When did you first start writing?
I started to write later in life after my mother passed away from cancer. I was an avid gardener, but that was something we did together. After she was gone, I just couldn't do it any more so I struggled finding something to occupy my mind. I tried reading, but I got tired of stories about weak female characters. After throwing my hundredth book across the room, my son teased me and said that I should write my own stories. To my shock, I did and I found it to be a wonderful escape. I NEVER planned on publishing anything until my best friend convinced me to give it a try. The first personal note I got from someone that read my book made me cry like a baby. I decided at that point if my stories could help others escape for a few minutes from whatever is troubling them, it was all worth while. I haven't stopped writing since that day.
Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?
I was forced to do creative writing in grade school and hated it. I was painfully shy back then and was petrified by the idea of anyone reading something I wrote - - even the teacher. I didn't start enjoying creative writing until my forties. I guess I needed life to teach me how. The first real creative writing story I've written and shared with anyone is the Blue Fire series... all 750,000+ words. It started out as a short story and just kept growing and growing. Blue Fire ended up as a 5 book series that includes over 175 illustrations. The next book was Knight Shift and it has over 208,000 words. I am now working on Mistyx which is a story that I'm splitting into 2 books, each just shy of 300 pages. I can't write a short story if my life depended on it.
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