People ask me all the time: How did I start writing and what did it take to get published?

The short answer: Cancer, burn out and hustle!

Here’s the longer answer:

I started writing more than twenty years ago when I was a registered nurse, working in labor and delivery. I’d worked the night shift for ten years and was rapidly approaching burn out. I had four children and an ancient father living under my roof though and I had to make a living.  And then I got cancer.  A couple good friends took me for walks while I was sick and let me tell stories about what it was like, all the  surgeries, chemo, and radiation. They listened to me talk about my fear of dying before my baby was old enough to remember me. They encouraged me to write my stories down.  I'd never written like that before, seriously, determined, like my life depended on it. The weird thing was, a lot of those stories were funny.  I was a good writer.  I bundled my stories together and tried to get them published and I’m grateful to say that didn’t happen. But in the process, I learned that I had talent and the hustle  to eventually become published.  That’s when I taught myself how to write for magazines and newspapers.  I wrote dozens of articles about anything I could get published and paid for. That led to an 8-year-run as an advice columnist, where I leaned heavily on my life as a nurse and mother.  And that led to two book deals, where I wrote about pregnancy and prenatal care. Later, magazine writing turned into web writing, which turned into a million other opportunities to write for a living.  It took me eight years to finally quit my nursing job to write full time, but I did it and I've been writing ever since!  

I’VE WRITTEN FOR MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS, BLOGS, WEBSITES, MARKETING FIRMS, and HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATIONS.