When I was at the MT RWA Writer’s
conference I was asked, “What made you want to be a
writer?” That was an easy
question for me to answer. When I was
very young my alcoholic parents used to fight a lot. I would crawl into bed
with my four siblings and then dream a story in my head – so the fighting would
go away. That was my earliest
experiences of creating stories. Books
are movies in our heads that we bring to life on paper/computer as we type.
My stories took me away from all the bad
things going on around me . . . and they continued to talk to me as I grew
up. My first works were children’s
stories and after my first two, I found out the market at the time was totally
saturated. They were buying books for
ten years ahead! Yikes. So I penned my first teen book and quickly realized–
that just wasn’t the genre’ for me!
A dear friend of mine, international
best-selling author, Kat Martin, said, “Write what you
love to read.” That happened to
be the best advice I’d received as an aspiring writer. One I share as often as I can – in hopes it
will help others. I loved, and still
love to read Indian historicals. My
first book published was Indian historical, Whispering
Sun. I wrote that book because Kat
inspired me to write it! How blessed did
I get? - -By the way - - if you haven’t read Kat Martin … you MUST! Check her out online! http://www.katbooks.com/
Another question I was asked several times
at the conference, “Have you ever thought of quitting –
and not write another book?” Oh, boy,
that is a loaded question. I had to
answer, “Yes.” But then my husband set
me straight. He asked me, “Will you be happy if you
stop writing?” I knew the answer
without thinking – Of course not. Writing is a part of me…it’s who I am.
Writing is something that drives
you. It robs you of your own free will -
- because you can’t stop the stories from coming. It’s inevitable – for me anyway – that while
I’m writing a book – my next book will start forming and try to steal the
keyboard. I have to jot down ideas and
sentences just to make it leave me alone!
I work a full-time job… and the demands of
a family, husband, and all that goes with it … so I must fit my writing into my
evenings and weekends… I set my goals and work as hard as I can to honor my
schedule. When getting tired and
frustrated – like anyone else … I ask myself, “Why am I
doing this? Why am I working so hard to
write? I could be relaxing watching TV or making jewelry… or
….etc.” I would call my sister, Diane,
and she would ask me this most important question. “Who do you write
for?”
You see . . . I do everything for my
family … my husband… my work . . . but guess what … my writing I do for me! It’s the one thing that is all
about me. It’s my passion . . . it’s my
drive . . . it’s my space. No one can change it or do it for me. No one can stop me from writing . . . except
me.
I won’t quit – because I can’t quit. The stories keep haunting me to write
them. It’s like my Tango Of Death story – it haunted me for ten years to write
it . . . and it exploded into a trilogy; Gypsy
Spirit, Partisan Heart and Jewish Soul.
I love to read and I love to write! I
would suspect I’ll be doing both until the day I die.
