In Her Words

I've been writing since I was old enough to hold a pencil and spell (sort of!).  When I was in the sixth grade, my mother finally allowed me to learn to type on her OLD Royal manual typewriter.  That summer, I taught myself to touch type, and I started writing in earnest.  My mother's best friend read one of my first attempts on that old typewriter, and told me I was very good with dialogue.  My dream became set in stone at that moment.

As I grew older, I continued to write, but my mother made fun of my attempts, so I went underground.  Very few people knew I wrote, but they were all encouraging.  Unfortunately, they were all my own age, so I figured, what did they know?  By the time I entered high school and could begin selecting certain classes, I knew I wanted to write.  However, the people responsible for setting up my schedules wouldn't give me the English classes I wanted which had to do with the grammar and structure of the English language.  They insisted I needed classes more designed for discussing the literature and classics.  But back in those dark ages, our high school didn't have anything that was designed to teach the fledgling writer the craft of writing, so I remained a frustrated wannabe.

Years later, still driven by the desire to write, I began writing again.  I had an electric portable typewriter and did what I could on it.  Unfortunately, my husband felt the same way as my mother, and once again, I went underground.  Eventually, we got our first computer, and I began using it when the coast was clear.  By then I had three children, and not much time to devote to writing.

My greatest supporters turned out to be those three offspring.  They always wanted to be in my stories, and I obliged them.  But life got in the way again, and it wasn't until the children and I moved to the East Coast from Nebraska that I again took up the quill and began once again to write.  I had thought once when the kids were little to take a course in writing, and my goal was to get published.  However, that took finances I didn't have, and the idea was scrapped.

But here on the east coast, people think in bigger terms that the crowd I knew in Nebraska.  I have since learned that Nebraska has some very progressive thinkers, and did even in those bygone years.  I just hadn't met them then.  With the negative influences in my life gone, and being surrounded by my staunchest supporters, I again began writing stories.  Eventually I was introduced to Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, and I was truly hooked.  I could not find books to read of the quality I liked, and it was too long in between Diana's releases.  I mumbled something about being able to write better than most of the garbage on the market, when my oldest daughter basically dared me to do so.  She put a big twist on the idea:  For Publication!

Immediately my mind went blank.  Write something that others would read?  Scared me to death!  So I blurted, "What could I possibly write about?"  Well, Victoria had some really GOOD ideas!  So I went to work and on the sly, began handwriting the first story.  I wrote on tablets wherever I happened to be, and typed the notes on the computer when I could get to it.  Then disaster struck.  My right eye hemorrhaged and I couldn't see to write.  By then, Victoria was basically bed-ridden to keep the twins from being born too early, and she couldn't climb up and down the stairs to get to the computer.  The twins were born in the middle of a series of operations on my eyes.  I, of course, could not work, so was at home for months until my vision finally improved enough that I could go back to work.  I could help with the babies, so that became my primary job.  Victoria and I spent many an hour rocking babies and discussing all the options to our story.

I started typing the story again, in HUGE print with my nose touching the screen of the computer, and we made progress slowly.  My health improved to the point where I was able to move to my son's home, and work continued on our manuscript.  Eventually, I got an Apple Macintosh computer, a program to help writers construct their plots and characters, a good printer, and a scanner.  Work on the book exploded.  Soon I was writing a chapter a day.  In just a few short months, we finished our manuscript.  We contraccted with a wonderful man in the University of Nebraska, and David edited our thousand pages.  He was strongly supportive and encouraging, and loved our manuscript.  He recommended we join RWA (Romance Writers of America) because they have an ongoing educational program to assist writers in honing their craft.  It was the best advice we were ever given.

While David was editing our manuscript, we heard about a contest for a home school group to write biographies designed for strong first and second grade readers.  We were intrigued.  We went through the list of people they wanted the biographies of, and made our selection.  I started doing research, but needed Victoria's help since I wasn't very good at using the Internet.  Up to that point, Victoria did most of our research, because she knew how to find things on the Internet.  She began teaching me how to locate sources and find what I needed online.

In only about three months, we gathered the information, wrote the text, and then reworked it until it was in language simple enough for the children to read.  We submitted our manuscript to the contest, but it didn't make the grade.  By the time the contest was over, we had received the manuscript back from David and were deep into revisions.  In 2006, the biography is still awaiting our attention, and as soon as we can, we will begin the search for a publisher of children's books.

Once we finished the revisions, we began searching for an agent, to no avail.  By then we were members of RWA, and our local chapter, Maryland Romance Writers.  We kept hearing the term critique partners, and what a valuable asset they are to writers.  We eventually found some critique partners, and what a goldmine they were!  One of our partners explained what was wrong with our manuscript and what we would have to do to make it salable.  Ouch!  About the same time, we stumbled across a publisher who was interested in working with us.  She found out we were beginning to work on a western series, and suggested we push hard to get the westerns ready to go, because she was "hungry" for westerns.  In the meantime she would work with us on the other manuscript, which is a Regency set.  That first 288,000 word Regency is still waiting for our attention, but thanks to RWA and their educational program, I now know how to go about fixing that manuscript.

We finished our first western, and have submitted it to publishers.  The sequel is finished in first rough draft form, and is undergoing revisions and polishing.  The third is being outlined and prepared to begin the first writing.  The Regency has been brought out and dusted off, and work has begun to turn it into three books.

I am finally living my dream.  I'm doing what I've always wanted to do.  When people ask me what I do, I tell them I am a writer.  It feels WONDERFUL!