It has been a year since I published my first book, “BAHALA NA (Come What May)”. In the course of the year, I have learned a lot about the publishing industry and how it works. I subscribe to the Writer’s Digest, read blogs and books about writing and publishing.

I’m a late bloomer. I published my first book at 69. I wish I had done this when I was younger. This is my third career. I was an accountant for 32 years, a real estate agent for 11 years, and now a writer. I have a lot of catching up to do and so I want to make the most of my time. I enjoy writing and seeing that finished product is a joy unto itself.

I am proud to see my book in print. It was originally intended for my family to chronicle the life of my parents, how they met and their life during the war. It ended up as a historical novel based on their story. It is a big achievement for me to have done it while my mother is still alive. She’s 91. To see how happy she is reading her story is worth a million dollars.

Last November, I joined the group for the NANOWRIMO (National Novel Writing Month) challenge. I sat by my computer banging away the required 50,000 words in a month for my second book – “The Iron Butterfly”. I finished at 56,607. I’m now in the process of editing the book and it has grown to 65,500 words so far and I’m half way editing it.

A year later after I published my first book, I did another milestone. I have been thinking of creating a website for my neighborhood for a while and I finally launched it. That makes two websites with my name on it: my personal website and my neighborhood’s website. I have three blogs: my author’s blog, my gardening blog, my local rose society blog and there are other countless websites and blogs I’m involved in. My name since I started real estate business in 2000 has been on the internet and more so now that I am a writer. I read, write and blog as much as I can and on my leisure time, I garden and take care of my 40 rose plants. It’s a wonderful life!