Hello beautiful people! So, lately, I have been asked questions from readers on what made me start my blog. I have been thinking about the topic, as well. In this post, I will be telling the story of my writing journey.
I have always loved to write ever since I can remember. I wrote when I did not even know how to read at the age of three. I drew pictures in a Disney Princess notebook I was given, and I used them to tell my stories. I was always known as the storyteller throughout my elementary years. My teachers would always tell my parents I had too many stories to tell the class.
In fourth grade, my friends and I started a story group. We would each write a story to see who wrote the best. The first book I ever wrote was almost twenty-five pages and was called The Sound of Magic Music. It was about two friends who had magical powers when they sang. (Corny right?) My friend illustrated for every book I wrote that year. I eventually made it into a series. My dream was to travel to New York to be an author. FYI, that dream is gone. I will not be living in New York!!
In sixth grade, I was able to get my first book published! It is not a book you can find in stores, or online. A certain company published my class's stories. My story was a biography of my dad's family. It was called The House. I will always treasure that book.
A few years went by, and I still wrote. I still have the finished and unfinished manuscripts in a binder. One of my most favorite classes in middle school was speech. I hate to do public speaking, but the writing was the best. We wrote so many short stories. The only piece of writing I struggled with was poetry. I CAN NOT do poetry. It is not a talent that God gave me.
A lot of things happened in my eighth-grade year (I will not go into detail in this post), and I had too much on my plate to write. That was the only year I did not journal. One thing I did do was write for an app called Episode. Personally, I am not proud of this.
Episode is an app people can write for the public using cartoon characters. Most of the stories people wrote were not clean, and very ungodly. The story I wrote was a supernatural story dealing with vampires, werewolves, witches, and sorcerers. I am not proud of writing this type of stuff. In the last few episodes, I was burdened to share my testimony. Six months later, my story was taken off due to too many reports. Readers were not happy about me being a Christian even though they really loved my story. The only thing I liked was seeing my characters come to life as cartoon characters.
In August of my ninth-grade year, I started my very first novel. I finished in January of that year. It was called Somewhere In Time, and it is my most favored work. I have not been able to finish the sequel, but in my head, it plays out great. What makes it my favorite is that it takes place around where I live. I will always treasure that book.
Another thing that happened in my ninth grade year was when I started writing for Wattpad. I connected with so many aspiring Christian authors. It was such a blessing, and way better than Episode in my opinion. I wrote my very first devotional book for Wattpad that changed my life. It was called God's Plan For You, and hit 1,000 views in one month along as being ranked top ten in devotions! I also wrote short stories for the app. What I focused on the most were my devotions. You can still read my book, but the grammar is not very well because I was fourteen.
I later started a devotional Instagram named after my devotional book. I gained so many followers and stayed on it for two years. The page is now called @thekaylajournal. (You can follow it here)
That same year, I started my very first blog on Wordpress. However, it did not last long. I did not have the time for it. I had a YouTube channel linked to it as well. I deleted it because of my parents worry about my safety because I was fourteen. Will I do YouTube again? I do not know, but I sure do hope so! : ) It has always been my dream to be a Blogger and YouTuber.
I began to write more behind the scenes. I stopped writing for Wattpad because I did not feel like sharing my work anymore because I had a fear of someone copying my stories. I still have my devotionals up to read.
This summer, I met a woman at a music school that I attend. She was a Christian blogger on blogspot.com. I enjoyed her blogs so much! I began to pray about starting my blog up again because I finally had time to write about an hour at school. I registered for Blogspot and began to write. Oh, how I love to blog! This has been the best experience.
I started in October of 2019 and did not tell anyone about it. I was too shy of someone reading my writing. Also, I was just figuring out the site. I wanted my blog to look presentable before anyone read it. I finally sucked it up and released my blog to the public in January 2020. I posted ads about my blog on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook. I did not get many views at first and was discouraged. I felt like giving up. Then, God laid on my heart important advice. Blogging is not about the views. It is about winning one lost viewer to Christ. I began to write with that mindset.
In March of 2020, my blog blew up with readers. I had over 500 readers!! Now, I am almost to 1,000! God has been so good! Thank you guys for supporting me with my writing career, and being so encouraging. I love hearing from y'all about how you enjoy reading! It just warms my heart! <3 I can not wait to see where this heads!
Now, the answer to your question. Why did I start my blog? I write because I am passionate about writing. God gave this gift, so I want to glorify him by using blogging and writing novels.
I love yall so much and I am praying for yall!
Your Sister In Christ,
Kyala R. <3
Comments
Post a Comment