Are you ready now?

Yesterday I gave you a call to action. What is your plan?

So, are you ready now?

If you were to suddenly get $1000 could you create a future with it? What about $500? $200? $175?

That is my goal. I want to help you create a way to market yourself and your writing so that you have a plan that will allow you to pursue your dream the moment you have the capital.

Maybe money is not your issue? Maybe your issue is time.

Then my goal is to show you time management skills.

Everyone who knows my schedule wonders how I do it all. One reason is I have an awesome husband who is behind my dream but it's also because I manage my time.

Maybe the issue is not knowing what to do.

That is why I have this blog and I try to teach you how to move forward. Post your questions. I'm happy to answer them.

But whatever needs to happen are you READY NOW? Are you ready to move forward when that final piece of the puzzle falls in to place?

If not, then start to do what you CAN do. Luck happens when you're prepared. Go get ready to be lucky!

H.I.G.H. 14

We've had SO many new readers in this last two weeks let me tell you what HIGH is. HIGH stands for How I Got Here.

So, yesterday I was talking about when it looked like my writing career was suddenly taking off. I had two national publishers paying me for articles and a local publication that wanted me to write monthly for them. It was an amazing time, and after only 1 year of pursuing publication full time.

Over the next few months I wrote those stories while finishing the final draft of my novel. I sent my manuscript off in January to the Novel contest, and received an offer to collaborate on a book that same month. It was a non-fiction book about a local man who'd been active in local and national politics. My degree was in Political Science so the project couldn't have been more perfect. I was excited to be doing the work of a writer fairly consistently. I drove to Cleveland to do research [which I LOVE] and it gave me an opportunity to hang out with my uncle who lives in Cleveland. [Which I also LOVE] Life was good.

I was in Cleveland in March when my first national publication hit newsstands. It was awesome. We drove around looking for a store to buy the magazine and my uncle told the woman at the checkout that I was in it.

I loved ever minute.

It was also around this time that I found out my manuscript was semi-finalist in that major writing contest, Operation First Novel. The top prize was publication and a $50,000 cash advance. So learning I was in the top 20 had me vibrating with excitement.

By June I was a wreck. Literally. the national winner would be notified any time. A group of us were talking in forums about the contest. It was my all consuming through. And then came the night when I learned...

I wasn't in the top 3.

This was one of my least proud moments. I was literally crushed. I was a mess. No one could understand how crushed I was [in fact, looking back even I can't understand why I was so crushed]. I had put all my hope in this one opportunity to succeed. I had elevated this contest so high in my mind that I believed I couldn't make it unless I won this particular writing contest.

Looking back now I realize how GREAT it is that I didn't win that contest. It goes to what I said at the beginning of this blog. You have to be READY when an opportunity presents itself. I had a complete story written but I didn't have craft down to where it needed to be, NOR did I have the network of people, or the marketing plan in place to capitalize on the book's publication.

If you run in writing circles you'll learn bad sales numbers can be worse than being an unpublished writer. If I would have won that contest and NOT been ready to market myself [especially with such a HUGE cash advance] I could have done great harm to my future career as a writer.

It's all about preparation. Are you ready?

I wasn't ready for what the next 18 months were going to bring to my life and my writing.

Some great information and H.I.G.H. 13

Thursday

According to my statistics this is one of the low readership days. So for you loyal readers out there I have some great information for you.

1st. Thanks for the great response to my Mentorship program. I'm moving forward on it and hope to have something to release very soon to all of you. You've really touched my heart.

2nd. I've run across some great information here recently as I've read around the blogosphere. One great blog if you've ever had an editor rejection for Episodic writing.

http://seekerville.blogspot.com/2008/01/episodic-writing-editors-definition.html

This is a blog posting by a published writer quoting an editor. I think it will help you as you work on craft to avoid that kind of writing in your fiction. I know it is not directly marketing related BUT building a great platform will do nothing if your writing isn't up to par.

Also, you know I'm all about planning. I read this blog earlier in the week and LOVED it. It is all about plans and goals which I've talked about here recently.

http://www.jamesbrausch.com/98-are-kidding-themselves/

Okay, the blog may not be as loving as mine are [wink] but it is so true. I've seen it in my own business. For every 10 people who purchase my Writing Career Coach course I have 1 who finishes. Not because it's hard but people are easily distracted. They think buying the product will make it easier. That is why I'm creating the mentorship program. That will allow MUCH more interaction and accountability.

You know this makes me think of my ow path to becoming a writer. I had a number of mistakes [that we'll get to over the next few postings]. One was, when we had a bit more money, is I would buy things...then never use them.

So here is my challenge to you. Think of one great idea you've had over the last 3 days and implement it. If it is something that will require money that you don't have then write out EXACTLY what to do and EXACTLY how much it will cost, create a plan to earn that money, and DO IT.

That was how this program was born. I can't wait for all of you to start to have great results. Actually, you'll see that that was key to my writing career suddenly taking off.

Now H.I.G.H. 13

So I had just accepted this great opportunity to write an article about a local family who would be featured on National Television.

I was terrified.

See, what I hadn't shared up to this point was I was PAINFULLY shy with new people. Being in direct sales had helped that just a little bit but I was still TERRIFIED, to the point of shaking, when I had to call someone I didn't know.

And now I had to call and interview this local celebrity.

I got the contact information and asked a quick question to the interview subject. He was so nice. He chatted away about what had happened to them, the miracle that occured, and then what it was like to be featured on National TV. He talked to me for about an hour and I wrote feverishly on my notebook [why hadn't I learned shorthand???]. When I hung up the phone I was so excited. I ran out to tell my step-mom all about the conversation.

I wrote up the story and emailed it to the publisher [it was a donated article]. For the next two weeks I was a ball of nerves. I had continued to submit stories...and add pages to my rejection binder [which I'd affectionately named 'my fan letters'].

The story hit the stands on September 1, 2003. I grabbed about 10 copies of the paper and came home. I typed up a nice letter to that national publication I'd spoken with previously and told them I now had a feature by-line. I sent the front page of the publication as well as the center spread where the article appeared.

Seven days later they asked me to do an assignment [for pay]. The next day I received a letter in the mail from a second major national publication asking to publish one of my articles I'd submitted.

Two national paying markets in two days!!

I could hardly believe it. I fired off emails accepting the assignment and giving permission to publish the other story. I was starting the 12th month of my full-time writing career and I now had two national publishing credits.

Then I got an email two days later from the publisher at the local paper. Would I like to do an assignment every month for their paper.

My mind was swimming. I was a REAL writer. I was going to write every month. Smooth sailing now.

But there were waves up ahead and I was about to learn even more about the twists and turns of life, and the writer's life.

Who would you like to hear from? and H.I.G.H. 12

Who would you like to hear from?

When I thought about what I wanted to talk to you about today I had this sentence bouncing around in my head. Originally the question was who would you like to hear from in the industry. I'm going to begin to post some editor and agent interviews in addition to the interviews with writers and I wondered who you would most like to hear from.

So what are some questions you'd like to ask editors and agents in the industry? Post them in my comments section and I'll start getting some answers for you. I know from speaking to you that some of you have many connections in publishing while others are just starting out. I'd love to answer questions for both of you. So leave them below.

But then I started to wonder how this also relates to marketing your writing. Who would you like to hear from on your work? On your platform development? Are you actively building your platform and sending in proposals?

Here is one way to build using articles. Do you look inside the cover of magazines you read? There is a website and sometimes even reader guidelines. Check those out. Then decide who you'd like to submit an article to this month. Would you like an accountability partner? Then tell us who you're submitting to in the comment section.

One tip, before you submit to a magazine read some articles out of a few different issues of that article. This will give you a sense of tone. The articles I write for ACFW's Afictionado Feature is much different than the articles I write for the Toledo Business Journal. Each publication has its own voice just like each character in your novel has its own voice. Part of growing as a writer is learning to hear that voice and recreate that voice.

So where are you publishing? Where are you submitting?

Oh, and I'm really excited about the response so far to the Mentorship Program I am starting as part of my Writing Career Coach program. Continue to email me if you'd like to be emailed when it goes live but there's been such a positive response I think I'm going to post the link on the blog as well.

H.I.G.H. 12

The Ambulance was screaming down the road and I was following behind in my car. I was calm. Quite calm actually. I can't explain why. I would guess shock. Over those next five days I would stay at my daughter's bedside as she went through countless tests and she saw more than 4 specialists over the weekend. She had lost consciousness a couple of times in the ambulance but once she got to the hospital she was screaming. The weekend passed and we never did learn what happened.

Life returned to normal and I returned to my writing. My step-mom flew up from Florida for a visit in August. She is an avid fiction reader. She was helping me think of ways to work on my manuscript [remember the writing contest?]. I also showed her my clipping from that first story that had been published in December for the local paper. I had recently written the publisher to see if they needed articles written [even without pay]. A national magazine had contacted me the month before but since I didn't have any clippings that showed my ability to interview a subject and write a good story they had decided not to give me an assignment.

It was the second day of Brenda's visit when the local paper emailed and asked if I'd be interested in writing a story. A local child was going to be featured on the National TV program "It's a Miracle." They wanted to do a cover feature for the paper and didn't have anyone to write it.

OF COURSE I said yes.

It wouldn't be long before I found out the impact that decision would have on the rest of my writing career.

What would you like to see? and H.I.G.H. 11

Do you know the difference between a goal and a business plan?

Not much at all if you don't use either.

But I'd like you to think about what your goals are and if you've created a business plan to get those goals accomplished. As I was preparing to write this blog today I thought about what my goals and plans were for my Writing Career Coach Program. I am already 1/2 way through January; have I made progress towards my goals for this month?

One goal I had was to double my subscriptions in the first quarter so I was pretty excited that my subscription has increased over 30% in the first 14 days of the year. Not only that but my daily blog traffic has more than doubled in that time as well.

Another goal I had was to release my first new product of my revised Writing Career Coach Course. I'm excited to say that it is almost complete. I've had other important projects as well that have pulled my attention away from focusing only on that but I've made SO much progress on it I'm certain I will reach that goal.

The funny thing about goals is they change. In fact, as I was working on this project I started to have more and more people approach me about mentorship. It was pretty exciting but, at first, I didn't know what to do about it. So I went back to my business plan [Have you made yours yet? Now you will see why they are important!! Do it if you haven't done it yet.] and I started to look at what I was doing, what I wanted to do, and how it fit in to my overall plan.

This is a great time management skill. We'll cover this in some detail down the road, but for now what is important is to know where you're going so you know what you need to start doing, and stop doing.

For instance, I saw that one of the places I volunteer was no longer a part of where I was going. Even worse, it was sucking much needed time from other volunteer opportunities that were more in line with what I am doing. Without a business plan and a clear sense of direction I would have had a hard time deciding what to stop doing. With a plan I knew.

So back to this mentorship thing. The idea started to churn inside of me. I wanted to help more people but how could I do that without being on the computer 24/7? Then I saw it!! I'll tell you all about it another time but first I need ALL of you to give me your input:

If I offered a mentorship program with your own password locked website with additional content, 1/2 off all my new products, EVERY special report I publish [retail $3-$5 each] for Free, and 30% off all my editing, proposal writing and, Marketing Advising services would you be interested? It would be $25/month for all that I listed above [which if you ask anyone I mentor pays for itself in NO time]. What I plan to do is offer the first month for $10 to try it then $25/month each month after. [Those of you already in the program would get your next month at $10 then back up to the usual $25]

What I need to know from you is if there is enough interest for me to spend extra time to take it live ahead of schedule. PLEASE email me no later than Thursday and let me know if this is something you'd be interested in. Put "Coaching" in the subject line. If you email and tell me you would be interested I will reply to that email when the new site goes live to offer you that special discount. You will get in two days before I announce it to everyone so you don't have to worry about bogged servers, etc.

And I'd love your input. What kinds of things would you want to see over there AND on this free blog?

So take some time to write out your Business Plan today. Are you on track to reaching your January goals? If not, you still have 1/2 the month to get back on track. Do it!

H.I.G.H. 11

Suzanne, thanks for the great comment on the story. I am writing it early so you aren't going insane all day. :-)


So I was living in slow motion watching my infant's chest rise and fall slowly. I tried to rouse her again but she was limp. My neighbor had already called the Ambulance. We live in a rural area so it was an all volunteer force. My husband was a part of the department so the scanner in the other room chattered out the call:

"7-0 Central on the air for Station 8-7 and 8-8. We have report of unresponsive 8 week old at..."

That was my address on the scanner. "This will be the Colter residence." They repeated the address and then the scanner went silent. Within moments the chattering began as people began to call en route to our home. It was, what they call, a "Y'All Call". When it is a kid, people come running. This is a small community and so many people knew about our newborn. This call was personal to many of them.

I took the phone and called my husband. He wouldn't know about the run because he was working in the city that day. I had to dial the phone 3 times before I dialed his pager number right. I'd had nightmares about forgetting how to dial the phone in an emergency. And here I was living it.

I punched 911 in to his pager and hung up. About a minute later my husband called and asked if I'd paged him. He thought it was one of his friends playing a practical joke [if you know a FF/Medic you know they're great jokers]. I told him the ambulance was on the way and that the baby wouldn't wake up. He said he was on his way. For some reason, that to this day I don't understand, I was confused by him coming home. I figured he'd meet me at the hospital or something. Remember, this was the 3rd time in 8 months one of our children had been taken to the hospital.

I hung up the phone and looked at my baby. She was starting to move again but her eyes were still closed. I heard the first truck, then a second, in our driveway. I heard sirens in the distance. The firefighters and Medics and EMTs started coming in the backdoor. My neighbor started to give a run down and those with medical training circled my baby.

I heard another set of sirens. There was one from the Northwest and one from the Southeast. With my baby in the hands of the department I went upstairs to check on the other two girls who were still playing and completely unaware of what was happening.

"Daddy" the two year old yelled when she saw the ambulance turn in the driveway.

"Tiff." My neighbor yelled from downstairs. I went down to see it was the woman from down the street [the mom of the woman across the street.]

She would stay with the kids until my mom could drive in from an hour away. More sirens. I heard the baby cry. There was chaos all around. About a dozen people jammed in my dining room.

Then I heard my husband's voice. Chattering with medical talk. I needed to call my mom. I needed to follow the ambulance.

"Tiff, what happened?" Chris, my husband, was looking at me. I know he was asking as a Paramedic. I told him in one long sentence. He knelt down next to the baby and I went up to tell the girls mommy would be back soon and Ms. Linda would be with them. I looked out the window and saw Chris carrying our baby to the ambulance. I remember than one arm dangled down, limp.

I got downstairs and Chris said goodbye from the truck. They closed the door to the ambulance and flew down the road. Lights and Sirens blazing.

Disaster averted and H.I.G.H. 10

Happy Monday,

As always I am so excited to start the new week that I smile when I wake up. I love pursuing my dream and feeling a sense of moving forward. Do you feel that way? Do you want to? What steps are you taking to get there?

I'll tell you a good habit I RESTARTED is making a list the day before of what needs to be accomplished the next day. When I was working for a Recruiter he told me to make the list out before I left the office because you'll do it quickly and you'll write what NEEDS to be done. If you do it when you come in the office in the morning you'll use list writing as a way to dodge work. Wise words and I still use them today.

Yesterday I had a near disaster. My computer wouldn't boot up. I have spent this last week doing some research and preparing to do a few blogs on how to best back up your data in case of computer disaster. I wanted to ask a group of writers from the ACFW what they do but I'd been buried in working on my multiple writing projects that I didn't have time. I'd been leaning towards getting Carbonite for my own needs, even spending a good deal of time Saturday reading through their website. I'd heard great things about them but wanted to check out other options. Then Sunday...my computer wouldn't boot.

AHHHH Panic!! I spent over an hour praying and making various deals with God "If you will let me get in to my data I promise I'll back the whole thing up." Then I jump on my husband's laptop and see that I have a new registration to my Writing Career Coach Course...AHH it's locked on the computer that won't turn on. And all the new products? They're on there too. An annoying chorus of voices singing to the tune of "You'll shoot your eye out." from the movie "A Christmas Story." Now chant at me "You should've backed-up"

After 90 minutes I sat down and said, very sincerely, "God, show me what to do." I hit control+alt+delete and a window popped up asking me to enter my password. I did and VOILA there is EVERYTHING. I immediately ran to Carbonite.com and backed up all of my data. WOW. And I'd planned on sitting down after church and spending to quiet hours reading a novel. Silly me.

So, I always tell you that I tell you what it is I'm doing to succeed. I'm using Carbonite to back up all my data. I'm not very computer savvy, unless it is Word or Excel, and this thing was easy for ME to figure out. If any of you want to use it the website it www.Carbonite.com but I also have this link: http://www.carbonite.com/raf/signup.aspx?RAFUserUID=262943&a=0 When you use that link you get 15 day free trial and an extra month if you use it. They also give me a couple of bonus months for referring someone so you DON'T have to click this if you don't want to. My goal is not to get you to give me free months. I only added that link since it said it would give any of you who used it a free month.

So whether you use www.Carbonite.com or you use something else take a minute to back up your important documents today. Even if it is only to print them out.

H.I.G.H. 10

So I told you last week about how I was now published in a local paper and diligently working on my first novel. I also told you how my family was suddenly experiencing health problems that landed my daughter in the hospital. It was now May and I was 7 months in to my writing journey. I began to submit to every publisher I could find and I was collecting an attractive folder of rejection letters. Some of these letters were little three sentence emails that essentially said "Thanks but no thanks" and some were nice rejections on stationary. I kept writing and submitting and was spending a good bit of money, and time, I didn't have doing it. Would I ever publish again??

I had also begun to go to the gym again. There was a local ladies gym, Lifestyles, that had tanning, gym, and childcare for one price. It was great. I could spend 30 minutes on the treadmill reading a novel or a book on tape, then I could grab a quick 30 minute nap in the tanning bed, and take a shower without a 5 year old busting in on me. All for the the cost of the gas it took to drive there and back. So three times a week I started heading to the gym to have a break from screaming kids. I also started to hear the ideas for other stories begin to percolate in my brain. Now it wasn't just that first book I was hearing but a second. I didn't know what to do! I had two novels vying for my attention and it was only getting "worse". Ideas for articles seemed to spring from nowhere when I was driving, rocking the baby, or cooking dinner. I felt trapped. I loved being a mommy but I also felt overwhelmed with all I COULD do if only I had time. And the complete exhaustion from dealing with a colicky baby who never slept was catching up with me. How was I going to accomplish all of this?

My youngest daughter was now 8 weeks old and my other two were 2 and 4. What person in their right mind would try to do all this. It was the Thursday before Memorial Day and I was at the gym trying to work through all of this in my mind. I went and got the kids from the child care room after my shower. As always, the baby was screaming in her car seat. We drove the 20 minutes back to our house and I was nearly in tears. I was overwhelmed and the only thing I could see to give up was sleep or writing. I pulled in my driveway and unloaded my kids. They ran in the house and I followed behind carrying the baby in her car seat.

The next hour would be forever chiseled in my mind. I sent the older two up to their bedroom to play while I gave the baby her Acid Reflux medicine. As always she didn't want it but I managed to get it in her mouth. I then lifted her out of her carseat to sooth her. Her head flopped back and she moaned.

I remember at that moment felling my blood go to ice. Something was wrong, I could sense it. My husband [a paramedic] was at work so I called the neighbor across the street who was an EMT. I asked him to please check on the baby for me. He came over and asked what was wrong. By the time he got there the baby was crying again and I was trying to explain to him what was going on over her screams. I felt a little silly trying to say I had a bad feeling because the baby moaned when clearly now she was fine.

Then she dropped her head on my shoulder. Silent.

My neighbor and I looked at each other and I called the doctor's office. I kept assuring myself that she'd just worn herself out crying and that all was well. It was 5:30 and so I had to wait for the answering service to pick up.

I remember explaining quickly to her what was going on.

I remember her asking me to wake the baby up to see if she was okay.

I remember how I felt when the baby wouldn't wake up.

I remember watching for her chest to rise and fall.

I'll see you all tomorrow.

When people steal your ideas and H.I.G.H. 9

Hello and TGIF.

Well, I don't think I'll get this in under the buzzer. It is 11:57 on Friday night Eastern Time. I am a sign language interpreter for a local group and I was there until almost 11pm.

Ricardo posted a good question two days ago in the comments that I said I'd addresss here. He said:

What steps can you take when someone copies your content and places it on his site without acknowledging you as the source, and has refused to answer your repeated attempts to contact him/her?

As a writer, I guess one of your profitable assets is the content you write about. I know that with internet technology, while it's become easier to publish, it also becomes easier for content theft to take place.

What can you do to protect yourself?

Well, I cannot claim to be an expert on this. What I can do is tell you what I would do in such a situation. I would post in the comments section a thank you to the author for posting your content and then put a link to the original post in your comment post. I cannot promise the person won't delete the comment but it is a way to give credit back to yourself.

It is frustrating when people steal your content and give you no attribution and I wish I had a better answer but really that is the best idea that comes to mind. I don't look at all for specific quotes [although I have started to do it a bit more simply to track all the places I'm being quoted]. I have found it too frustrating. Besides, I have so much to be thankful for I don't want to look for things that will make me mad.

Incidentally, that is why I urge people who want to be published NOT to post content [fiction stories] on their blogs or websites. Too dangerous. I don't even really talk about my stories at all so there is no chance for someone to steal my stuff.

H.I.G.H. 9

So here I was starting a new year and a new writing career. I'd had my first publishing credit and I'd had major health issues with my daughter. But as those of you who work with kids know, they crash fast and they can perk up fast.

The day after Pookey was admitted to the PICU she was discharged to go home. She was 100% fine. Life started to return to normal and we prepared for the final 12 weeks of my pregnancy. My husband had just finished building a new room upstairs to accommodate the new baby and I was getting the nursery around for our new arrival.

As I told you I was a part of the Christian Writer's Guild and I received an exciting email from them. They were launching a brand new contest Operation First Novel. The top prize was $50,000 and publication with Tyndale Publishers. The deadline was February. I quickly pulled out that 50 page story that I'd put away so many years ago and set out to make it 50,000 words or more. This was how I was going to break out on the scene. This was my moment of destiny, I knew it. Each night I put the kids in bed at 8:30pm and then I'd sit at my computer for 2 1/2 hours and type until 11pm. By the end of three weeks I'd typed almost 13,000 words.

But then I noticed something. The deadline was a YEAR away! It was February 2004. I breathed a sign of relief and completed the first draft of almost 35,000 words by mid-February. The story was still rough, and I knew that, but I was getting closer. I had a perfect heroine who was dealt an injustice that her near perfect husband was trying to help her through. The gripping story had turned in to fluff. I worked at it more and more adding words a little at a time to get the story to word count. But now we were to March, and the baby would be here soon.

It came time to deliver and I had my guild lessons with me in my hospital bag. My youngest was born 9am on March 27th and that afternoon while she slept I worked on my guild lessons. I now had a new baby and I was going to be busy. I had a dream, yes, but my baby was my priority now.

We left the hospital and came home with our 3rd daughter. Her big sisters were 4 1/2 years old and 22 months old. It was a busy house made busier by the babies complete inability to sleep. My writing time began to fade away and was replaced by complete exhaustion and no sleep. By 5 weeks she was diagnosed with acid reflux and put on medication to try to help relieve her pain and constant screaming. Just at the moment I was about to step in to my dream I saw it being pried from my fingers. I finally let go and accepted that, for a season, I'd not be an author.

And three weeks later I was back in the hospital, this time, it was my infant in the hospital bed.

See you Monday.

Thank you again for your comments and for the kind emails you've been sending. I'll see all of you Monday with H.I.G.H. part 9



I'd love to have others chime in on this topic. Post it in the comments section of this blog OR better yet, blog about it on your own blog and leave the link in my comments section. That way all of us can come over and learn along with your normal readers.

You've gotta read this and HIGH 8

Wow,

Thursday already. I tell you, I'm living my dream. I love being a writer. The week flies by, truly it does. Right now I'm collaborating on a Non-Fiction book with a woman who has SUCH a sweet spirit. I look forward to each and every day. Truly.

I have something great for you writers out there. Check out this blog:

http://inspirationaleditor.blogspot.com/2008/01/characterization-life-changing-event.html

This is a freelance editor for award winning authors. She has some great tips for you fiction writers on how to make your characters come alive. Some of you will recognize her name; she wrote an endorsement for my Writing Career Coach course on my last website. This woman knows her stuff, and her endorsement was a HUGE honor to me. When I saw this blog posting above I knew I had to share it with you. When Susan Lohrer speaks, I listen. For those of you in fiction she'd be a great blog to check. She only posts about once a week so it won't overwhelm your inbox but the content is worth it [remember our discussion on content yesterday?]

And Ricardo, aka, Primeprojects had some great questions in the comments of yesterday's post. I will address those tomorrow so everyone make sure you come back.

H.I.G.H. 8

When I last left you my little girl was in PICU. It was a very scary time for me. She'd had emergency surgery the night before because her intestines had slid inside each other and created a blockage. It is extremely rare from what I am told and usually occurs in boys when it does happen. The fact that Dr. Scooby caught it...to this DAY Dr. Scooby can do no wrong in my eyes. She saved my little girl [the family calls her Pooky after Garfield the Cat's teddy bear].

But what I remember most about that day was what was happening just before she took a turn for the worst. She'd had emergency surgery just after midnight on Tuesday going in to Wednesday. On Wednesday morning my husband was sleeping on the couch in the hospital room and I was reading a book "Heaven's Wager" by Ted Dekker while Pooky slept. My husband had brought the book to me because we wanted the room quiet while she rested.

I read this book and the power of the story overwhelmed me. I felt myself being changed from the inside out. I finished the book and determined that when I wrote my books they would impact people, not just entertain them. That has been my driving force all along. I sat in amazement that my daughter had a condition the night before which was "Not conducive with life" and today...she was sleeping soundly.

When she began thrashing around a few hours later and was eventually moved to the PICU the message of the book I'd just read kept beating around in my mind. Even now, 5 years later, that book continues to make me THINK as no other novel has before or since.

Isn't that what we want our stories to be? We want to entertain, yes, but all of us want to leave this planet better than when we got here. Suddenly writing for me was more than a dream, it was a mission.

But excellent writing needs conflict, and there was much more conflict brewing ahead before the next ray of sunshine broke through.

I'll see you tomorrow.