I am a late bloomer. Friends, who were writers, asked me how long I had been writing in 2012. I told them since the end of 2009, and I received back wonderment and amazement, for they had been working on their books for longer.

Let me give you a brief background on how it started. My husband told a dear and close friend that he felt I wrote well in the summer of 2009.

She told me which is a great way to tell your wife. I soon had two surgeries within six weeks of each other in the fall of 2009.

Since she told me this news, I thought about a story. I was recovering for a few weeks when I started working on my first novel, which is now known as “Jasper, Amazon Parrot: A Rain forest Adventure.”

I wrote some poetry growing up, and I still have the notebooks. But as far as writing novels and such, that was not something I thought of doing. Once you start writing, the writing bug digs inside of you. I would never consider not writing.

I try to do some aspect of writing daily, regardless of what level. It could be posting and branding myself on social media, writing a blog post, research, and more. If I was not actively writing, I could not call myself a writer, was my thinking.

People who are not writers have asked me if I am still writing over the years. It is refreshing, however, when a fellow writer and author comes to me and says, “Sharon, what are you working on right now?”

I love it when they see me. That part of our conversations includes that.

The bug is alive and well in me, which suits me fine. For me, not writing is no longer an option.