Growing up writing

Writing was always a natural part of my childhood.

As my sister and two brothers frolicked in the river down the hill from our Oregon home, Mom sat upon the dock with her typewriter, meeting her newspaper deadline. She always grabbed moments to dive in and play with us.

We were often subjects of her stories. She took in life and then expressed it back to others in the written word. As a child, I never knew how special that was.

Mom was the editor of a local newspaper, a job normally held by men during her day.

She was a pioneer. Our father challenged her one day after being humored by a column he read by Anne Landers. He shared it with her, and she smugly replied, “I could do better!”

“Okay, then do it.”

Dad was a photographer, but also a brilliant writer.

They met while working together on the newspaper in college when he was the editor. She later took his position. They had always been a good team and encouragement for each other.

Just like that, Mom decided to write an advice column.

She had no readers or questions to answer so she listened in on the party line at our home, and got some great material. She turned that into inquiries and then wrote the answers. Next, with the attitude that you always started at the top, she sent it to King Feature Syndicate in New York. Remarkably, she got a response in the mail from the managing Editor, Tommy Thompson.

“We love your column, and we would like to meet with you. When can you travel to New York?”

This small-town lady newspaper editor had hit the big time. She bought a new dress and some high heels and a purse to match and boarded a plane for New York City. When she returned from that trip, our small town actually gave her a parade. Her column, Helen Help Us, was launched that year. Eventually, it ran in over 200 newspapers nationwide.

There is much more to the story – the before, during and after – and I will one day write her biography.

It was wonderful, growing up with a writer and a photographer in our home.

Life never passed us by. Every aspect of it was collected in pictures and words.

Mom received about 300 letters a day in the mail. My sister and I were very involved in reading through and sorting these letters into specific topics. We would offer our advice to mom from a teenagers point of view. My sister had moved out to start her adult life when I was about 14. A couple of years later my mother had an idea to launch a mother/daughter advice column with me as a co-author. At 16 years of age I found myself on an airplane with her going to New York City to sign a contract. I felt like Cinderella.

For the next nine years we wrote Generation Rap. I had become a published author, which took us into the realm of public speaking, with radio and television interviews. While writing the column, I became employed in television at our local NBC affiliate. Although my job was video editing, I continued to write the newspaper column and contributed to magazines.

Of course, my story includes marriage, raising two sons, and a myriad of other experiences. But skipping forward to today, my husband and I are retired (that does not mean sedentary).

I am fully engaged in publishing what plan to write— with the next creation a book entitled The 3rd Third. It is about this amazing part of life where you are no longer responsible for deadlines and multiple others, but you get to choose how to live your next best part of life. It’s about finishing well, and recognizing your calling.

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