Soulful Word Sunday (repost) Guest Post - Andrea Buginsky

I'm slowly healing from my bone-head accident. It's time to start engaging again. 

Sit back and enjoy the very first Soulful Word Sunday post.

  
Shirley is Not my Name is proud to bring you the inaugural edition of Soulful Word Sundays.  I hope you will find some inspiration, encouragement and soul stirring enlightenment from these posts. Today's guest poster is author and blogger, Andrea Buginsky. I am very excited to have her here at the blog and helping me launch a new chapter in my little blog world. So, without further hesitation let's go! Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!

The Chosen

Have you ever felt a calling? Like you were meant to be “something?” I’ve had this twitch in my belly for years now telling me I’m mean to do “something,” but I could never figure out what it was.

For years, I thought it was to work with children who had heart disease. I grew up with a heart condition, and I used to dream that when I was older, I would work with kids who were going through the same situations as I did, and be someone who can say to them, “I know what you’re going through. I survived this, and so will you.”

But, alas, life had other plans for me. I tried to make it in the world of pediatric cardiology as an ultrasound tech, but couldn’t pass the math and science classes I needed in college to save my life. So, it was back to the drawing board.

“What do I want to be when I grow up?”

My sister had the answer:

“You love to write, why don’t you do that?”

Thousand-watt light bulb! Of course! I could go to school for journalism! I was already taking writing courses in my first two years of college, and loved those classes. So I talked about it with my English teacher, and she thought it was a great choice for me. She even sponsored me in an independent study course called “Introduction to Mass Communications,” which introduced me to the journalism world and the many aspects of it.

Through the course, I was able to see that my heart definitely lied with magazine feature writing. That’s the course of study I followed when I transferred from St. Petersburg Jr. College to the University of S. Florida.

I loved the program and my teachers. I learned all about becoming a journalist, writing and editing stories, and even freelancing. Because of my heart condition, I knew freelancing would be my best option. I joined the Society of Professional Journalists, and learned even more about my career field. I even had the opportunity to meet several professional journalists in all of the fields. One of them was a great freelance journalist. She became my inspiration.

After I graduated, I slowly started my freelance writing career. I found some websites that offered writing opportunities to freelance writers via the Internet and started writing for them. Over the last few years, these websites have been growing, and so has my career.

Along the way, I also decided I wanted to write a book. I tried several different genres, and finally found that I was chosen to write fantasy for young adults and middle-grade readers. My first book, The Chosen, was born, and I was a published author. It was a dream come true, and finally showed me what I had been chosen for.

So the next time you start wondering what you’ve been chosen for, simply let life take you on your path, and you will soon discover your answer.

Andrea Buginsky is a freelance writer and author. “The Chosen” was her first book, and was followed by “My Open Heart,” an autobiography about growing up with heart disease. “Nature’s Unbalance” is the second story in THE CHOSEN series. Andrea plans to write more in the series. She’s already done with the first draft of book 3 and has a concept for book 4. You can find Andrea on her website, Andi’s Realm. Her books are available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Remember to sign up for Andrea’s newsletter to stay up-to-date on all of her exciting events.