book? If so what would it be about? Make a list of the ideas you want to cover, or the themes it might have. If you’ve never considered writing a book, what other major work have you thought about (a movie? a symphony?). Write a paragraph or two about what you imagine it would be like.

When I lived in Ireland some years ago I thought about writing my memoirs. I started working on it, but it became too painful.

I found a fabulous book…an amazing story and very creative character and scene descriptions. I read it 5 times within three months, which I have never done with any book, before or after. Each time I read “The Neverending Story” by Michael Ende, I noticed something new; usually another underlying positive moral message. Ende had written the book initially as a children’s story. However, it became so popular among adults as well the children that it has been published many times in many different languages. I thought “what an amazing legacy to leave behind.”
Yet, I never thought about myself writing such a story.

One morning, probably a year or so after I had read that book, I woke with a vision of a story gliding through streets of my mind. With a clean, new pad of paper and a pen I sat down and began writing, and writing, and writing….all day.
It was an amazing experience and the first of its kind in my life.

At one point in the writing of the story, another part of my brain was imagining other ways the story could be told besides a published book. I really didn’t think I would ever have a book published!

After that day I would frequently find myself writing more bits and pieces of the story.

Eventually I returned to live in the U.S. and had to spend much time finding a place to live and a new job. In my spare time I would take walks along a river and inspiration would take hold of my mind and fill it with more ideas for the story.
I found a place to rent for a while and a job. Along the path of this new life I made time to write in order to finish the story.

I began to let a few people read a small portion of it, which is a short story by itself. The responses blew me away, and they wanted to read all of it. Then people began to tell me it was wrong of me to not get it published, that it should be shared with the world.

In 2003 “Little One ~ End of Journey Alone” by Ann Marquette was published. That experience was an amazing ride. Holding the book with my story printed in it and my picture on the back was surreal. A huge benefit was finally finding my voice. The best gift of all has been the responses from the readers.

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If you could bring one fictional character to life for a day, who would you choose?

This was yesterday’s suggested topic, but I started writing so late last night I got too tired to finish it. This is an exciting topic and thank you WordPress for it.

I thought about this for a while, trying to think of one which I would love to meet and talk with. My first thought of the characters in The Neverending Story, specifically Atreyu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characters_of_The_Neverending_Story#Atreyu.  But then I realized the one I would like to meet first is the protagonist in the story I wrote “Little One~End of Journey Alone” who is called Little One, for reasons only found in reading the story. In just now reading the details of Atreyu’s life before he comes into the story I am blown away that the beginning of his life has a similar characteristic to Little One’s.

Some years ago I read The Neverending Story five times. The story and underlying messages blew me away. The popularity of the story around the world and still today is such a wonderful legacy to leave behind for the author. I didn’t know I could tell stories of my own at that time.

Anyway, I would love to meet my character, Little One.

We would start the day having breakfast at a little French café sitting in front of the fireplace by the window. As we enjoy our meal together we chat about her first impressions of this city since she arrived. She wants to know more about it so I tell her some of the things which I love about it, including its people. When we leave the café I give her a tour, showing her the sights and introducing her to some of the people I know. We have a wonderful time and she is so excited about everything, especially the people she meets.

Later I bring her to my home. After I show her around we sit on the big porch and she tells me about her experiences during her travels from her point of view. They are experiences I didn’t tell in the story. I am enthralled listening to her and in awe meeting her in person.

It is sad when it is time she has to leave and go back into the story. But I am grateful for the time with her. It was so great and the experience helps me to write more of her story.

Tell me, what fictional character would you like to meet?

 

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God’s Gift

I love this gift God has blessed me with later in my life.  It all began while living in Ireland.  I don’t remember which of these came first, and not sure it matters.

 One day I started writing the story of my life!  Of course, I don’t think I was going to write it for anyone else to read it.  Anyway, after struggling with it and feeling the pain of some of the memories I decided not to go on.  I wasn’t sure of the point of it anyway.  Hummmmm!  Why would anyone want to read it.

 I read the book “The Neverending Story” by Michael Ende  and it is my favorite story to this day.  The book is so much better than the movies.  I read it five times within a couple months and each time noticed something new.  In addition to the amazing details I love the many underlying positive messages.

 I read the information about Michael Ende.  He wrote it for children, but it became so popular with all ages that it was published in many languages and reprinted several times.  I thought “what an amazing legacy to leave behind.”  I began to think about my life and not only did I have no children, but had not done anything of value with my life.

 One morning, after my then husband left for work, a story began filling up my brain to overflowing.  I had to sit down with pen and paper, and wrote all day.  I couldn’t stop.  My imagination took me to other places, different ways the story could be told other than as a published book.  At that time I don’t think I actually imagined it would ever be published.  Another great gift was the day, several years later, when I held my published book in my hands.

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