KAREN KINGSBURY - THE AUTHOR THAT INSPIRED MY WRITING CAREER

Good Evening all my Beautiful readers. 

AND HAPPY WOMANS DAY

So in honour of this woman's day I am going to tell you about a writer who really shaped me in ways she might never understand and if I ever meet her I WILL just cry haha or fan girl so bad she might call security on me HAHA!!! 

THE first book I ever read of Karen Kingsbury was the Bailey Flanigan series

Just the way she wrote and created every single character like they were her own flesh and blood, wrote them so well like by the time you finished the book you wanted them to be apart of your life. 

The way she connected all these characters, how she would just put this pots of Gold wisdom when the character was going through a hard time, and how in the end you would know why she let the process happen as if it were real life. She made God so evident, calming and too like a roaring lion that you wanted to be closer to him because in the little moments the happy moments we can sometimes be so far away from God. 

The Bailey Flanigan series taught me a lot about God, family, change, careers and life. Taught me about love, sacrifice and how the world sees others and even how we see ourselves. 

Karen Kingsbury really didn't take any short cuts and wrote about how her family inspired so much off her work, how all the days she prayed and God  would give her the confidence to write. 

Just like I have quoted in above picture, I lived every single book of Karens that I have read. I would stay up all day and all night just to read one more chapter, one more and one more. I realised that I didn't just love to read them, but I loved how I would feel afterwards, I felt like I was watching them through a glass box and that every page I read I could smell the room, imagine the looks on their faces, what their winters were like, how hard it was to be a dancer, a parent a fire fighter or even an adoptive child. 

Her books taught me about myself, inspired me to never be sacred of my voice, to always push the boundaries. 

Since I was little I loved telling stories, talking to myself in the mirror and creating situations in my head that eventually I would have to snap out of it and get back to real life. I loved knowing that there was a freedom in all the words, a freedom with all the characters, a freedom to love God openly and write bout it, to make everyday life tangible to people who might think its so easy, or even just to give hope to people who are ready to give up that its not over till God says its over, its only done when you succeed or when you give up. And Giving up SHOULD NOT BE AN OPTION!!

The moment I wrote the Bailey Flanigan series finished, I didn't just know I felt in my spirit that I would be a fully qualified and published writer . I knew that my voice was important and that no matter how selfish I was, I wanted my readers to live my stories too, I knew that God did not put this burning desire in me, for me NOT to make it. 

These were my fears, That yes its all been said before, and that ag Another new writer wont make a difference, but this is what Karen showed me, she created a family in a book, she created love in a book, she created ambition in a book. HER WORDS CHANGED THE WAY I LOOKED AT MY CAREER, everyone says "its not a very fruitful career" and my response used to be I will have something to fall back on, and I don't want that anymore. 

I want to be published, because I know that my work and my creativity is fuelled by something bigger than myself. 

I am genuinely grateful to every single writer who sat day in and day out to make it work, to give us  a piece of themselves that sometimes we did not deserve, and no matter what we should honour them for their love, time and emotions they took and wrapped it up for us in a story that makes us live many different lives. 

Karen Kingsbury by far is one writer that has had me laugh, cry, re think so many moments or decisions in my life. She has made me a writer hungry to publish, hungry to write. I also love that she writes series, because they really create an expectation for the next one. NON of her stories feel unfinished. 

Below I will list a few of my other Karen Kingsbury Favourites and why I love them, without spilling the beans too much. 

This is a beautiful book about a child who loses his mom and desperately looks for a father, and finds a connection with someone who he believes is, the story really is one for the books. Punny! 

This is a book on loss, and how after all the hurt, you find God again and he shows you how no matter what you do, he will be there and love you with all his heart. 

These two, wow. These were an emotional roller coaster but please, please read it. 

Thank you for all your love and Support. 

All my love. 

Keesha McPherson of Takkies&Tulips