As a young child, writing was my avenue of escape. It was a way to let out what I was feeling. It also allowed me to embrace my creative side. Even at a very early age, I knew that writing was always going to be a part of me. I just didn’t know how big of a role it would play until now.

I hadn’t returned to my creativity again for another 25 years when I completed my higher education in finance. I was searching for something else to pique my interest, perhaps another certification. Then, someone I knew had a conversation with me that I will never forget. He asked, “Why are you searching for another certification? Life is too short and what will yet another finance certification do for you? At some point, having more will give you less. What is it you are passionate about? Go after that. You did the hard work. Now it is time to do the thing that pleases you.”

So, I picked up the pen again and started to write. A few years back I started my memoir, and didn’t get that far. I decided I would pick it up again. On my lunch hour from work, I would go to the local Borders bookstore, grab a coffee and my bag lunch, sit at the table in the cafe, and write. Then on the weekends, I would go to another local Borders, grab my coffee, and position myself on one of the burgundy leather chairs. With my red hard cover lined binder resting on my lap, I would commence in writing practice.

I carried on this way for several months, before running across a Writers’ Digest Magazine at Borders. I purchased the magazine and when I filtered through the pages, I saw an advertisement for Writers’ Digest Online University. I was intrigued and after researching, I signed up for my first writing course. For the next year, I took several courses as well as continued on with my memoir, my writing practice, and oh yes, my coffee.

I took these certifications and ran with them, training clients in my home gym for a year and a half. I was able to focus on this full-time, as I was laid off from my job in the finance world. After less than a year, I found myself back in the finance world, and was only able to continue training clients part-time in the evenings. After a few months, I found this to be too exhausting, and stopped training clients.

However, I ended up picking up the pen again during this time. Patrick, the COO at ISSA, encouraged me to write fitness articles for his organization. He said that although he has read many research papers on BCAA’s (Branch Chained Amino Acids), he has never been as captivated as he was when he read mine. So I wrote for ProTrainer, a Certified Fitness Trainer’s professional online site. Then I branched out and wrote health and fitness articles for HyperStrike Media, a public forum for the fitness enthusiast.

Encouraged by Patrick yet again, I started my journey to writing my first book. Patrick said I had a compelling story to tell people about my weight loss journey and struggles. That I connect with people through my writing and I could reach and help so many people by getting my story out there.

So, I picked up the pen again, and I haven’t put it down since. I have just completed my health and fitness book. Now I am writing a novel in the fiction literature genre.

Writing has always been a part of who I am. I just didn’t realize how much. I don’t think I will ever put down the pen now. It has given me far too much freedom.