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by Ada Brownell

Some people probably wonder why I’m still writing. I’m no sleek new creation and I’m a high mileage model. What high mileage means is most of my life when my feet hit the floor in the morning I kept going until night. Sometimes when we had small children or they were ill, I also worked at night.

I retired from my paying job almost two decades ago, but I wish I had kept working longer. As a newspaper reporter I enjoyed interviewing people, digging out interesting and important information for our readers, and loved the challenges. I also enjoyed the people I worked with.

I wrote for Christian publications and had one book before I worked for newspapers, and I had been so excited about retiring and going back to it. Alas, the editors I knew weren’t there anymore. The market changed. Most magazines assigned articles.

I received some assignments, but after a couple years of feeling lost in the marketplace, a stirring began in me. I had a book where I used what I’d learned as a medical reporter and what I knew from being a student of the Bible that showed evidence we are more than a body. An agent had been interested in the book, and a new publisher accepted it. Then the publisher, went bankrupt.

I couldn’t find another publisher and I set the book aside. But a couple of years after I retired I decided to drastically edit it myself. That book took the longest of all my books to get to the marketplace, but Swallowed by Life: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal became reality.

I’ve written five more books since then. The latest is the second novel in my Peaches and Dreams series, Peach Blossom Rancher– the sequel to The Lady Fugitive.

I’m still writing because of these reasons:

1. I should have time to write because I’m retired. If I budget time I do. But I tell my friends we have to work as fast as we can so we can have fun. Senior Citizens love to get together and enjoy life. It’s not all fun, though. Senior citizens go to the doctors, buy prescriptions and vitamins, exercise, do laundry, cook and clean just as they did when they were employed. So I plan writing time and try not to live up to the label “Senior Sit-izen.
2. Time is running out. As the doctor told me when he persuaded me to get new knees, I’m not getting any younger. If I’m going to do it, I better get to it.
3. Time to reminisce. Writing novels is so much fun. All my novels contain snippets from my past. For instance my character Edwina Jorgenson stands too close to a pig pen and a sow sticks her snout through the hog wire and sucks her dress. That happened to me when I emptied a bucket of slop over the fence. I ran to the house holding my dress away from my body, pig saliva stringing down my legs. I imagine the pig detected the starch in my dress. I let the same thing happen to a gal in my first historical romance.
4. Time to hang with interesting characters. It’s amazing how in fiction people come to life in your mind as well as on the page. As the author, I know them well.
5. Time to share the gospel. Several of my non-fiction books are Bible studies including Swallowed by Life, Imagine the Future You, and Facts, Faith & Propaganda. My novels have portions that are inspirational.
6. Time I can possibly borrow from the next generation. If Jesus tarries His coming, it’s likely my writing will be read in newspaper archives, paperback books, and on the internet long after I’m gone.
7. Time with a purpose. I decided years ago that I would try to do something every day that would last beyond this day. Sometimes it’s a chore that only needs to be done occasionally instead of daily. Sometimes it’s an encouraging word that will remain in someone’s mind beyond today. Having a purpose motivates, invigorates, and helps me grow spiritually, and connects me with a purpose greater than myself.

Even at my age!

Connect with Ada on her

Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/adabrownell

Blog: http://www.inkfromanearthenvessel.blogspot.com

Sign up for her newsletter at ada@adabrownell.com

Just released! Get Peach Blossom Rancher http://ow.ly/4ETL302QdhW