While
Shelly’s professional background has leaned more towards the secretarial
spectrum, storytelling has always been in her blood and has become somewhat
of a passion and a hobby. Her son and grandsons as well as other members of
her extended family and friends, have been recipients of Shelly’s creative
imagination over the years.
But it wasn’t until Shelly took a creative writing
college class that she realized the benefit of writing her stories down. In
fact, her college professor was so impressed by a story Shelly had written,
the professor included it in a college text book as an example for future
students to follow. That was the
confidence boost Shelly needed to continue writing, and from that point she
began to write fictional stories under a pen name, which she has seen
published in several magazines.
Shelly has a true heart and talent for working with
kids, and she admits they are one of her favorite audiences to write for,
particularly because she believes she never really grew up herself.
She jokingly confesses, “I like to pretend to be an adult.”
This inner child has proved handy though.
Shelly says, “It helps me see the world through a child’s eyes and
understand how things are possible in their world.” Mix this with her
writing ability and wild & active imagination, and Shelly has the perfect
combination to create a fun and unique children’s skit.
Because Shelly and Rayeann have worked together through
church in the past, Shelly saw first-hand what kind of skits and material
was offered through Skits and Stuff. When she learned
Skits and Stuff might be
looking for another writer, Shelly decided to check out the
website more closely. Her first
thought was, “This is pretty cool. I think I can do that.”
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Although writing stories is similar to skit writing,
Shelly says one of the hardest part about the transition so far has been
“breaking the story down into skit form. Skits are short, short stories but
it’s been challenging to go from telling the story to writing the story with
dialogue.” Shelly also admits,
“research can be overwhelming at times, especially if I have to learn a
lot about a particular subject that I know nothing about.”
While certain challenges do come with this
kind of work, Shelly feels this opportunity “opens a new door to communicate in
a fun way and to put my ideas into concepts children can understand.” She also
feels she brings “more of a focus towards skits for younger kids, which opens a
broader span of audience, not just adults and teens.”
Shelly says the best part of her new job is getting to share her
ideas. "I love to see children learning while having fun. If I can help
them learn and make it fun (not make it seem like work), that's when it's
exciting and special."
Shelly describes herself as "unpredictable, imaginative, and
organized," and wants people to know she's just a "plain ole' person who's a
little bit crazy and likes to have fun." If that's the case, God has definitely
brought her to the "write" place!
Welcome
aboard, Shelly Anderson!
Shelly lives in Plattsburg,
MO with her husband, Mitch.
Shelly has one grown & married son, and two grandsons, whom she claims “are
not only the best baseball players I’ve ever seen but I happened to think
they are incredibly smart.” |