One Writer's Journey to Inspirational Writing by Regina Andrews

When I look back at the moments that have formed me – as an individual, as a woman and as a writer – I would have to say the summer when I lost my father was a complete turning point in my life.

That might sound like a grim beginning to a posting, but really, it’s completely the opposite. It is a joy-filled journey, filled with happiness and the gratitude of having a family life that gave me the perspective I needed to succeed.

Getting back to my journey, my father used to take me to his office occasionally when I was little, and boy, was that a big thrill. I loved to meet his co-workers and see the place where he did all his Big Important Things. But what did I love most of all? Sitting at his typewriter, writing.

So I began writing, early on and it continued through high school, where I was Editor of the Literary Magazine, through Graduate School where I discovered Barbara Cartland.

Living in a world of royalty, civility and romance, where happily-ever-after was assured, seemed like a really nice destination, to me. So I set out to write romances, and to be legit, applied to Law School. The week before I started law school, we lost him.

When I lost him, so unexpectedly, that day in late summer, I turned again to writing. Only this time, it was diaries. It was letters to physicians and insurance companies. It was thank-you letters to nurse and staff and priests and organists and funeral home guys and relatives and friends who had helped us through it all. It wasn’t romantic. It was as real-life as I ever could have imagined.

Then one night, I just started writing to God. That was the beginning of a new phase in my writer’s consciousness. As the phrase goes, when God closes one door, He opens another.


To be continued tomorrow.