Is there someone in your life who made a huge
difference even though you’ve never been introduced? Well, I have and her name
is Diana Gabaldon.
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| Diana Gabaldon (Variety - Terence Patrick photo) |
How did she impact my life on such a grand scale?
It started with a gift. My eldest daughter gave me a paperback book for
Christmas. On it was a little handwritten tag. ‘The story of the most perfect
man in the world.’ Yup. Outlander, the story of a time traveler and the man she
fell in love with.
The story reignited my fascination with time travel
that H.G. Wells had lit when I was a teenager. When checking her website to see
if she had more books, I noticed we were born the same year and both attended
the same university at the same time. I wondered if she had endured the same jerk
I had for Freshman English. Until he came into my life, I loved writing. What
stuck with me, though, was her declaration that if you love to write, WRITE!
My passion to create stories had returned. What
would happen if I fell into Outlander? I couldn’t get that idea out of my head.
Little themes kept sprinting through my head, twisting through forests of elaborate
scenarios, bumping into encounters between her fictional characters and mine.
So, overcoming the literary passion-gutting of my
Western Literature professor at NAU thirty years earlier, I started to write
again. Working full time and with a daughter in school, all I had were late
nights and stolen moments for my new obsession. Of course, I couldn’t use
Outlander, so I created a different fictional time travel story. The premise
remained the same, though: an older woman is rejuvenated and awakes in a
different time, interacting with fictional characters from her favorite romance
novel.
I didn’t publish anything for a long time, but I
did continue to write. Did I even want to be published? Well, sort of. I wanted my novels
to be available to my daughters and granddaughter (no male heirs). Being
published had to be the best way to do that. Photocopies and journals were
easily lost. Searching library systems for Nana’s name would be easier. That’s
how we found my husband’s great-grandmother’s story (Under the Southern Cross
or A Woman’s Missionary Work in Africa).
I had four books written before I published my
first one. The first two in the series still weren’t ready to be shared and I
knew it. I cringe when I look back at my early drafts. But you know what? The
passion kept me going. Now if I reread my stories, I smile with pride. I didn’t
give up. I didn’t think I’d ever finish that first book, Naked in the WinterWind, but I did. Oh, and the ebook version is free to read everywhere.
No matter who inspires you, take the inspiration
and work toward your dream, revel in your passion. Do no harm and be
respectful, and who knows, maybe you’ll be an inspiration to others, too!
Thanks, Diana.
