Laurel is Published

I had this all thought out last night as I was drifting off to sleep and it sounded fantastic.

Then comes the bright light of morning and I’m trying to remember all the witty things I had

strung together.

I came to this writing gig through a vacation I spent with my parents. I was home for the

summer from teaching overseas and had lots of time for reading. Having finished all the scifi

books I had I started reading the romance novels my mother had laying around. After three

days of three books a day I told my mother that I thought I could write one. She said, “Well, do

it.”

And so that’s what I did for the rest of the summer. Writing was easy in a sense. One thing

led to another book, and another as I’ve always had lots of ideas for stories percolating in my

head. I even put lots of them on paper. But where to go from there was always the next step I

could not quite take. Getting the first book published, thanks to the help of my DIL, was the

hurdle.

Well, now the thing is done. I know Laurel is not the next Great American Novel, but I hope it

entertains. I hope you find yourself turning ‘just one more page.’ If so, I am content.

I am reminded of a comic my mother had beside her computer. “Enough about me, let’s talk

about my book.”

Laurel is a young woman stuck in a world that insists that she must do what her parents

deem right for her. That their choices for her are either limiting or even hostile to her interests

is the problem. So as many heroines in romance novels do, she runs away. Posing as a young

man she starts a career as a painter in London. How would you write what comes next?