A Little Bit More About Me.

“I can't write! I'd never have enough words or ideas to fill a whole book!” or so I thought.

I started writing because an idea came into my head and I couldn't shake it. I'd just started reading the Outlander series, by Diana Gabaldon, and was on book four or five when I began to visualize my own Scotsman who was quite a bit different than Jamie Fraser, her male protagonist.

I'd read that Diana had decided to write her stories for herself, not to be published. I thought, if she can do it, maybe I can too.

I don't have a college education … school isn't my thing, though I love to learn. I may not have accreditation, but one of the most important aspects to my childhood was that my mother, bless her, read to me when I was a child and rarely used baby talk, so I have a good vocabulary. I was also blessed to have grown up in the country; biking, roller skating, using my imagination, and talking to the black and white, spotted cows across the street from the small house we rented. They chewed their cud and tilted their heads as they tried to understand what I was doing.

I have gone through periods of binge reading, and listening to every audiobook in the library that seemed interesting to me, and returned, over and over to my old favorites; classics like the Anne of Green Gables series, the Little House books, Little Women, To Kill A Mockingbird, and many more. Also, some relatively newer works of fiction, such as the Harry Potter series, The Princess Bride, and a lovely young adult book I'd bought for my daughter at a school book fair, called Pirates!, by Celia Rees, which captured my imagination.

At first a was afraid to tell anyone about what I wrote, embarrassed, imagining they'd think I was ridiculous to write sex scenes, especially my husband! I was sure he'd think terrible things. I finally told him my idea on the way to a get-together with some of our friends. He surprised me by saying that it sounded great, and was completely supportive. The few girlfriends I told that night whilst sitting around Marcia's kitchen table were excited for me and told me that they thought it was a fantastic idea for a story, as well. Once my cheeks returned to their normal shade of pale and I stopped sweating nervous buckets, I had made up my mind to do it.

I didn't know how to start, so I began something like this:

(My female protagonist was named Linda before I changed it to Erin):

Linda: "I can't do it!"

Todd: "If you don't, you'll die."

Linda: "But it's just too much!"

I knew that wasn't the way to write, but it got the words on the page and from there I could see how to fix them. I haven't stopped writing for more than a few days since.

I had to learn a lot about punctuation and formatting. I used places I've been and loved, such as New Orleans, England, and Scotland as backdrops, as well as some things I've personally gone through as inspiration.

As a school bus driver, I had lots of time while waiting for school to let out, or while warming up the bus in the bitterly cold, early school-day mornings. I found a package of little notebooks and used that time to write thousands of words, which now fill the pages of my book and my Works In Progress.