Dear Writing: I've Loved You Since 8

We have *loved* featuring so many writers during the month of love. Today we welcome our grand finale, Barbara Robinson. Susan will be back next week!
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by Barbara Robinson


I fell in love with writing in the third grade when my teacher submitted my story about my pet dog to the local newspaper, and it was published. My first college essay about an April flood was published in another local newspaper. A short story I penned in college-fiction competition won first prize and was published in the university's literary magazine, and I was hooked for life. 

That story was published on the front page of my hometown newspaper and ran as a serial for three weeks. It was later published in a Florida newspaper. I developed it into a novel, Southern Superstitions, which released January 15, 2012, by Desert Breeze Publishing, Inc.  


The most important reason I fell for writing is it allows me to show others the personal relationship I have with God and, hopefully, show them how they, too, can have that same productive relationship. That's why I write Christian romantic suspense. I grew up on Nancy Drew mysteries and my genre allows me to mix romance, mystery, suspense, and intrigue. I love taking my readers on a journey to another world. It's such fun to make up other worlds and characters. 


Reading and writing go hand-in-hand; I'm an avid reader and passionate writer. I love nothing better than getting lost in another world through the pages of a great novel, escaping the real world for a time, and traveling to places I may never get to in real life. Writing enables me to create and live other lives. 


My mother raised me on Southern superstitions and Bible verses. She was a storyteller, and I owe my love of reading and writing to her and my third and fifth grade teachers. Mom read to me before I started school. My fifth grade teacher hooked me on the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and I've been reading and writing ever since. 


I have been blessed with the right people in my life to encourage and motivate me to grow up and pen my own stories. Reading and writing are my passions, and my faith is its foundation. I've been given a gift I can use to serve God, and I write out my heart and soul for Him. 


Dear Writing, I've loved you since 8 but am so glad I found the Reason to write.
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B. J. Robinson writes inspirational Christian fiction in the romantic suspense genre from Florida, where she lives with her husband, a cat named Frankie, a cocker spaniel named Sunflower, and a golden retriever named Honi. Sunflower is a character in her first romantic suspense, Last Resort. Her children are grown and have made her a grandmother multiple times. Her love for writing came from God and her third grade teacher who submitted her first published story about her dog to a local newspaper. She promises to take her readers on a continuous journey to another world. Visit her at http://barbarajrobinson.blogspot.com.