How I Submerge Myself into Telling a Story

My Writing Process

Today I thought I would take you through the winding process of how I write a story or in some cases a book. With my children’s books, they come very easily if I give myself the patience to not force myself to write. I know there are authors and writers who strive to get to a certain number of words per day that they write. Luckily for me I write children’s picture books, so they are not long. My brain just doesn’t work that way. What does happen when I give myself the freedom to write when I feel like writing is that a story or idea pops into my head and then, all of a sudden, words are tumbling out of my head at a very fast rate. I’ve been known to be driving down the road and had to flip the notes section on in my phone and press the microphone and just start talking.

 I obviously can write without rhyming as well, I know I can. I do it swell. (just joking)

Before becoming an author, I began my writing career blogging. I wouldn’t call it a career as no one was paying me, but it certainly shaped the writer I have become today. Blogging in the Netherlands was kind of a free-range plan for me.

By nature, I am a happy person. I enjoy laughing and smiling, being around friends and family and usually see the sunny side of life. I knew in order for me to write well for Maurice I would need to get into the right frame of mind. I spent months reading and watching documentaries about WWII. Many of these stories were horribly disturbing. My mood darkened and I emerged myself into writing his story as best as I could.

I outlined a timeline of history pertaining to Maurice and the events happening around him. I came up with a ton of questions that I hoped he would be able to help me fill in the blanks. Missing information, feelings, smells. All important to the memories of his childhood.

Maurice and I would travel around Eindhoven where he lived and grew up as a happy child before the war. A typical Dutch boy.  

Maurice and I got together for many lunches, coffees and this was when our friendship really took off. We would discuss his story but then we would chat and laugh about life and fun things. This was one of the things I learned to love about Maurice. After surviving the war, he made a vow to himself to truly live life to the fullest.

I will be sharing my story about Maurice this next week. Today, I wanted to share how this happy American girl wrapped her brain around writing not only about a friend but a dear friend who had to go through one of the world’s most horrific times in history. Life is not always rainbows and butterflies. It is important to document and remember. It may be a time a lot of people would like to forget or maybe they haven’t even heard about it but it should never be erased. That would be like erasing all of those who were lost during the war and even people like my friend Maurice who lived his life to tell others his story so that we would always remember.

Writing is very personal for me. I need to have either been in the situation or I need to submerge myself along with other who were in the situation for me to be able to tell the story.