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I probably wouldn't have started writing if my oldest daughter hadn't pushed me. She was looking for colleges and waffling about where to go because of her major. She wanted to study fashion, but people were pushing her toward a better paying career. I told her to pursue what she loved. She asked me why I wasn't doing what I loved. Talk about a defining moment.
As a writer you learn nothing is wasted, everything is research. And, I've done a lot of research. I started young, growing up with a father who was a cop, plenty of material there with him and his friends. I moved from Connecticut to Maine as a teenager and experienced culture shock in reverse. I moved from the country to a city, not what most people would think.
I continue my research by going to work at an insurance company instead of college after high school. However, after marriage I let the insurance company pay my tuition, and I discovered the joy of college at night while raising twins. The twins were more research material. When the third child came along I threw in the towel on the accounting degree.
Seventeen years and one more child later, I left the insurance company. While there I managed to conquer my fear of computers and learned to write technical manuals - Yawn. Eventually, I started my own company specializing in bookkeeping and database management.
Along the way a friend introduced me to medical transcription, which allowed me to stay at home for the next ten years. Being at home had become very important as one of my children had become severely ill with a mental illness. Our family has lived with this challenge for over a decade.
When the kids reached high school age, I got adventurous. I worked at a junior high as a secretary and even traveled to Florida with my daughter's high school band. Picture 110 kids in buses for 11 days - oh, with the flu. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
I haven't published YET, but I will. My oldest daughter, the one who pushed me, has gifted me with a beautiful grandchild and I just came home from delivering my third child to college. I still have one left in the nest for a few years. The child who battled mental illness through childhood is living in an apartment and doing well. With the right help, they can make it.
Research, Research, Research. My life is full of it. My books show it because they are
psychological thrillers. I've spent years with psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers as they worked with my family. The best way to deal with something is to become knowledgeable about it. Add my background as a policeman's daughter and what to write became obvious.
That's me, I look at every day as a chance for more research. No day is bad, just jot it down and use it later.
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