Life

I sit hear staring at my disorganized desk and thinking of all the things I need to do before I turn in for the night. I have a few edits to go over to send to my editor... my tax form for 2011 that I need to complete...and a shiny new potential contract staring me in the face.

2011 was an amazing year for me as an author. Well, the end of it anyway. Keep in mind that before the publishing world opened up for me I was a small press author who had yet one more rejection to add to her name. But then I decided to self publish a book... a good book. But self publish none-the-less. Said book went on to make the Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestseller list... not to mention it hasn't left the #1 or #2 position in romance on Amazon since Thanksgiving. I've had a couple of agents contact me... an audio publisher...a foreign rights publisher...

Who knew?
I didn't.

The fact is I managed to write a romance that resonated in readers minds. A romance that helped them forget about their world and escape into mine for a few hours. You couldn't have told me I'd be where I am today this time last year.

As some of you know, before I started writing romance full time I was an Emergency Room RN. There were days I saw the worst...and the best in people. Days I left my work with faith in humanity and days I thought we were all going to hell. I think because of those days I'm now dedicated to making people smile. I write because I have to. Like many authors I can't 'not' write. It's not possible for me to go along in my day and not explore stories in my head.

Today I learned that a friend of mine has a new diagnosis of breast cancer. I think back on my education... of my years of being a nurse and wonder if I'm in the right job. Should I be writing books about fractious people living a life that we won't? Is there something else I can do to be helping others who are sick... who need care?

I firmly believe that things happen for a reason. Five years ago an injury kept me from returning to a job I loved and forced me to stay home. I took that lemon and made lemon aide. Yet I would have never met my friend who has a new challenge in life with a diagnosis that would make most of us cringe. I may have been placed in her path for a reason I don't yet know. Or maybe I needed to know that to reach people I needed to be a writer and not a nurse.

Every rejection may be a silver lining.
Every diagnosis may be a salvation
Every bad turn may be what saves your life.