About

I never really sat down with the plan or idea to be a writer...it was more like stumbling and falling into a crazy, wild, vibrant new sub-culture.

In the fall of 2007, when my "baby" started kindergarten, I found myself with a serious case of PMS, acne and angst. I suddenly felt like I was back in high school, pondering the age-old question, "What am I going to be when I grow up?" And like the proverbial seeker who can't spy the forest for the trees, I pondered, mused, meditated, speculated and reflected...

Then I panicked. I cried. I got depressed. I threw myself into a couple of different projects that didn't feel right. I journaled, did my fair share of soul searching and then decided to do as my recent read, Life Organizing by Jennifer Louden, suggested: to hop on the inner tube of life and float...and see where the current took me.

It was scary. I am a die-hard, goal-writing, objective-making, planner. To sit and go with the flow was, needless to say, not only completely foreign, but scared the royal you-know-what out of me...

But, I digress.

So, there I was in a premature, pseudo-midlife crisis when I stumbled upon the National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO) website. I can't remember now how I found it. I wish I could. I decided to give writing a novel in thirty days a go. I wrote, read articles on the site and in the emails I received and by day twenty-seven I had a sloppy, painfully rough, 56,000 word first draft of a novel. Hmm, I thought, interesting experience. Then I promptly put it away and went to clean house, do laundry and resume chauffeur duty for my three children...

But a strange thing happened. I woke up one night longing for my characters. I missed Eugenia's sassy mouth and romantic longings. I missed Jarrett's charming, debonair, arrogant presence. So I went back and read my novel. Groaning an "ugh" of disgust one moment and raising my brows with a, "Holy crap! Did that really come out of my brain? It isn't half bad!" the next, I started adding, editing and revising...

I started to connect the dots.

The one constant in my life had always been a love of reading. Jobs, roles, hobbies had all come and gone. Yet I always ended up back with a book in my hand, wondering what would happen next, pondering how the main character and I were similar or different, and longing for a jolt of romance in my own life.

I had also always been a journaler. What that had to with writing I had yet to discover. But it was another dot - the fifteen, following number fourteen that curved me around the second corner of the still unrecognizable picture of what I was going to do with my life.

Then the pieces started falling into place - my daughter won a writing contest and was invited to attend a workshop. There were workshops for adults as well. I went, even pitching to an agent. She liked my idea and asked for a partial. She didn't end up wanting to read my full manuscript, but I was amazed at how far I had gotten.

And now here I am, working and hoping that one day I will be a bona fide author. For me, that means being published. But that is only one definition and a rather narrow one at that.

I hope my experiences can help you in your journey as a lover of words, as writer or reader. I am honored to wander this path with you!