Please welcome Kayleen to Books for Company!
Kayleen Barlow is the author of the new novel "I Am No Bird" released just this week. It is available on Amazon, Kindle, and Nook. She is also the writer of a quirky little blog at kayleenbarlow.com
I have thought a little too long about what I wanted to write in this blog post.
It is difficult to approach a new audience and anticipate what they will want to hear from you. Well, it is for me anyway. I have this problem where I want people to like me. Shallow, I know.
Let me start with introducing myself.
Hi.
My name is Kayleen Barlow. I spent my entire childhood reading, to the point of concern. My mother, an English teacher, actually had to ground me a few times because I was reading too much. If that makes it sound like I was a loser, well then, you're right. I was. At one point, I pulled down the ladder that led up to our garage attic, stapled my sister's leftover silk wedding flowers all over the beams and walls, and spent an entire summer in the sweltering heat, hiding from my stumped mother, reading and reading and reading. It was a great summer. I also lost about 15 lbs of water weight.
Eventually, I went to college. First, I dropped out of the dance department. Next, I left the nursing program. After that, I wandered around for two years wondering if I would ever find a way to be a contributing member of society. Finally, junior year, I sucked it up and took Freshman English so they would let me graduate. And that was it - after that class, I was an English major.
Still, I never quite anticipated being a writer.
It didn't even occurr to me that I was becoming a writer when I sat down at my old, junky laptop one day to write a book. It just sort of happened.
I wrote here and there, as my busy life with a small family allowed, and then, two years later, I had written a book.
I rewrote it several times in the two years that followed. And then - WHAMBINO BAMBOONI! - suddenly I was a writer!
The rest has been a confusing battle of fighting against the downs and celebrating the highs.
But being a writer has brought me so much more joy and fulfillment than I could have anticipated. I do not love all aspects of it. Sometimes the marketing scheme can be a depressing venture. But creating characters and watching them grow and develop throughout the course of the writing process is a mind game I could never tire of playing. I feel like a new person when I am writing. I experience a sense of wonder at the power my stories have to inspire myself and my readers. The greatest review I have received has not been, "This is the best book I have read in years" but, "My heart is full."
I am grateful for writing. I am honored to be a part of the stories I tell, and I am deeply touched and humbled when I hear how someone else has been touched by my book.
If anyone has ever wondered if they should take the leap and write that story knocking itself around in their brains, I have only one bit of advice. "Do it." You will not regret taking such a daunting and somewhat reckless challenge. You will never know the power of a story until you put it into words, and you will never discover what kind of writer you are until you write.
Don't close the door on this side of yourself because you are not sure what is behind it. Rather, swing it wide open and leap on through. Don't you want to discover what might be inside you?
If you are not a writer, that doesn't matter. We've all got dreams.
And life isn't living unless you're following them.
Thanks so much for having me on the blog, Jodie!
And thanks so much for letting me write. : )
Kayleen
I have thought a little too long about what I wanted to write in this blog post.
It is difficult to approach a new audience and anticipate what they will want to hear from you. Well, it is for me anyway. I have this problem where I want people to like me. Shallow, I know.
Let me start with introducing myself.
Hi.
My name is Kayleen Barlow. I spent my entire childhood reading, to the point of concern. My mother, an English teacher, actually had to ground me a few times because I was reading too much. If that makes it sound like I was a loser, well then, you're right. I was. At one point, I pulled down the ladder that led up to our garage attic, stapled my sister's leftover silk wedding flowers all over the beams and walls, and spent an entire summer in the sweltering heat, hiding from my stumped mother, reading and reading and reading. It was a great summer. I also lost about 15 lbs of water weight.
Eventually, I went to college. First, I dropped out of the dance department. Next, I left the nursing program. After that, I wandered around for two years wondering if I would ever find a way to be a contributing member of society. Finally, junior year, I sucked it up and took Freshman English so they would let me graduate. And that was it - after that class, I was an English major.
Still, I never quite anticipated being a writer.
It didn't even occurr to me that I was becoming a writer when I sat down at my old, junky laptop one day to write a book. It just sort of happened.
I wrote here and there, as my busy life with a small family allowed, and then, two years later, I had written a book.
I rewrote it several times in the two years that followed. And then - WHAMBINO BAMBOONI! - suddenly I was a writer!
The rest has been a confusing battle of fighting against the downs and celebrating the highs.
But being a writer has brought me so much more joy and fulfillment than I could have anticipated. I do not love all aspects of it. Sometimes the marketing scheme can be a depressing venture. But creating characters and watching them grow and develop throughout the course of the writing process is a mind game I could never tire of playing. I feel like a new person when I am writing. I experience a sense of wonder at the power my stories have to inspire myself and my readers. The greatest review I have received has not been, "This is the best book I have read in years" but, "My heart is full."
I am grateful for writing. I am honored to be a part of the stories I tell, and I am deeply touched and humbled when I hear how someone else has been touched by my book.
If anyone has ever wondered if they should take the leap and write that story knocking itself around in their brains, I have only one bit of advice. "Do it." You will not regret taking such a daunting and somewhat reckless challenge. You will never know the power of a story until you put it into words, and you will never discover what kind of writer you are until you write.
Don't close the door on this side of yourself because you are not sure what is behind it. Rather, swing it wide open and leap on through. Don't you want to discover what might be inside you?
If you are not a writer, that doesn't matter. We've all got dreams.
And life isn't living unless you're following them.
Thanks so much for having me on the blog, Jodie!
And thanks so much for letting me write. : )
Kayleen
Find Kayleen
Buy I am No Bird
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