Becoming A Writer

Becoming a Writer

By Nancy Rorke

If it weren’t for my second mystical or near-death experience (NDE) on February 23, 1996, I don’t imagine I would have started writing again. Creativity hadn’t been a part of my life for over thirty years. While lying unconscious on the floor of St. Timothy’s Church with severe abdominal pain for over twenty-five minutes, I visited Heaven. I had an encounter with beings that I call the Holy Ones. They told me they would heal me, but, I had to return to my life on Earth because I hadn’t completed my mission.

Ever since my first NDE when I was three, I always wanted to return to Heaven. This time, I agreed with them that my mission was important enough for me to stay on Earth. Immediately, there was a gentle force that put me back in my body, and my eyes opened against my will. I saw Joe, my husband, wearing a coat. I was confused that I was in church. I thought I was in my bed and had been dreaming of Heaven again.

Afterwards, I couldn’t remember what I had promised to do. I became obsessive about dying and living. I thought I had been sent back only to say good-bye to loved ones. Three months later, in a book store, I asked the Holy Ones for help in picking out a book. I was shocked by the answer.

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I taught myself to read when I was two years old. When I was ten, I told my little sister that I read so much because I needed to learn how to write. Ever since I could remember, I always wanted to become an author. I believe that most children know their mission or calling but sometimes lose their memory before they are teenagers.

 In school, I excelled in English lit, creative writing, and history. At the beginning of grade ten, I asked my English teacher, Mrs. Palmer, to look at the short story I had written over the summer holidays. Two days later, she told me that the head of the English department wanted me to join the grade thirteen writing club. After a few meetings, I was intimidated because I was four years younger, and I left. I stopped writing when I graduated from high school.

Since my first NDE, I have conversed with my great-grandmother, Isabella. When I was thirty-eight, she contacted me through another psychic. She said that my parents were wrong. I was supposed to go to university and become an author and write numerous books. At the time, I hadn’t written anything in twenty or more years. I still didn`t write.  

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Now three months after my second NDE, while in the book store, I asked the Holy Ones for help in selecting a book. They led me to purchase Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way. I was shocked because I wasn’t an artist. But, thank God, I took their advice. At home, I realized that it was for writers too.

Cameron believes that creative dreams are sometimes stolen by the negative comments we hear about our art or artistic personalities. Her major steps are writing three sheets of daily morning pages, having an artist date once a week, and writing affirmations such as I am willing to create.

            Without Cameron’s book, I never would have started writing again, and I certainly would not have been published. Presently, I am editing my non-fiction book about my NDEs.

             I wish I had never stopped writing. When I write, I am happy beyond measure. I feel joy in every pore of my body. Just for a short while, it feels like I have returned home.

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Posted on behalf of Nancy Rorke