***Originally posted 10-23-13


When I was in radio, I did a little writing here and there for scripts and other such things, but I missed long form writing.  In college, it was fine because I had plenty of papers to write, but once I graduated and started my career, I didn't have that creative outlet anymore and I needed it.  I tell people that the prologue for "Someone Always Love You" was something that came to me and bugged me.  It actually kept me awake at night, begging to be written.

So, one day, on a break from work, I sat down and wrote it out.  I felt better!  But the story was there and though I didn't know what it was, exactly, I HAD to finish it.  It deserved that much.  I had never written a novel before, but that was exactly what I set forth to do.

I honestly had no idea what was going to happen in the book.  The main idea was based around a woman in a coma.  My grandmother was in a coma on two separate occasions and I always wondered if she could hear the people around her...if she had thoughts, dreams, or other things going on in her mind.  Though I don't know what really happens in people's minds when they are in comas, the story is based on my idea of what it might be.

What came to me for the prologue was HOW the woman gets thrown into the coma in the first place.  From that point on, I really had no idea what was going to happen.  I wanted her to have memories of her life and I wanted her to hear some of the things going on around her.  What those memories would be and what those items she would overhear would be were  up in the air.  I literally just sat down a wrote.

Characters began to form and with them, an intricate story line of love, family ties, tragedy, mishaps and many other elements came.  Somehow, it all came together and I completed the manuscript in a little over a month.  I had no idea what to call it and no idea what to do with it.

My mom helped me arrive at the title of "Someone Always Loved You" and I approached agents and publishers and so on.  Though a few asked for more chapters, no one took the bait and I pushed the novel to the side and went on with everyday life.

Years later, my husband "published" the novel in ebook form as a present to me.  I went on to self-publish is in paperback form for fun as well.  I hope to go back and polish the book a bit more someday now that I know a little more what I am doing.  I also took the first few chapters to a writing conference in 2012 and won a contest with them.


Someone Always Loved You"Someone Always Loved You" is still one of the favorite stories I have ever written.  I feel like a part of me is in every single character and the story is something that I will never let go of completely.  Though I have not done all that much with it, somehow, people have been finding it online.

Just the other day, I visited the amazon link for the ebook version of the book in order to grab the link and send it to someone.  I noticed that there were reviews posted on the book!  I was surprised and excited to read them.  There are four reviews posted.  The first one I asked a reviewer to write and it is a three star review, though everything they said about the book is favorable.  The other three reviews are completely unsolicited and I was shocked to see there are all five star reviews.

You can read all of the reviews here, but here's what one reviewer said:

This book was amazing! The story was not what I had expected at all. The twist and turns it took certainly made me want to finish the book. Each character had their own distinctive personalities and I am not sure who was my favorite. The title goes hand in hand with the storyline. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading the unexpected.

Reading what complete strangers thought gave me hope that someday, more people will enjoy the story that I enjoyed writing more than you can imagine.  It's a story I will never forget and never completely move past.  It haunted my until I wrote it and though I feel better now that it's out of my system, there will be no ridding of it completely.  And for that I am thankful.

***Originally posted 10-2-13
**Note, see "Freelance Writing" section of website for details


When I left radio after 12 years, I really didn't know what I was going to do.  I knew it was time to leave and I desperately wanted to work from home, but doing what...I didn't know.  Since I loved writing so much, it only made sense that I do something that involved writing.  I am so thankful for the internet and the possibilities is has opened up for me.




I started searching for writing jobs and looking at random websites and applying for even more random jobs.  I found a few here and there including thecontentauthority.com.  I applied to be a writer and was accepted after some trial articles.  However, I had to start at a low pay and prove myself.  Eventually, I moved up the ranks and get a higher rate.  Websites like these are great because you can go to a huge job board and look at the topics that are needed.  You choose one you think you can write about, write the article, and send it off.  Then, if the client on the other end likes it, they can add you as a favorite writer.  They can directly order things from you later and the good part about that is, you get to set the price on those.  I have written enough articles for enough people that I rarely take jobs from job boards anymore.  Usually, I work on the direct orders I have from the variety of sites I've been on.

After I found a few little things, I hit the jackpot when I ran across freelancewritinggigs.com.  This website posts writing job leads every morning at about 7am.  Some of the jobs are for specific locations and others are virtual, meaning they can be done from anywhere.  I would look at the jobs that could be done anywhere and see if I fit the bill.  If I did, I applied.  I have to be honest, I didn't hear back from most of them.  But the ones I DID get ended up being great.




The freelance website led me to Interact Marketing, another writing website with a job board.  Once I was accepted there, I could take jobs in a variety of topics at a variety of price levels.  Again, if the client liked me, they could add me as a favorite and order work from me later.  I got two great contacts and regular clients from this website.  One ordered from me nearly daily until my second daughter was born.  That client didn't pay great and since my time went kaput, I kind of stopped on those jobs.  The second client was Goodbye Crutches and I still write for them today.  In fact, I write usually 5 blogs a week for them.  They call me their award winning writer and most of the blogs they post are my writing.




From the freelance website, I also got connected to a guy who offered book reviews to authors.  Though he no longer works in that business, he still has me on his list and sometimes, authors contact me directly for reviews and such.  Honest reviews only!!

So, as a freelance writer, I write a little of everything.  I write about how to get around on crutches, how to cook, how to deal with kids and anything else you can think of.  To get an idea of what I do for that client, visit their blog here.  They are my current, most regular client and I work with them weekly.  The rest of my jobs come and go.  Right now, I'm working with a client who wants product description type things for hundreds of study guides, flash cards and other related items.  Yes, I said hundreds.  :)

When people ask what I write about and how I find the information, it's hard to answer.  One day, I can write about how to recover from foot surgery and the next day I'm writing about how to fight a speeding ticket in a certain state.  It really depends day to day and that's one of the things I love about it.  If I wrote the same stuff all of the time, I'd probably go nuts.  Or maybe not...because that's how much I love writing.

The one thing I've learned about my own personal freelance writing style is that I should never accept a job I know I can't complete.  I don't want to put too much on my plate and not be able to deliver.  I have also learned that I generally underestimate myself as to what I can get done in a short amount of time.  But I think that's better than overselling and not coming through.

If I never did anything else but write articles for people who need them for their websites, newsletters or wherever else, I think I'd be pretty happy.  I'm thrilled to now have success in the fiction writing world as well.  I'm looking forward to the release of "Wrong Place, Right Time" in December 2014 and I hope I can announce many more book release dates in the future.  In the meantime, there's an article on marketing automated systems waiting for my attention....