My New Year’s Resolution for 2015 was to write the story that was swirling around in my head and submit if for publication. I didn’t really know where I would go from there but I knew I had to get it down on paper. When I finished the first draft, I reached out to a publisher I knew about from my circle of writer friends. I contacted them for a description of their publication guidelines but instead they picked up the story to publish. They were patient and kind with the lack of knowledge I had toward anything writing or publishing. See, I’m a science brain. My education was in medicine. Let’s just say there was a learning curve. But again, it was something I was drawn to do. My first book received more positive recognition than I ever dreamed would happen. It was an incredible feeling. Yet what I enjoyed most were the readers who contacted me to say how the book touched them. How it brought out so many emotions for them. They relived memories of their own personal strength or perhaps read their own life’s struggles to realize they weren’t alone in choices they did or didn’t make. Those emails and messages were the best part of writing.
Shortly after my second book was published, my life started to see changes. Those changes continued in a downward spiral until New Year’s of 2018. Boy, I have something about New Year’s, don’t I? Anyway, it was then I relinquished the misconception of control of my life and started the path of another journey. This one opened my eyes more than any in my life before. It was a long two years or more of heartbreak, struggle, loss, surrender, strength, joy and “knowing”. On the other side of all of it, I’m a different person. I’m on my path of what I call the mind, body and soul. When the clouds cleared and the sun broke through, I wanted to return to my writing. The problem was…I wasn’t the same person which meant I wasn’t the same writer. The resistance from this was so powerful that I couldn’t find the keys when I sat down to write “After the Storm”. I no longer wanted to take the story where I had told the publisher it was going. I wanted something different for all of us: me, Rayne, Sam. So, my publisher and I negotiated a closure of my contract which freed me to take the story where I wanted it to go. I started at the beginning and took my new tone back to the pages. The revised edition of When It Raynes was released the last weekend of January 2019. I have again been humbled and thrilled with the responses I have received. I am currently revising “It Pours” for publication with “After the Storm” to follow.
Now that you know all of that…who the heck am I? Well, that’s a tough question to answer in a short blog but I’ll sum it up the best I can. I’m a south Georgia transplant with strong Louisiana roots. I’m a wife, a mom, a PA and some say writer. I grew up fishing the bayou, picking the garden and riding three-wheelers. Oh yeah, total tomboy! If I wasn’t outside I wasn’t happy. Come to think of it, I’ve not changed much at all. When I’m not trying to find little hidden pieces of time to write around my busy family and work life, I’m outdoors. This may be piddling in my garden, kayaking, hiking, camping or maybe just sipping a glass of red wine on my porch.
I am very grateful to previous readers who have stuck by me and those new readers who have invested in the series to join along with me. So, please do not hesitate to contact me!
Cover photo Underneath a Louisiana Bridge taken and given to me by Jamie Gray
Fleur-de-lis Books 