How Tough Luck Lane was Born

     Tough Luck Lane was born as a short story originally created for a writers' group. I joined the group because I needed a hobby - working full time and being my Dad's caregiver during what proved to be a very long, debilitating illness, I needed some fun. So once a month I attended this writer's group at a local book store. 

     I didn't have a clue what to write. Then, one day, my boyfriend, John (now husband), and I were driving around Lake Okeechobee (I'd never been), in the middle of practically nowhere, I saw the Tough Luck Lane street sign. I asked John to turn around and drive down the street. There were trailer homes up and down the street, straight to the berm of Lake Okeechobee. As we turned back onto State Road 78, "I was born in a trailer off Tough Luck Lane", hit me like a bolt of lightning. I wrote the story when we returned that very night.

     The story was a hit at the writers' group. I then decided to keep on with it and it grew into the novel, Tough Luck Lane. Writing allowed me to be home with Dad, in the same room, with him watching TV and me writing at my keyboard. John. a musician, would be upstairs practicing for his band. A homey little group, were we.

     In October 2005, Hurricane Wilma visited us in a big way. My Dad passed away shortly after and, when we took a drive up to Tough Luck Lane, it was pretty much gone, too. Today, the street sign still stands and not much else. Portions of the road are unpaved and every time I go back, in my mind's eye, I still see the pink trailer with the rose garden all 'round it that set my imagination aflame with Tough Luck Lane. 

    John and I married the following year, 2006, Tough Luck Lane was completed in 2007 and published in 2017 by Solstice Publishing. Finishing a novel is a lot like having a baby. First, there's this "now what do I do!?" panicky feeling that goes down to your core. Then, you realize you have it and, like a child, you have to nurture it to grow into something great. That includes editing, agenting, editing again, agent rejections again and then, finally, you get the Great Green Light to go forward.