“Fool,” said my Muse to me, “look in thy heart, and write.”

These words of Sir Philip Sidney are pinned to my desk, written on notebooks, and have swirled around in my head for years. In today’s parlance it says: stop taking yourself so damn seriously and write already. “Ok, ok, fine,” is my usual grumbling response.

Sometimes my Muse is very loud, and other times I swear it’s on vacation (someplace nicer than I can ever go, I’m sure). But, thankfully in place of that mystical personification of inspiration, I also have family and friends who basically have been telling me the same thing for years: just write it already.

I usually gave them the same response, but then life would get in the way. Something always took my attention from writing.

My Dear Husband was the one who finally gave me the push I needed to get back to writing. He is my total support and I know believes in me more than I do. Ah, True Love, Best Friends.

The hours of semi-solitude at the bustling local coffee house over the past year or more gave me the time to brush off an old draft of a story that I “finished” over eight years ago. I don’t actually know the date I finished, but the mini bottle of fake champagne I opened and shared with my him that day sits empty on a tall cupboard shelf, covered with dust.

Over the past year the finished story was dusted off, re-read, cleaned of cringe (ugh), and many updates were put in to just make it right. It was edited by two people who had the guts to just lay it on the line when stuff made no sense (Yes it did! Well, to me at least). It was ready.

Now what?

Thankfully, one of those editors I mentioned is a dear friend of mine who’s been in the indie author game for some time. She’s learned the pitfalls, the shortcuts through the woods of self-publishing, and became my guide. Oh, and she’s also one of those who told me to just jump in already. As she put it, “For God’s sake, it’s the shallow end! You can stand there! You’re not gonna drown!” Ok, that’s probably a paraphrase, but still.

Graciously, my friend, indie author A.M. Dunnewin (read her stuff, seriously), sat me down and gave me the low down on getting my work out there for real people to read. I’m ever so grateful for her guidance, and for all those nights at the coffee house bouncing ideas off each other. Cheers!

So, now you ask, where’s her book?

Good question! It’s almost ready. I’m about to push the “publish” button and become…an Author.

Hold on, I need a second.

Yep, I said that, an Author. But as my husband said, it’s not like this is the end, it’s only a first step and it’s going to keep going.

So welcome to my blog. I plan to keep readers up to date on the new book (coming soon!) and every so often, write a few “musings” about the writing game, inspiration, life, etc. Hope you enjoy!

And to my Muse: I got the message.