I often get asked about my path to being a published author and I ask if the person has a few hours to spare. There’s a common saying amongst writers: Ask a thousand writers about their journey and you’ll get a thousand different stories.
To me it felt like I always wanted to be a writer. My first memory of my decision was reading a Judy Blume book at six years old then telling my sister I wanted to write books one day. It took me over thirty years to achieve my dream. I didn’t pursue writing seriously until after giving birth to my first child. During my leave from the law I wrote a screenplay about two runners based off of my husband’s stories of his collegiate years. Without knowing the rules, I snail mailed it to over a hundred producers, contests, and studios. I’ll blame it on lack of sleep but ignorance was bliss. In between all the return letters telling me I was a novice for sending the script without querying first there were some positive responses! It was all the encouragement I needed. I concocted a foolproof plan for success. I scheduled my writing hours in between my son’s sleep time and work. I committed myself to publishing my first book or selling my first movie before he turned one. Unfortunately, my firstborn didn’t agree with my commitment. My second-born sided with him. The plan promptly fell apart.
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