My journey to publication is rather long and conviluted. In 1962 I was a stay-at home mom staying at home with my first child. I was also rather isolated since my husband was in the Public Health Service and we were living on an Indian reservation. The hospital, council house and houses for the two doctors were there. There was a small town nearby. I've always loved to read and had dabbled in trying to write since my early years but I was kind of a scattered person with many enthusiasms, writing being one. Since the library in the small town was limited and the closest large library was an hour plus trip, I bought books on writing and began reading them and piecing together stories. I was writing for my own pleasure and to keep from being bored.
Finally in 1967 I garnered the courage and sent our a story. Many rejections later, a small magazine bought the story. This was the beginning and I would still be writing short stories but the markets dried up and I received a rejection saying the story sounded like a synopsis for a novel. Thus I set out to learn how to write novels. During a college course when I was debating obtaining a BS in Nursing a professor read some of my dabbles and encouraged me to write some poetry. I followed through on this and saw several poems published. One even earned enough to pay for the postage.
But back to novel writing. In 1972 after a novel being rejected 17 times it sold to the first editor to reject it. Three novels followed and I begin to explore other stories than "sweet" nurse romances. My children grew and college expenses beckoned so I returned to nursing and put writing aside. In 1990 I began fiction writing again. Thanks to Jane Toombs who sold my idea for a novel to her editor I was off and running again.
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