Tammy Lough

I attribute my success to writing every single day and never giving up, even when things got really hard. When I lost my nursing career to MS and ended up in a wheelchair, I was at my lowest point, feeling like I wasn't giving back or being productive. But then my character Lacey Kendall came into my life, and as she grew in the book and became more accepting of herself, I started growing myself and being more accepting of myself. Writing gave me my life back and my sense of accomplishment - it kind of saved me. I also have to credit the supportive people around me, including my wonderful mentor Judith Briles, the book shepherd, who mentors me every Friday morning, and Gabriela Perriera from DIYMFA.com. My family, friends, and writers' groups have been incredible too. And now I have George, my fiance, who dropped everything and moved up here to take care of me when I couldn't take care of myself anymore. I'm so blessed to have found someone who loves me and supports my writing. I just blossomed when I started writing Lacey, and I feel fulfilled now where I was so empty before. Even with all the challenges - the MS, the fatigue, everything - I'm here today, and right this moment, I'm okay.

The best advice I ever received came from my Aunt Mary in the form of a bookmark that said, 'when God closes a door, He opens a window.' When I got that in the mail after losing my nursing career to MS, I went into my house and sat down at my desk, looking out the window, and it was almost like my imagination took over. That's when I started writing Lacey, and it was like she had actually crawled through my window with her carpet bag. That message helped me understand that even though one door had closed on nursing, a new window was opening for me with writing. It completely changed my perspective and gave me hope when I was at my lowest point.

Just write, write, write. The more you write, the better you write. And the more you read of all different genres, the better you write. You could write and write and write, and it'd just be a bunch of junk that you could never publish, but you can fix junk - you cannot fix a blank page. That's what I tell them. Just write and write and write, and all of a sudden, one day - and I can almost remember the exact moment - one day this light bulb goes off, and it's like, I get it. Oh my god, I get it. And then you feel kind of invincible. It's like, I get it, I can do this. You know, I've figured it out. I've made so many mistakes in my writing, and then did this and that and the other, but finally it's all coming together. So just write, write, write.