Today I'm super excited to welcome a good friend of mine, author Gail Wagner!
Once upon a time, there was girl who lived to read…wait, I
meant loved. J Her family was the type that family time meant
all sitting in the same room together while reading different books. She walked the school hallways with her nose
stuck in a book because she had to finish the next chapter before class
started. She read so many books she got
to put her name in a drawing over a hundred times and actually won a set of
Laura Ingalls Wilder books (she never won anything). She enjoyed most of the required reading in
school. She even became best friends
with a girl in high school simply because of their mutual affection for Little Women (don’t judge, friendships
have formed on less stable foundations).
Okay, clearly that girl is me. Books were my escape from reality, not that
my reality was bad. I don’t have any sob stories about how horrible my family
was or how I was bullied in school.
Honestly? I kind of just flew
under everyone’s radar. I had good
grades, okay great and the rest of my class may have been a little surprised
when I ranked number one. I was in choir
but only did one solo, simply because I have such bad stage fright I thought I
might pass out while I whispered the second verse of Silent Night (thank
heavens for microphones!).
I spent most of my childhood dreaming of being an actress or
a singer. Kind of funny after that sentence
before, huh? Unfortunately I have zero
talent for acting (unless lying counts…I’m a great liar but don’t worry I try
to use my powers for good, like surprise parties!). I’m a fair singer but without the willingness
to wear skimpy outfits and dance on stage that pretty much killed my pop career
before it started…not to mention the whole passing out in front of a crowd
thing.
Writing never crossed my mind. My oldest sister was going to do that. She’d made it quite clear to her twin
and I
that were we ever to publish before her she would kill us in our sleep. 21 years older than me, I knew her well
enough to know she was fairly serious (I love my sister!). Oh she wouldn’t actually kill me, but she
sure would make me miserable. I didn’t
think it would be a problem though. I
was so not interested in writing.
Flash forward several years.
My sister has passed away from a type of brain cancer I can’t pronounce
let alone spell and I have one published book, one agented series and several
more WIPs. I didn’t start writing till
she’d been gone for a couple of years and maybe it was her that put the bug in
my ear…that or my husband telling me to quit whining about all the
vampire/werewolf Twilight rip-offs
and write my own book. I’d like to think
that after her initial reaction of wanting to kill me for getting published
when she never got to, she’s my biggest cheerleader.
However it happened, I’m so glad it did. I’ve met amazing people and gotten to do some
pretty awesome stuff because of it.
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