creative energy to put the stories on paper that I was constantly creating in my head. The idea for my debut novel came to me when my youngest was a baby, and it released the month before she graduated from high school. It took me eighteen years to raise a child—and a book! Now I’m an empty-nester with retirement a year away, and I loving having time to dedicate to writing.

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2. When did you realize you had to write your book, Waiting for Butterflies?

How did the idea come to you?

 

A midnight phone call was the beginning of my idea for Waiting for Butterflies. My mother-in-law had passed unexpectedly and much too soon. She loved nothing more than her children and grandchildren and was not ready to leave her family. This prompted the question “What if a mother was not ready to go?” There is much more to the actual story that inspired my book, so I’ll end by saying the actual event may or may not have involved a ghost! (I still don’t know what I believe!)

 

 

3. What do you see as one of the most important things a writer can do to become an author?

 

The most important thing you can do to become an author is to get involved in the industry now. The publishing world is crazy and nothing—nothing—like you expect. Find a local writing guild, go to conferences, join writing associations, follow writing blogs, follow agents’ and publishers’ blogs, be active in author/reader Facebook groups, enter contests to get feedback from industry professionals, read in your genre . . . and a gazillion other things. My motto has been “Fake it until you make it.” I watch what the new and rising authors do, and I figure out how to do those things.

 

4. If you could go back in time as an author, what would you have done differently?

 

If I could do things differently, I would have started writing sooner. Rather than allow life to hand me a bunch of excuses, I would have made time to write, even if that meant only 15-30 minutes a day. I think if I had carved out small blocks of time sooner, I would have figured out how to find larger blocks of time to write.

 

5. What one piece of writerly advice would you like to share with other writers?

 

I’ll pass on a bit of advice I received and believe. Your writing isn’t as bad as you think it is . . . or as good as you think. If you’re insecure about your writing, find the confidence to let others read and critique it so you can grow. If you are confident about your writing, be humble enough to accept feedback that says your original word choice or clever sentence or favorite scene just doesn’t work.