“This is the beginning of a fabulous new adventure!”
For as long as I can remember I always wanted to write. It has been this crazy force inside of me pushing and kicking to get out. That force first pushed it’s way into my world when I was in third grade. I remember my teacher telling us about this Young Authors Conference. That was all I needed to be immediately off and running. It was a rough start to say the least! I had this incredible desire to write, but what the heck would I write about? James and the Giant Peach was my favorite book at the time. I loved when James and his odd menagerie of newfound friends ended up in the giant peach flying high above the world to escape his horrible situation. So I kind of borrowed that idea and wrote a book about a town where everyone lived in apples. It makes me laugh to this day. But that was the crystalizing moment where my passion to write caught hold and that passion is with me to this very day. My dream to someday write a New York Times best selling novel is a little voice in my head pushing me to write.
I spent my first career in newspapers as a publisher, running some awesome small town papers. I figured I could make a difference in my communities by creating papers with strong community journalism and opening up important discussions on issues. I got to do some writing when I stepped onto our editorial page, even ended up on the front page of the Syracuse newspaper for an opinon piece calling out the mayor (but that is a whole other story for another time). It was a crazy, fun and wild ride but something was missing. As a young (28 years old) publisher I heard a very wise man from Hearst Publishing say “you need to put your essence into your community”. That thought struck a cord in my heart and sticks with me to this day. A nagging and motivating thought indeed.
I ended up moving into the non-profit world figuring that I could bring my essence forward that way and I have been doing some amazingly rewarding work for 15 years trying to make my community a better place for my neighbors. I’ve managed to do a fair amount of writing in the form of newsletters and direct mail appeals, but my creative passion for writing just wasn’t getting quenched. Then two years ago I was asked to lead my Rotary Club and again the voice of my friend from Hearst Publishing rang loudly in my head. How will I put my essence into this year of service? I got that crazy tingly feeling in my stomach. I knew I could write a column each week to share my thoughts, passion for service and making a difference all in the hopes of inspiring my club to do amazing work for our community. Finally my writing was able to pour out of me to hopefully spark some inspiration for others. I loved writing those columns all year and sometimes I had these crazy cool moments where (and I know this sounds nuts) but the magic of the universe worked its way into some really powerful ideas to share with my club. Guess what? My friends started sharing how much they looked forward to reading those columns and that they were genuinely inspired. I was wowed, humbled and ecstatic to finally be finding my writing confidence with an outlet to share.
This past year I found myself seriously missing the opportunity to write each week. Now I am a crazy Pinterest addict, (I know right- how can you not be?) so as I did my mad pinning I was running across lots of super awesome bloggers that inspired me. And that’s when the light went on and this dream of the joyfultrek blog was born. I am over the moon excited to begin this joyful journey and share with you places, food, gardens, crafts and ideas that may just inspire you. I am a crazy busy working mommy who is trying to create a fun, rich life with my family and I hope to bring you on that wacky journey to laugh, create and especially find ways to create joy on the path of life.
