That’s the goal of every author, right? But sometimes we get distracted.

Back in, oh, 1997, I got my first computer, a hand-me-down from my sister. I couldn’t even get online with that thing, but I kept trying. Finally, knowing I wanted to write a book, my husband bought me a used machine and I learned how to operate it—even went to some message boards and met a few people that I still keep in touch with.

But no book was written.

I outgrew that computer pretty quickly, and snagged a brand new, custom-built job—still no book. Over the next ten years, I thought about that Great American Novel, but I didn’t actually start putting pen to paper, so to speak, until 2005.

Oh, happy day! My husband was thrilled, kept the kids away, took over the cooking and cleaning. And I wrote.

A whopping 1000 words.

I mentioned distractions…