I've been Hooverized

Many people ask me why I started writing. What's my inspiration.

To be totally honest, it was more a New Year's Resolution than anything. Actually, it was the result of my resolution to make a bucket list. Now, I know I'm still young -- 45 is the new 29, right? So maybe I'm jumping the gun on my bucket list, but being a stay-at-home mom for the past twelve years had me feeling pretty unimportant in the overall scheme of things (okay, SAHMs - don't pulverize me, I know we have the most important job in the world, it just doesn't feel that way most days.)

So, when I started writing -- because if something is #1 on your bucket list, you must do it -- I found myself writing what I call 'Hooverisms.' God, I love to make up words!

My favorite author, my inspiration,  the woman who I want to be my mother in my next life (sorry, Mom), is Colleen Hoover. I can't say enough about her. I even Googled her once (okay, more than once if I'm being completely transparent) and saw a blurb about how she started writing and it felt like I was reading a bio about myself. She could have been me. I could have been her.

Then, right around the time I was publishing my first novel, I read her book, Maybe Someday.
Holy crap!
It knocked the wind right out of me. I loved it. If there is a stronger word than love - that's how much it touched me. I had outlined my second novel, but it was missing something, I just didn't know what until I read her book. Those of you who've read my book, Abstract Love, may pick up on a few similarities (Hooverisms!)
The way her characters spoke was so honest, so open, so real. I changed my entire book to add the one element that gave my characters a better voice than spoken words.

So, even though she will never read this, thanks, Colleen Hoover, for being my inspiration. I can only hope that, maybe someday, I will be someone else's . . .

Oh, wait, maybe I already am! My twelve-year-old daughter is already 20,000 words into her first novel.

So.
Damn.
Proud.