if you’ve been around here very much at all, you know we are majorly pro discovering what you were made to do and working hard in that direction!

sometimes it takes a long while to figure out what that is – we all have different journeys to get there. but sometimes some of what you were made to do is really apparent from quite young! with both of our children we have seen very definite talents from very early on.

Maeve has been “writing” since she could hold a pen, copying over all the little words in the old daily planners that my mom would let her have. she’s also been drawing since she was 2, and constantly amazes us each time she brings us another drawing showing her innate ability and wonderful imagination. she once told me “mom, I’m only happy when I’m drawing.” (I think she meant most happy ) if she’s not drawing she is begging to type to us on skype. she’s been getting pretty good at trying to sound out words.

Maverick has been insanely attached to the drums since before he could walk, which he was doing at 7 months, so… (I did not think this was at all weird at the time, it just fit him, but now when I see other babies that age I am like, um?!) we’ve had to deal with many screaming fits brought on by pulling him away from the drum set at church. we didn’t used to be able to even send him up to sit with my parents in their front row perch during the service because he would always beeline past them to the stage. he’s also been crazy avid about sports ever since he could say “ball” (which was well before 1 – we had to stop keeping track of his vocabulary at 17 months because it was impossible at that point – hey if you can’t brag about your kids on your blog once in awhile, what is it good for ) but seriously.

Nicole from World of My Imagination is here today with her IRLO Mashup Team “Awesome” Bench, and it just so happens that she’s always known what she wanted to be when she grew up.

Since I can remember, I have loved writing and telling stories. My mom used to tell me when I was really little I would go up to the bookcase and pull out all the books in the bookshelf and look at every one of them. I would read books upside down before I learned to read at 3.  And then I learned the art and beauty of telling stories. And then when I was really little I wrote stories about my dolls and their adventures. My whole life I have wanted to be a writer and tell stories. When teachers would ask what I wanted to be when I grew up, I answered with, “Published Author.” At every stage in my life, I have written and told stories.

Now, it’s still my dream. Although I haven’t been published yet, I am continuing to work towards that dream. I love writing. I love the feeling of being taken away by a story. That for a moment I am living through someone else’s eyes. That the world I see isn’t the one on paper, but the one created by the writer. And to think that I can create that for someone is an amazing feeling.

The novel I am working on now is a fantasy story that I started at the age of 15. I am proud to say that this year I finished it and I am working on editing it. It may take me the rest of this year and most of the next to work on the rewriting process, but each word I write is one step closer to fulfilling my dream. Whether it happens now at the age of 25, or it happens 25 years from now, I will never let go of the desire to write stories for people and take them away the same way that books can do for me.

how super awesome is that?! go Nicole!

go check out her IRLO Mashup profile here!