First blog post

Okay, off the top I want to declare I was once a ‘corporate cog in the wheel’; in fact, I was that cog for over 27 years, and miserable for most of the time. In 2006, my entire department was outsourced. Happy to have been kicked to the curb, I turned my attention to what I was going to do next. Not surprising, I entered the world of self-employment that lead to several mediocre, haphazard positions; including a home renovation business, several direct marketing forays into the health and wellness world and finally two failed attempts at selling horse related products. In between, I had to take jobs at the local box stores to make ends meet. I was tired of following the beat of society’s drum. Feeling defeated and dejected, I stepped back to look at my life and asked myself, “what do I truly want?” I decided I needed the ‘free spirit’ inside of me to flourish. Of course, I also needed to make some money. After all life is not free. About this same time, a good friend was starting to experience some success as a writer. She and I had always spoken about writing, and she had taken the daring leap to becoming a full-time writer a few years earlier. As the author of a successful series, her success was now inspiring me to consider a dream I’d always had, but kept quiet inside me. With her encouragement, I decided to find more time for writing. The answer had surfaced, “I want to be an writer!” That was a few years ago. Where am I now? Well, I’m not a best selling author – yet. I spend as much time as I can writing when I’m not busy at home or working. My husband and I own a small ranch that’s also home to horses, dogs and a feisty barn cat. We don’t have children, of the traditional variety, so we give all our love to the four-legged kids. Horses are a big part of my life. They are the calm that keep me centered on this earth. Fortunately, I’ve managed to develop a small business working with horses so, while I eventually want to write full-time, at least I’m much happier at work now versus those unrewarding days as a cog. As far as developing as a writer, I’ve written a few horse-related articles, and a short essay, about one of my own horses, was published in an anthology. Currently, I have three books in the works. While my writing doesn’t revolve around horses, there’s always one or more horses layered into my stories. I get a lot of writing ideas and tips by listening to podcasts. I think I might actually be a podcast junkie! I am fascinated by the entire writing industry and how it is evolving. View all posts by Tamara Mercer