Some Pig!
9/30/24 When I posted this blog earlier today I didn’t know that Mrs. Burley’s daughter Judi had passed away. Judi followed in her mom’s footsteps as a teacher, and I’m sure she made an impact on many of her students’ lives. See you in heaven, Judi.
“The barn was very large. It was very old. It smelled of hay and it smelled of manure.”
–Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
I can still hear Mrs. Burley’s voice as she read this opening line of chapter three to my third grade class. Something clicked in my head that day. There was magic in hearing the words read out loud. There was something about the way she said manure – “man-u-or” – that stuck in my memory all these years later.
I was already a book lover. My Mom read to me from the time I could sit still long enough to listen. Mom taught me the alphabet before I went to school, and I recognized there was some meaning behind the way the letters were put together. I did my best to figure out the words on my own, but I didn’t quite get the hang of it.
My reading of “the” was tee-aach-ee. Teeaachee.
Not exactly phonetics.
No, it wasn’t the love of reading Mrs. Burley inspired in me on that day. It was the love of words.
At that young age it hadn’t yet occurred to me that I could create worlds with my words, but four years later I knew I wanted to be a writer. For the next fifty years I pursued my dream. I studied the craft, and I wrote. I took free webinars once that became a thing, and I wrote. There were a few years when I wasn’t able to write, but the bug always came back to bite me.
And I’ve had some success. I’ve published about three dozen articles in various magazines. My first was in Highlights for Children! For a number of years I contributed to Pennsylvania Magazine. I’ve written articles and devotionals for a variety of Christian magazines. And then came “What Kind of Cow Are You?” My children’s picture book was published by Journey Stone Creations in 2006. Sadly that company has gone out of business and the book out of print.
I’ve rewritten and reworked it, and renamed it. “Mitzi Needs A Friend” is the first of what I hope to be a series – “The Mitzi’s Farm Stories.” I don’t own the original artwork to that first book. I never met the artist, but his pictures seemed to come straight out of my head. He caught my vision for the story perfectly. This time around I’ve used Canva art, which I must say doesn’t look too bad. I’m offering it on this website as an ebook. If there is interest in a print version, I will make that available in the near future.
I hope you and the children in your life will enjoy the story. LINK
As I continue on with my writing, I still give credit to Mrs. Burley (who now resides in Heaven with the Lord she loved) and Charlotte’s Web.
Thank you Mrs. Burley!!