A little way in advance preview

I am not sure why I am doing this but my cousin Lisa tagged me in hers. Usually I ignore these things but I figure maybe if I talk about it and put part of it out there it will motivate me to work on it some more. 

What is the working title of your book or project?
Well hopefully it will be a book about my life. And the title would be the same as my blog probably Stories of a Real Life Wonder Woman

Where did the idea come from for your book or project?

People keep telling me to write a book about my life...they have been all my life. And I want to publish a book so I am slowly working on this.

What genre does it fall under, if any?
It would be an autobiography.

If applicable, whom would you choose to play your characters in a movie?
Um well it would be people playing me and my family and friends. But I have always said Keira Knightly would be me in a movie.

What is a one-sentence synopsis of your manuscript or project?
I am not sure how to answer this. It's my life story.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I’m not really into self publishing so I would try to publish through an agency.

How long did it take you to finish the first draft of your manuscript?
I haven't finished it yet. I only have like 14 pages.

What other books or stories would you compare this story to within the genre?
Other autobiographies that have to do with health struggles or really any struggles and faith. So maybe like books by Joni Eareckson Tada or the book by Mary Beth Chapman Choosing to See. Like her book I will probably have posts from my blog in it.

Who or what inspired you to write this book or story?
Pretty much everyone who said I should write a book and who reads my blog and said they love it.

What else about this story might pique the reader’s interest?
While I write this I am trying to be just as honest as I am in my blog. I try to be funny now and then too. We'll see how that goes.

And since Lisa posted part of her book I guess I will post part of mine.

            From what I can tell you I have been sick all my life. It’s not that I was born sick but when you get sick at 21 months old most hospitals consider that a since birth illness. I don’t remember a life before. The life I know is a life of hospitals, doctors, medications, tests, needles, and many other related things. Sounds depressing, I know. I often try to joke by saying that I grew up in a hospital but that’s a pretty crummy joke and not entirely true either. I really did have a great childhood full of laughter and late nights outside and friendship. It’s just that all that good was often broken up by all the doctor’s appointments or needing to go in and nap multiple times because I was so tired with bits of energy getting me through the days. But I’ll get back to all that health stuff. For now let’s look at the fun times, the all American, picture perfect, small town, Midwestern days of my life.

            I grew up in Dixon Illinois. If you, like most people, are wondering how far that is from Chicago and you mean the city, not the suburbs that spread out for miles around the city, I would tell you we are about two and a half to three hours (depending on the traffic) west and a little south from Chicago. We are also about one hour away from both the border of Iowa and the border of Wisconsin. Our big claim to fame is that Dixon happens to be the hometown of Ronald Reagan, 40^th President of the United States of America. Around here he is a really big deal and it’s pretty much a sin to think ill of him. I could spit out all these weird facts about him that most students in Dixon public schools end up learning after all the tours of his house and lectures about him that we endure. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fascinating to some people but not to elementary and junior high students. Our small town is home to about 16000 people which means the population of our town could be swallowed up in a university campus in no time at, let alone in a big city. This means that we pretty much know the majority of the town and if we don’t know someone one of our friends or relatives surely does. Dixon also sits in a valley around a river. This means we can fish whenever we want and we most likely can only get a few radio stations to come in clearly and they are country music stations. This is the type of sleepy town where not much happens. As some of my friends joke, “the sidewalks role up at nine” because pretty much all the stores are closed at nine except for a handful and Wal-mart. It’s the type of town that is surrounded by cornfields and those cornfields are surrounded by more cornfields. In other words you don’t really come to Dixon to site see if you are on vacation. Actually we would probably laugh at you if you came to Dixon for vacation. The one question new people in town get asked is “what did you move to Dixon for?” It’s not so much curiosity as it is that we are puzzled. If you come to get away and slow down you came to the right place, especially if you get stuck behind a farmer’s tractor going through town. We don’t have a movie theatre so the only real excitement we have is the bowling alley. If you never make it there, you aren’t missing much.

            I say this all to give you a picture of my town. Though I may sound like I think its boringsville, I actually loved growing up here. I loved the safety and comfort of a small town. Sure it felt at times like most of the people in the town had their noses in your business but at times that kept you from being really dumb. Either that or it gave you more people to be dumb with.

            Lucky for me, I grew up with a last name that a lot of people knew having known my dad or one of his four brothers. Plus, I’ve got my mother’s face so everyone else easily knew who I belonged to from that. My parents are Lewie and Dina Frye. They were best friends in high school and always said they wouldn’t date each other. But after high school someone pushed the other in the bushes (the story changes depending on who is telling it) and they kissed, started dating, and then got married. Soon after that my sister, Ashley, came along. Then not too long after that my brother, Mike, showed up. They thought they were done with the two but four years after that, yours truly, the oops baby came a long and I have been full of surprises ever since. 

            I was born on September 19^th, 1989, at 4 something in the afternoon. A few days after my birth, my family moved into a house in town that we have lived in ever since. It may not be the prettiest or most up to date, but it’s ours.

            At first my childhood was pretty normal. My siblings and I picked on each other, like most kids do. We spent a lot of time with our grandparents, Dean and Delores Hamilton (aka Bumpa and G.G.) just being kids. Though our family struggled financially more often than I think my parents would have probably liked to, we were surrounded not only by their love but the love they had for and share with us of God. 

I didn't know how much to share and I know that is not much but after this I go into some of my mom's journal entries about me getting sick so it seemed like a good place to stop.