Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone

As a teenager I had two dreams. One was to become an actress and the other a romance author. I quickly got over the actress one as time moved on, but in the back of my mind the dream to become a romance author stayed. From the time I can remember picking up a book, I loved to read. I got that from my parents. They both love to read. As a pre-teen my favorite books were Nancy Drew. As a teenager my mom started letting me read romance novels for teens and I literally fell in love with them. As an adult I started reading adult romance novels that eventually turned into my love for erotic romance. Even the romance story from the Twilight series, is some of my favorites because it also includes my love for vampires, witches, and werewolves. But it was Fifty Shades of Grey that made my dream start to come back to me.

Unfortunately, even with writing being my passion and my dream, life took over. I put my dreams to the side and once again said that I would never fulfill my dream of becoming full-time romance author, but I would continue to be an entrepreneur even if I had to start over after my divorce.

Well, in 2020, a few years after my divorce, five kids later and several grandkids, I finally decided to combine my dreams, right before Covid hit.

It started in October of 2019. I was working a full-time job, a part-time fun job, and going to school to get my doctorate. I wrote my first book. It was completed by January 2020 and I was ready to publish. I had to do a lot of research on self-publishing verses traditional publishing. By mid-January, I quit my full-time job and said I can do this. I kept my fun part-time job because who wouldn’t want to keep a job that you made your own schedule and got to see tons of famous people, concerts and go to the Super Bowl!

In February of 2020, I self-published my first book. By the end of 2020, I had self-published four books. I was on a roll right in the middle of Covid. However, Covid did make me go back to work full-time. I turned my part-job into a full-time position where I am still able to work, write, and do my homework all while I am in my office.

Now let’s step into 2021! I am still in school and still working full-time, but I have self-published six books, ghostwritten four books, and written numerous short stories and entered numerous prompt challenges and fictional challenges. I also started my own publishing house!

I found a new me during Covid. The me that I had always dreamed to become. A stronger, more independent woman who went after her dreams, made them come true and refuses to stop. I may have been through a lot of disappointments in my life and even fallen down once or twice, but I can stand tall today knowing that it is never too late to start your dream and make it happen. I am not saying it has been easy, or will be easy to have them both sustain my way of living, my lifestyle, that I love, but I am not sitting down letting life pass me by without doing what I have always wanted to do. I have had a lot of sleepless nights, but they are worth it in the end.

I hope that my story of strength and stepping out of my comfort zone encourages someone else that you can do it too. Reach for the stars, they are obtainable!