Top 5 Influences On My Writing

So, I would not say that I was ‘born to be a writer.’ It was more of the twists and turns within my life that led me to the path of writing. One segment of my life would lead to another, and then a new segment would be added and all of the parts added to create the person I have become today.

If I had to pick the top 5 things in my life that influenced my writing, I would pick the following:


5) Jane Austen. I know it sounds totally cliche, but, to me, Jane Austen was a guru at love stories. She revolutionized the modern romance. She can still, in this day and age, make a woman sigh over a proud man who badly insulted the woman he loved.
She was a genius at giving women something to smile about!







4) SHS. The High School that I grew up in was great! It was amazingly clique free and generally welcoming to all kinds of strange and off the wall people… and the students were pretty cool too (:D). It seemed like everyone I met there plays a part in the movies going on in my head.





3) My family has been a HUGE influence on me! My sisters and I have been swapping books for years and laughing over ridiculously funny romance movies since my world began. My Mom has always been my biggest cheerleader. She moves me to tears each time she tells me how proud she is of me. It has definitely given me the confidence to write. But my Dad is the real reason I put fingers to the keyboard. We went on a walk once, many years ago, when he said, ” You would think that with so many kids, I would have one who would be the next JK Rowling.” It still makes me smile. I am no JK Rowling, but I have the tenacity of my father and will not give up until I tell the world the stories inside me.



2) JK Rowling. What can I say? She is a genius! Harry Potter was the first ‘non-romance’ book that I read. I say read, but I mean inhaled. I read the first HP in about 5 hours. It was like a lamp being turned on in a pitch black room. My eyes were blinking back the worlds that were opened up to me. I know that I Wish… never would have come about without it.

I also have to say that her story really inspired me as well. She worked on her books for a really long time, and then when she had finally put her passion into words… she was rejected time and again by both agents and publishers. It took a child to tell them that it was amazing, and look what has come from it.





1) My kids. My kids mean the world to me. I remember curling up on the couch with my infant son and reading Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six aloud to him. He would coo and gurgle and smile as I read through bloody action scenes.
Now, as my kids are getting older, I want them to find more stories like Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia. Stories about good overcoming evil, stories that make them smile and stories that make them cry. I want them to discover stories within themselves.



I’m sure that I could fill another 10 pages with people and places, things and feelings that have inspired me. But, at this moment, these are the top 5 inspirations on my writing.