Welcome, Susan. Tell us a bit about your journey to writing and publication.
I am ADHD and dyslexic – I come from a family of ADHD dyslexics. As a dyslexic, I have a 95% chance of being ADHD, but if I were ADHD, I would have only a 5% chance of being dyslexic. My husband and five children are all dyslexic with ADHD. By odds, none of us should enjoy reading or writing. We proved the statistics wrong.
I have always felt I was a writer – an author of stories. I would see the scenes go across my mind’s eye. What each person looked like physically. Usually resembling an actor I’d seen recently. Their clothing – again something I’d seen in the many movies I had watched. Places, I always wished to visit. Women and men, I wanted to meet and talk with on a one to one basis.
As a writer, I allowed all that to mingle like in a washing machine. My stories emerged tangled together, but becoming better than when they all went in.
Not that it happened magically, a lot of thoughts went into things to begin with. “People” kept barging into my thoughts – even during the day. I finally thought if I put the words down in some form, I would stop thinking about them. They (the nebulae they) came to me as couples and would talk, sometimes over one another, rushing to get their story out. Who they were, why they were there.
I felt like a stenographer in a very busy courtroom. At the same time, I was trying to make sure I caught all the words. I had to explain who was speaking, what they looked like, where they were when the conversation took place. Not conversations between them and I – nooo, I’m not nuts. The conversations going on between the people visiting me – all of them.
I knew these people’s background so I put that down, as well. I loved the computer for this since I could move and budge things around so it made sense – later – when it became a whole story, I never knew I was writing.
That’s how Harrison Ranch began. Then Macgregor’s Mail Order Bride who were neighbors of the Harrison Ranch although they never appeared in anything Callie and Seth Harrison thought.
I never set out to write a series. I never set out to write anything much except to ‘quiet’ the people in my head. Now when they come to me, I find them reassuring. Friends, certainly.
Entertaining, always.
I’ve heard, you don’t have to be crazy to be an author – but it helps. My husband has gotten used to me on the computer when he gets home. He began teasing me, nick-naming me, Crazy. Asking if I was still playing with my invisible friends. I asked him if I was crazy for talking with imaginary people or if was for being jealous of them.
Actually, he is my main supporter and urged me to get the eight Sweetwater stories printed. Asked me if there could be more later on. I told him, if someone from Sweetwater shows up, I’ll write another one gladly. I love that place. The town, the people – they have become friends and they are good people.
So, maybe I deserve my nickname. The other one my husband calls me is, Lucky. I’m lucky to have been born in a time when telling our stories, allowing others access to them, is so easy. My advice is that if there are people in your head – imaginary or not – put down their stories. Let them have a voice, others can hear. I don’t think you’ll ever regret doing so.