You know you're a writer when. . .

It's not the day you decide to write a story. It's not the day you finish your first or even third manuscript. You're not a writer when a publisher accepts your manuscript. You're not even a writer when the book hits the stand and you can hold it in your hand.

Although all of those events make you feel good, make you believe in your skill or talent, make you feel like you accomplished something major in your life. And you have! But none of those things make you a writer.

It's the culmination of all of those that lead up to the one event that marks you as a writer. For me, that was yesterday. For me, that was having two women I barely know who purchased my book come up to me at different times and tell me that they love my book.

One woman came up to me yesterday at breakfast and with a smile on her face and cheer in her voice exclaimed that not only did she read my book, but she loved it. You should have seen and heard the surprise in her voice. She proceeded to exclaim that she had never read a romance before, but was thrilled that she had read my romantic suspense because she liked the mystery. Not fond of a lot of swearing, she was happy to see that there was a minimum in the story. She also loved the fact that she could tell when it came to the computer stuff, I knew what I was talking about and that I described it so she could understand. She loved that she got to use her own imagination to get a feel for the characters and they weren't spelled out in every detail. She cannot wait for the second book. :-)

Yesterday afternoon when I met my friend Nora for critique, another woman who had my book approached me in the ladies room. (Yes, us women do those things.) Anyway, drying her hands, she told me with a great deal of excitement she had read the first 135 pages of my book the previous evening and didn't want to put it down because it was so good. She said it was even funny and went on to tell me the funny part she liked with Jake and Ruby in the bathroom. She could not wait to read more.

All the 5-star reviews could not do for me what those two ladies did. Those two ladies not only made my day, but let me know I had achieved something I didn't even realize I hadn't until yesterday. When I started writing It Happens In Threes, I knew I wanted to be a writer. Yesterday. . .I became a writer!

Thank you.