Never say Never!

If life has taught me anything, it’s to never say “never.” Of course, that hasn’t checked my propensity for saying it, and often.

When I was a teen, I had my heart broken in the eighth grade by a boy I’d had a crush on forever. That’s about the time I uttered my first “never.” as in, “I will never, ever love again.” With love and marriage out of the question, I decided to live for a higher cause because I clearly sucked in the boyfriend department. I had a broken heart to prove it. And it was all so wonderfully tragic. 🙂 Yes, I was one of *those* teens, the kind kids call emo these days.

Seriously, I’ve always been a searcher. For love, faith, hidden truths, answers, that sense of connectedness with others on a level that rises above mere words and gestures. To me, the thought of living a life of charity, good works, and seeking oneness on the Source from which all thoughts, ideas and life sprang held enormous appeal. And then I realized that to be a nun, I had to be Catholic. And along came this boy….

Another one of my nevers was, “I’ll never write a book.” After all, I had four children, two with special needs and a husband who was gone *all* the time. And then one day when my darling husband was on leave, he made it very clear to me that if I wasn’t writing, it was because I chose not to. And he was right. No matter how busy our lives are, we all waste bits of time. Those bits add up. For me, they added up to writing articles, then books, and now romance. Eventually I had to admit to myself that my complaints about my lack of time was fear driven. It was easier not to try to meet my dream than to conquer my guilt over fitting the work time involved in realizing that dream into my life. And then to actually risk trying and *gasp*…failing. Horrors!

Another never? Writing erotic romance. “Never, ever will I allow my pen to go there.” Yes, shame on me. What a snob I was. Because once I actually read one, I was hooked. It was a Secrets novella by Alice Gaines. That story was elegant, engrossing, dramatic and….did I mention erotic?

Let’s just say it didn’t take me long to shelve that particular “never” and sit down and my keyboard to heat up my own love scenes. After a few weeks of literally rolling on my floor laughing at my efforts, they got a bit better. Come to think of it, so did my marriage *g*.

Ebooks and ebook readers were another “never” for me. I was a print girl all the way. And yes, you guessed it. I’m now addicted to both. My Kindle is always nearby. As an author, I love the flexibility of epublishing. I drive my own schedule, and can write my own brand of romance without having to worry about what’s the next hot New York/print publishing trend. In this way, I can focus on the stories I love. I truly believe that when an author is in love with what she’s writing, readers will respond to that passion.

So you’ll never catch me writing to market demands just to sell a book.

Wait…did I just say never? 🙂