I think I was in high school when my mom told me that she thought I might write a book someday.  At the time I didn't put much stock into it. After all, I knew I liked to read books and I knew I liked to write stories, but putting the two together didn't seem like a reality.  But as I got older, I started to take my mom's prediction a little more seriously.  I was actually warming up to the idea.

Then, when I was a reporter in Sioux City, I covered 2 trials dealing with the murder of a toddler.  The child's mother and her mother's boyfriend were accused, but ultimately, no one was convicted of actually committing the murder.  The case moved me, and I had a hard time putting it out of my head when I would go home at night.  For the first time, I seriously considered a topic that I might write a book about.  I felt like I knew a lot about the case, and what I didn't know I was eager to investigate. I felt so strongly about the little girl who died and the fact that no one would serve time for her killing.  But, years went by, the memories of the case faded, and so did the likelihood of me ever writing a book about it.

But I have not given up on the idea.  While I love what I'm doing right now, the cold, hard, truth is that I can't do it forever.  Perhaps when my time in television news is up, I'll consider a new career...in writing.  I know it's no easy road, and that a lot of people harbor dreams just like mine. Then again, J.K. Rowling wrote many of the chapters of Harry Potter on napkins in the early days, never knowing how popular her work would become.

I think it was the late opera singer Beverly Sills who wore a bracelet with the initials: I.D.T.A.  It stood for "I did that already".  She said it was to remind her that life is short and that we should get out of our comfort zones and embrace new endeavors.  I try to keep that in mind, even though I am very content right now.  I guess it's dreaming of what might be on the horizon, like the possibility of one day authoring a book,  that keeps life interesting