My biggest goal of the New Year: Start writing my book

For me, writing this blog is more than just a way to keep family and friends updated about the boys. I have always enjoyed writing - so when I find a few minutes to steal some time for myself, I usually flip open my pink laptop and type away. As a mother, my kids provide the material to write about.

After Aiden was born, and the craziness died down, I scoured the internet and visited our local library to find something, anything, that was written about Apert Syndrome. The one and only book out there is a wonderful piece called Babyface: A Story of Heart and Bones by Jeanne McDermott. I read it in about a day.

This book inspired me - I know Apert Syndrome is rare, but there are over 2000 people in the US born with this condition. Which means hundreds of thousands of others - parents, family members, friends - are dealing with it as well. One book just didn't seem like enough.

I've always wanted to publish a book and now, I knew exactly what I wanted to write about. Problem was, I didn't know where to begin. So, I signed up for an online writing course for mothers. The topic was writing a "Momoir" and we met once every other week by conference call. The instructor provided weekly writing assignments which we turned in a few days before the call and discussed during class. The main purpose of the class was to work on writing an essay meant to be published by the end of the course.

I never got around to finishing my essay. I could give several excuses (Aiden's surgeries, the holidays, etc.), but now that the course is over, and a new year has begun, the old "New Years Resolution" has pushed me to renew my goal.

I haven't lost sight of the fact that I have an important story to tell - so my goal for 2009 is to get crackin' on this book. It will definitely take some time, so don't expect to see a finished product any time soon, but when all is said and done, I hope to have a piece that will help other families dealing with Apert Syndrome or other special needs. More importantly, I hope that this piece will give my boys a peek into what the early years were like, letting them know that although it was hard at times, our lives were blessed when Aiden came into our world.

Sharing written pieces about ones thoughts and feelings puts you in a vulnerable place - but if I'm serious about writing the book, I've got to learn to get over that. So in the meantime, I would like to share with you the pieces I have written for the Momoir class. The titles below are the writing "sparks" given to us before each class. Our assignment was to take the phrase, interpret it as we wanted, and write a short piece on the subject. Some are more serious, some are just silly. I hope you enjoy!

*When you click on the below links, you will be taken to Google Documents where I have them stored. To return to the blog, click your BACK button on the browser when you are finished reading the piece.

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