Jealousy. Perhaps not the best virtue, or a virtue at all, but it’s what made me start writing. I read a novel called Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day Goerge. At the end she included her bio. As I read it, you guessed it, jealousy set in. She said she had one small child and another on the way when she wrote her book. How? I couldn’t understand.
I had always had characters running around in my head, shouting to be set free. In particular, the town of Jefferson, Texas--its cobbled streets and Victorian homes--inspired me to create a story from real-life legends. But I ignored it. Life would be perfect, distraction free. It would be when the moment was right, when the universe sang to me, “Now is the time!”
Then my mom had a stroke in June 2010. She recovered quickly. But it made me realize that now is the time.
I had three small children and a husband who worked eighty hour weeks, but I didn’t let it stop me.
I began writing. My husband encouraged me in his own way. I set a goal of writing a 65,000 word novel (about 225 pages). Every day he would come home and say, “Only 60,000 words to go! Only 50,000, only 35,000.” One month later, he could taunt me no more. I had achieved my goal. I had written all 65,000 words. It was my first novel and it still had a lot of work and endless revisions, but I had done it. I fell in love with writing. It saved me.
I’m glad I ignored the little voice in my head, the one that told me I had to wait for just the right time when everything was perfect. Life never is perfect, but when I am writing, it’s the closest I ever come.
And for those of you curious to read my novels, I have plans to e-publish books one and two. I will let you know as soon as it happens!
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