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 twinand 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.
USA Today Bestselling Author DelSheree Gladden 