Yes, I launched my blog on October 6, 2016, exactly one month following the very untimely death of another aspiring writer.
Today, March 2, 2020, would have been the seventeenth birthday of that fellow aspiring writer.
She was an amazing person named Autumn Elizabeth Fuller, who was my ex-wife’s niece and, at the time, my niece by marriage.
It wasn’t until her funeral service that I found out exactly how much she wanted to be a writer and I was very touched because I knew that I had at least some influence on that career choice of hers.
She knew I was also an aspiring writer and would sometimes casually tell me about the names of her characters along with some of the plots in her stories and I would try my best to encourage her. Also, I would tell her about the stories I wrote that were age-appropriate for her. I remember how excited she would get when told her those stories.
I think she truly enjoyed our talks about writing, but as I’ve said before, I didn’t realize how much she wanted to be a writer until I attended her funeral and heard those who were eulogizing her. I did, however, control the sound system in the back of the church.
In the days and weeks following her funeral, I felt ridden with guilt that here was someone who wanted to actually pursue a real career in writing and with the right training and practice had plenty of potentials then her life is tragically cut short. And yet here I am still alive but living on a pension and writing some, but just showing a few friends and not making any real use of my talent. That guilt I felt was the catalyst for me to decide to launch my blog. As I’ve stated before, I did so exactly one month after her very untimely death.
I did indeed launch this blog and I do contribute to it on the regular. I do have quite a few subscribers but I would like to make more of a difference. I wish I could be a published author without losing my pension and therefore my medical coverage.
What really amazed me about all of this is that she was born in 2003, the same year I had first tried my hand at writing.
I don’t think she ever read my Original Stories from 2003 because Expage was taken down and I don’t recall ever telling them to her, but looking back, maybe I should have. Maybe she could have been inspired to write similar and provided many wonderful things for her peers like I did. But then again, she was thirteen when she passed and I was sixteen when I started writing, so maybe our maturity levels were different then again maybe not.
While I am no longer part of that family, mostly due to irreconcilable differences and the fact that my now ex-wife and I came from two completely different cultures forever at odds with one another. I, however, wish them no ill. And I even find myself praying for them, now!
I wish that if Autumn would have lived, she would have gone on to be much more successful than I.
She definitely had the potential to.
I don’t know the mind of God especially on how He decides who should live and who should die, but more than ever, I need to share my talent with the world, any which way I am able.
In conclusion, I want to wish Autumn a Happily Heavenly Birthday!
That is all for now.
Thank you for reading!