I love being a writer. At least, most of the time. But occasionally there are days like today, when the words won’t come and everything I do manage to get on the page sounds like it was produced by an illiterate nine-year-old. Today my love for writing seems very far away. I begin to dream of other occupations. More rewarding ones. I become convinced that there has to be an easier way to make a living. So that train of thought takes over and distracts me from the cursor blinking so accusingly on the nearly blank page. Mentally I run through a list of possible job prospects. Maybe I can be a grocery store clerk. Nothing to think about except ringing up bananas and milk. Then I consider the fact that they’re on their feet all day. I’m stretched out on my chaise lounge with my laptop on my lap and a Diet Coke within reach. Cross grocery store clerk off my list. It might be interesting to run a dress shop, I muse, trying to avoid looking at that cursor. Is it possible for it to look smug? I could work with pretty clothes all day, and those employee…

It is GREAT to be here at Fresh Fiction. Frankly it’s just great being! I’m riding a major high because why, you might ask? Well, because I recently found out that SHOW NO MERCY, book 1 of my new Black Ops., Inc. series hit #15 on the New York Times. Yowser! I’m still in shock. And it got me to thinking … how did it come to this? I wasn’t always a writer. I was a lot of other things, all things, that at the time, represented who I was and what I was about. So, it made me wonder… Is the sum total of who we are determined by what we’ve done? While a lot of us are writers (and readers) most of us were, at one time, something else, right? Like I said – I’m a prime example. I was once a beautiful black wild stallion – but we’ll save that for another day. :o) Before taking on writing as a living, I worked in the county treasurer’s office computing and collecting taxes, I kept books in a lumber yard, did retail sales and alterations in a men’s clothing/sporting goods store, and sewed custom draperies – all of…