I have always enjoyed writing. I can recall the excitement of Christmas around age 5 when I knew I would be receiving my first diary, as that is one item I told my parents I really wanted. We're talking lock and key, as if someone couldn't cut the strap. As a child, I wrote a few letters to famous people (including Judy Blume and Jimmy Durante), some of whom replied. In 8th grade, I took a class in journalism. On my own, and not part of any assignment, I wrote a letter to the editor in which I rebuffed an article about teenagers not taking proper care of their clothes and leaving them all over the floor. My final line was "if Mrs. so & so has any extra hangers, I would love to have them". My teacher was very proud of me and the inclusion of my piece in the local paper. As a mother of two teenage boys, I now have more empathy. I have journalled off and on throughout my life up until this very day. However, I never knew that the cursive I used would one day become hieroglyphics to the newer generations. Very interesting. Nowadays, I find Facebook to be very intriguing - everyone is writing their own diary, and one gets to pick and choose whose diary they want to read. Another thing that intrigues me - who would have guessed that one day I would be writing about zombies for children!!?? How fun!

So there I was, playing video games with my children. As usual, my performance was very poor since there are too many buttons on the controllers. We were playing a shoot the zombies game for older kids and I started to think - these zombies are really ugly and mean. I thought that maybe younger children were being left out of the zombie media presence. What if there were a good looking family of zombies who were afraid of humans? Why not tell things from their perspective? Then I started looking for contradictions in the zombie world. What type of zombie don't you see? What about a cute little baby (Baby Zom), or a dirty little boy who likes to camp (Kamper). How about a teenage girl zombie who is into fashion and goth, and is an animal lover (Gothina). And of course, who has every heard of a preppy/nerd zombie - and that is how I came up with Broheimer. I also added in Pop and a stay-at-home Mombie, which I found to be highly amusing. Instead of feeding on blood, how about loving tomatoes? So, I drew upon parallels and contradictions and enjoyed the creative process.

I looked into the process of becoming a published author through the typical route. It seemed very time consuming and iffy - first you have to find an agent (read rejection letters) who will represent you to a publishing house (read more rejection letters). There is nothing wrong with being rejected, but who hasn't heard of famous authors speak about how many rejections letters they received before getting accepted. That tells me that even agents and publishing houses don't always get it right. Meanwhile this whole process has taken a year or two, which in this day and age makes no sense, and if you are accepted you no longer own the rights to your own work. Another factor that plays in my ear is I have heard even famous authors speak about the editing process, and what was taken out of a book and I often think - I would have preferred to have seen that in the book. Wouldn't most people want to see what the author really had to say? Then there is always the variable factor question. Give an editor your book, give your info to the accountant to see how much taxes you owe, watch Miss America, etc., would the end result be the same if the players in charge were different? Hence, the indie author route.

One of my old bosses told me once that my desk looks like a rat's nest. I like to think my desk is neatly cluttered, in an organized way. My brain is usually going in several different directions at once so it makes sense that my desk reflects this. I jot down notes on "stick-ems" which are posted everywhere, and their various colors make a bold statement while simultaneously stimulating the innermost workings of my mind. And, I do know where everything is!