Wrong Turns

When I was young, I used to say I didn't make mistakes, I just had learning experiences. Boy, have I had some spectacular learning experiences in my life.

Since my first memories, I wanted nothing more than to be an actress. That might not be what you expected me to say. Don't get me wrong, I've always written voraciously, and I've always loved to read. But there was something about the movie industry that stirred my soul. I love that a good movie can take you someplace else, make you feel something else. I knew in my heart of hearts that someday, somehow, I would be a part of making that happen.

I ignored the naysayers who told me acting was a stupid career choice. I was in the school plays (usually as the villainess, and I loved it). I attended acting workshops. I researched the industry like crazy and counted down the days until I could move to L.A.

But somewhere between the ages of 14 and 19, I started listening to the people telling me I wasn't good enough or skinny enough to make it in Hollywood. Or maybe, just maybe, I was scared and I let their words deter me from a dream. By 20, I'd even stopped writing.

Somehow, I took a drastically wrong turn. By 30, I found myself married with three children working in a coffin, I mean cubicle. I was living a life I'd sworn since childhood I would avoid like the plague. (In the name of keeping this short and sweet, I'll leave out all of the many, many learning experiences I had in those missing years…)

I had lost who I was along the way, so I got it back the only way I knew how: I began to write again. I wrote books that took people places – that made them feel something. At first, I was terrified to share my words with others, but I did it anyway. With each review (good and bad), I got bolder, freer. I write under my maiden name because she's the girl who believed dreams were possible and worth dreaming. I want to know her again, to see who she could become.

Every time I hear from a reader who compliments the strong female leads in my books, it makes me smile. It's important to me that the women in my novels find their strength and live their lives without fear or regret. I wasted too many years on fear and regret; I see too many friends doing the same.

We all take wrong turns in life, but as long as there is a breath in our bodies and a God in heaven, then it's not too late to find a way back. Our choices might make the path more difficult, but it's still there – if we're willing to take a risk to find it.

I'm finally on the path to accomplishing my dream, on laborious step at a time. But it's worth every bead of sweat.

Do you have a dream deferred? If so, go find it.