My Humble Writing Beginnings

The other day came across the first piece I ever wrote that was published. It was a simple two sentence statement about the weather. But it caught someone’s attention enough that they wanted to print it.  I was already interested in writing; I just didn’t know the flame of seeing my words in print was going to ignite in my soul.

Ever since the boom of social media I have been present on Facebook. I think it was my best friend who said to me that there was something called Facebook and I needed to get on. She said that a lot of our high school friends were connecting online. I grew up in Michigan but had lived my whole adult life in Texas. I can’t speak for anyone but myself but the town I grew up in was very similar to Mayberry. Que the music with little Ronnie Howard taking his little fishing pole down to the local pond to fish while someone is whistling the tune to Mayberry RFD in the background. No, I didn’t take my fishing pole to the local pond but yes, I wore the adorable little overalls in high school (of course as a fashion statement). Needless to say, my friends from K-12 and I are all so appreciative of being able to stay connected even though we have scattered across the world.

When I moved to Europe, I started sharing my experiences on Facebook as that was the only way for me to communicate with all my family and friends. This was pre-Instagram and pre-Facetime. Facebook was the only way I knew how to share such a unique experience to more than one person at a time.

Friends and family tuned in as we “Internationally House Hunted” and as we started experiencing the dramatic change in our lives of not only moving from one country to another but also one culture to another.

One of my childhood friends suggested that I start a blog. I had no idea what a blog was or what it involved. Luckily, my friend Wendy had started a blog and she invited me over to her house to help me get started. During that spontaneous trip to Venlo, I not only started my writing career but also took my first visit to Germany that was right across the border from her town. It was a win/win. American Girl in Holland was born.

Now I had an outlet and a place for all my friends and family to go to if they wanted to read and see what I was doing during my five year stay in Europe. I still would post my blog to Facebook to alert my friends that I had made a post and I also began sharing on my Instagram when that platform began. But one of the genuinely surprising things to happen was that I soon had people all over the world tuning in to read my little blog. It was fun seeing where people were tuning in from. We’ve been back in the United States for five years now and I still have at least 50 people a day that tune in to read American Girl in Holland. That’s fun!

It was through my blog that a friend of mine from the Netherlands read and enjoyed my blog. She works at the Expat Center in Eindhoven and asked if she could put some of my quotes in their Expat Guide that would be given to all the expats that came to Eindhoven. Of course, I said YES! I was so honored and humbled by this request. It is one small step, but it was my first time to see my words in print on an actual page that others would read.

I am beyond grateful for the kindness and this incredibly special time in my life and so happy I can share it with others. We all begin somewhere. My beginning was a little guidebook for others who might feel a tad out of sorts in a new country.