This past week as I sat to journal as I do every day, I recorded 4/4/24. That rang a bell in my memory. On 4/4/74 I set apart a day to pray about what I should do with about 250 poems I had written over the previous 15 months. 

I heard nothing, so I decided to type each one on a paper, put them in a box, and send them to a local publishing house listed in the yellow pages. I knew nothing about how to submit work to a publisher and figured that must be what people did to get poems published. 

In a few weeks the box appeared on my porch. A letter from the publisher explained they didn’t take unsolicited submissions and thanked me for submitting to their publishing house. 

Thoroughly defeated, I shoved the box under the bed and continued to write. About twenty-three years later I learned there were writing groups and conferences to hone skills and learn the proper way to send work to publishers. I joined a couple. I also expanded my genres to include prose as well as poetry.

Now, 50 years after that initial prayer, I’ve written 13 books in various genres, attended and taught at many conferences, and published numerous articles. For the past 12 years I’ve taught the fall and spring sessions for beginning writers of the Kansas City Writer’s Group.

I stand amazed at the answer to one small prayer, prayed 50 years ago! 

My books are available on Amazon.com.