YOU CAN WRITE A BOOK! I DID!

My published books in ten years.

Haven't we all heard writers talk about knowing they were born to write? They share the process where, from very young, they have dreams of writing. They recall how they secretly wrote in the dark after bedtime, or wrote little stories for the school paper. WELL NOT ME.

Oh, I wrote, all right, but it was junior high school essays, and high school research projects. I wrote my college literature papers gladly, loving the books. BUT, I never considered writing a book!

Then sometime around age 55, I began to notice whenever a successful author was on TV, I'd feel a secret, unfamiliar longing to be like her or him. And when I met someone who wrote, I'd start tossing out questions about how they'd done it.

And so it went, never really considering writing as a dream to fulfill. Then I participated in a seminar ten years ago where we were asked to share a secret no one knew about us. I shared that since I was a little kid, I'd made up stories in my head when I felt afraid or bored. I had never considered 'my stories,' as I called them, writing fiction. They were my secret escape from ninth grade geometry class, from nights after my sister died when I lay alone in our room, cringing at the dangers in life, in my boring high school English class. I could ignore everything around me and disappear into a fantasy world.

Once I told someone about my stories, my non-writing career was over. I wrote first a scene, then decided maybe I could write a chapter, then struggling and stretching out my thin story, maybe even a novel!

With five books in print, a sixth in edits and seventh written to page twenty, I am here to testify that anyone can write a book. Now I've even taken on coaching people who want to write -- whether it be a book, a journal, or whatever.  So, if you long to write, long to see a book or a story in print, shoot me an email.  If I can do it, YOU CAN!