When finally you discover your genre--or I'm a slow learner

This is going to be one of those posts that I write more for myself than the world. You see, I've been self-publishing for over a year and a half. My first book, The Bend, had a slow start but now sells more than any others I've written.

 I joined this group that pushed to write faster and find a selling genre. The theory sounded great so I released a women's fiction, and then another suspense and then a romance.

What I've learned?

I really can't write romance or women's fiction the way I want to write them. I love twists and turns and short sentences and lots of what ifs. I love weird, I love taking that extra step.

I wrote my books and sent them out there and honestly, I'm not sure whether or not they will ever do as well as The Bend. When I wrote The Bend, I had this crazy idea about a town and a girl. I knew I had to give her something special, so I did--her gift to see death before it happens. It seemed to work. Another story has been spinning around in my head for years but instead of writing it, I veered off and took the easy route, writing and releasing stories that would get out there faster.

Not smart.

I've actually stripped my joy of writing, and when that happens, writing for money means nothing. I would rather not write.

I think sometimes I'm a slow learner and get caught up in pushing myself not always in the right direction.

Pressing the pause button today.

I can actually breathe again.

So this post is a letter to myself to remind me never to lose sight at what you love to do. If you love something, no matter what happens with it, you are going to be okay.

I am a suspense writer. (I'll tell myself that over and over until I get it.)
That's what I'm going to write .
I hope you'll let me prove that in my next book.

Changing the way we look at life

I've lived many places in my thirty-six years of marriage. Today I call Bonita Springs, Florida home--a gift from God.

When we started building last spring, we never dreamed we wouldn't finish by this year. I had hopes of seeing my cabinets completed and inviting my first guests over for dinner. I saw myself planting a garden this spring and painting my porch furniture to match my front door.

Today this street view is what greets me every morning. It's nothing like the two acres we own in a small town in Pennyslvania. They call this development resort style living. People ride bikes and jog and swim in the two pools or work out in the fitness center that overlooks one of many lakes. Every day at two, I walk across six bridges to the town center post office to check for mail. If I want I can get my hair cut, my toes painted, pump gas, plan a vacation, do banking or dine in one of their many ammenities.

It's different. But then I knew different would come with this territory when we made the jump. Different will face me many more times as I find a new church, a new doctor, a new stylist and new friends. Being open to different will help.

Being open to what God wants from me will help too.

You know that feeling when you wonder what God is doing with your life? I'm there. I've always been a homebody type of person. I like stability. I thrive on it. For some reason, that part of me needs to go away because change seems to be the norm now.

Who knows when we might move again?

So I'm riding a  twenty-year-old bike, working out in the gym, saying hello to new neighbors and driving around unfamiliar territory in search of a great thrift store.

I'm opening my heart to the change in my life. Are you?

Is your Dream becoming a Reality?

It’s time.


As a writer, we get to a point in our journey where we need to take the next step. Maybe it’s entering a major contest, maybe it's attending a writers’ group or maybe it's joining a critique group.

But there is always another new step.

My next step is teaching at the writer’s conference in Spokane this next Saturday. On Friday, after a week of activity, I board a plane and fly to the west side of the country where I will be staying with an awesome blogger friend and the director of the conference—Jan Cline.

In a previous post, I mentioned how a few years ago, I turned down a similar speaking opportunity. I was too afraid. Too worried about not being good enough. Too worried about fainting or dying in front of a room full of people.

Amazingly, I don’t have that same intensity of fear today. Yeah, I’m nervous that I will bore everyone or that my voice will disappear, or I’ll get a migraine or I’ll blank out. I have  fears like anyone trying a new experience.

But I also have this undeniable assurance that this is God’s plan and not mine.

If it was mine, I’d be staying home in my comfortable routine, still dreaming about possibilities.

Dreaming--not doing.

What have you been dreaming about but the doing is coming harder?

PS--I would appreciate prayers for this conference and that all the writers attending would be blessed beyond measure!