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“Give it time,” my mother used to counsel me. 
“You were meant to write."

Mothers are like that. They can see the exquisite vase hidden in their child’s lumpy, clay pinch pot. They'll set it on a window sill, admiring it for years, even as the clay begins to crack and weather.

My mother must have saved a hundred yellowed poems and stories penned while I was growing up in the artistic village of Oak Park, Illinois. I'd shown some early promise in journalism camps and as the editor-in-chief of our local high school newspaper. But, somewhere along the way, those childhood verses were replaced by the daily language of life. I cultivated a successful business career, married, and had children. Meanwhile, my writing passion grew dusty on the sill.

Then, one day, after my pen had long been silent, my son was diagnosed with dyslexia, a complex reading disorder. With that, a purpose for my writing finally emerged and my passion was rekindled.

Today, I write to inspire reluctant readers with stories of hope and triumph and with characters who beat the odds despite their challenges. If I can encourage even one reluctant reader to pick up a book and turn the pages, my words will have found their purpose. And perhaps then I will know, I was meant to be a writer after all.

Madeleine Kuderick resides in Florida with her husband and two children. She has a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of South Florida and an MBA from Saint Leo University. She is a member of the SCBWI and is a graduate of the Institute of Children’s Literature.