Don’t worry, I have no intention of scrapping my Surfacing manuscript. However, my eyes have been opened to the extensive professional editing the book needs before even considering self-publishing.

What I’m going to do is list the things I feel I missed in my writing journey so that, hopefully, you will be more enlightened than I was up until now.

Here we go:

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#1. Save enough money to afford the four steps of professional editing you will need: developmental editing, line editing, copy editing, and proofreading.

Before I reached the point I am at now, I thought I could get by with AI-assisted editing and the knowledge I have amassed over 50-some years of writing.

Can anyone say “hubris”? It’s okay, I have my feet on the ground now.

Here’s the most important thing I’d like you to take away from my #1: Some self-publishing authors, especially some debut indie authors, are pulling the reputation of self-published books down by submitting books that are amateurish, if not just flat-out error-ridden front to back. The bad reviews are stacking up, and readers are becoming cautious about purchasing bad indie books. It is widely agreed that the reason for this is a lack of professional editing.

We don’t want to be any part of that, right?

I have to figure out how to pay for editing. More on that in the next newsletter.

#2. It is never too soon to start your marketing.

I have only ever used Facebook for social media purposes. I used it to stay in touch with friends and family (period). I didn’t develop my use beyond that, so I remained unknown among the masses.

I wasted years building up my name as a writer on Facebook and other social media platforms. I lost years on Substack by remaining uninformed about building my author’s brand, writing about writing, and talking about my book. I did not build my email list or develop relationships with anyone out of my little circle.

The mistake I made here is that I didn’t research or educate myself on the next steps until it was time to think about them.

Now I’m facing the challenge of building my audience and readership in time before the launch of my book. This includes having a website along with recognition on social media.

To do your book justice, you simply cannot skimp on marketing.

Oh, did I mention, save money to pay for professional marketing and author branding?

#3. Write every day and build a writing routine.

When I wrote Surfacing, it was something akin to giving birth; once I started typing, I had to make myself stop to eat, sleep, and bathe. It was as if I were possessed. Then, when it was done, it was done except for editing.

I went on to write two other books in the same frenetic way.

Then, the only “writing” I did was editing. I went for months without writing anything new. The reason I wish I had built a writing routine is to “exercise” that writing mindset. I notice that when I make myself sit and write new material and do this routinely, my writing becomes a little better.

Exercise your brain by writing and reading every day. Your writing will thank you for this.

Here’s an interesting anonymous quote:

“Starting over is the most productive form of procrastination available to the human mind.”

Now, continuing with my list...

#4. Learn all you can about the business of writing and the publishing industry.

I was surprised to learn that when querying an agent, they look for authors with strong knowledge of the publishing industry. In fact, not having an understanding of the business can be a reason for passing on a manuscript.

It may be easier to understand this concept when you look at it from an agent’s POV. An agent puts in many long hours with their clients, and a lot of this time is spent trying to change the client’s mind about a long list of things. If a client understands how the industry works and why the changes being presented are routine and necessary, it makes the agent’s time with the client less argumentative and far less stressful.

The best possible outcome is an amicable relationship between agent and client, in which positive creativity can flourish.

Another reason knowledge of the industry is important is your own peace of mind. It is so stressful and upsetting to learn things as you go instead of coming into the game with a fair-to-middling understanding of the rules.

There is enough to feel stressed out over when you are trying to get your book published; one less thing is a blessing.

#5. Gain knowledge about traditional publishing vs. self-publishing.

The two types of publishing each have pros and cons. Knowing which route you will take before you are ready to publish your manuscript is important.

Traditional publishing offers professional editing, handles contractual and legal matters, and can introduce you to talented and successful people in the industry.

On the downside, getting an agent to accept you as a client takes a TON of work with even more rejections; it can take years before your book is launched, and there are many compromises and control issues you must be willing to make.

Self-publishing can look like a preferred alternative, but not everything is rainbows and unicorns. Yes, you have control over almost everything about your book. This also means you must make decisions about everything, or know who to contact to get answers to your questions.

You are responsible for the professional editing of your manuscript, which we covered earlier.

You will be able to launch your book in weeks instead of years. The royalties are higher with self-publishing.

For both publishing modes, marketing is your responsibility.

#6. Develop other sources of income.

Most authors can launch wildly successful books and live off the income generated by one or two books.

LOL, um, no!

You all have heard the grim statistics about authors:

• Only 1-4% of authors achieve commercial success and/or best-seller status

• If success is measured by earning a sustainable full-time living from writing, that figure drops to 1%

• Making it onto a list like the New York Times Best Seller list is only achieved by 0.1% of published books annually

• Only about 3% of people who write a novel actually finish it

Can anyone tell me why I thought I’d have success as a writer? I’m thinking it’s a high delusional ideation, if I had to venture a guess.

I don’t want to say, “realistically, you will not...” I’m just saying that it’s good to have other sources of income, just in case.

I hope I’ve helped you understand the crucial steps that need to be developed long before you finish writing your novel. It doesn’t make sense to throw my hands up in the air and burn my manuscript just because I basically started out in the middle of the process, and now, I have to play catch-up.

Learn from my mistakes. That’s the reason my Substack newsletters are centered around this crazy journey I’m taking in writing my book, editing it, and self-publishing it.

Who better to learn from than someone deep in the trenches?

Take care!

Wendy

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I never knew becoming a grandparent would be so enriching to my life. I bonded with my grandsons the day they were both born. I perfected being a Grammy with my oldest grandson, and since then I have searched for ways to maintain close relationships with them.

I’m going to begin creating newsletters on grandparenting, which is near and dear to my heart. Hopefully, it will give the grandparents who read these ideas for creating closer bonds with their grandkids.

I am fortunate to live close to my grandsons. I realize not everyone can hop in the car and drive to their grandchildren’s house to spend time with them. In that case, being creative is the difference between growing a relationship with your grandchildren and not.

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I will preface the rest of this article by saying that it is not within everyone’s wheelhouse to play and be the ‘fun’ grandparent. That’s okay. If you are one of those people who find it difficult to let go of your grown-up demeanor to engage with your grandchild, it is more important that you develop a relationship with them as a person in their life on a regular basis, one that loves them and that they can rely on if needed. Your grandchild will value you for that, as well as your son or daughter and their spouses.

When my first grandchild was born, I was lucky enough to help care for him while his parents were at work. I saw this as a way not only to get to my grandson but also to cover childcare costs, which are quite an expense these days.

Often, I would arrive the day before, watch him, and sleep over so I could be there in the morning when he woke up. There is just nothing like hearing the little cooing sounds that indicated he was awake, and then walking into his room only to see his smiling face and the excitement of seeing me!

Over the weeks and months of caring for him before his brother was born, we developed a very close relationship through playing, singing, reading, and my gentle routines.

When his brother was born, I would take care of both the boys, and a little jealousy did crop up for the firstborn. After all, he had had his Grammy for two years all to himself, and now there was this interloper who was taking more of her time.

Gentle reminders that love has no bounds and can be shared equally soon alleviated the frank jealousy, although I do suspect there will always be a tiny bit of resentment and competition between the two boys as each vies for both my attention and the attention of each of their parents.

As the boys grew out of toddlerhood and into little boyhood, our interactions changed both because of their interests and because of my search for appropriate and exciting ways to play and keep them busy.

Keeping the kids busy makes all the difference between satisfied, happy days and miserable, combative days. Don’t get me wrong, there were days when someone didn’t get up on the ‘right’ side of the bed, and nothing we did seemed to help that.

Patience is not only a virtue, but it helps A LOT when caring for kids.

It may be somewhat controversial, but one of the first things I did with my oldest grandson was allow him to play along with me on my iPhone. I’m a techie, so I have my iPhone with me at all times, and more often than not, I’m looking at it.

Yeah, yeah, some of you are saying I have a problem and shouldn’t let my phone monopolize so much of my time. There are more than two sides to that argument, but this is not an article about my addiction to electronics. Skeptics, don’t worry about whether I’m inappropriately interacting with it during conversations with others or at the dinner table. I know better than doing that.

Anyway, back to my grandson. During downtime, when he would play and watch “Sesame Street” or just play by himself, I would check my phone and maybe play a little Solitaire. He noticed this and wanted to do it too, so I found games that helped him get used to using a touchscreen by popping bubbles that scrolled up. At first, I had to guide his wee finger, but in no time, he was able to do it himself. This eventually turned into playing toddler games and then older children’s games on the phone, like “LEGO Jurassic World”.

Playing games on electronics that the kids can relate to has proved immensely enjoyable for us both, and still is now that the boys are becoming preteens.

His parents and I limited their time on electronics, but the skill of working with touchscreen devices came in exceptionally handy when COVID hit, and the kids were quarantined at home, doing schoolwork on their iPads.

Sometimes, things the kids like to do are over-the-top boring for adults. I found this to be true when pushing them on the swings. To make this more bearable, I started to sing songs. You know, the old songs like “One, two, buckle my shoe” and “Twinkle, twinkle little star”. This was a wonderful way to both extend the time I could push them on the swings and to have them start learning the songs and sing along, which they really enjoyed.

Make-believe is an integral part of childhood and a skill that should be encouraged and developed. This is how we began playing “Farmer John” and “Family”. Actually, let me correct myself. Having a little brother who is two years younger than you can really hamper your ability to play games you have grown out of. I developed games that they could both participate in to keep the peace.

To be able to play with both boys at the same time, it became important to play games that the little guy could play. He really liked it when we played “Farmer John”; we would make him the farmer. The spin the little guy put on it was that he was a mean and impatient farmer, so he yelled at us in an angry voice, and we pretended to be afraid of him. He found that terrifically satisfying!

I will overlook the reason he chose to take on that persona. I’m only examining the psychology around grandparent/grandchild relationships here.

Their grandparents on their mom’s side were all farmers, so that’s why I picked the farmer’s theme. The whole gist of “Farmer John” was that it was a big farm, and the farmer needed helpers to complete all the chores on the farm. We usually played it outside, using their sandbox buckets to pretend to put feed/water in, and then we used the whole yard to designate where the various animals were. They started out with regular farm animals, but over the years we’ve played it, they have added ferocious pigs, kangaroos, wolves, and dinosaurs.

“Family” was an inside game. Again, we made the little guy the daddy, so he had the most important role in the game. I found it tremendously funny how he imitated his dad’s mannerisms and speech patterns. The game was that we were all a family going on errands and trips. I was always the mom because, well, I’m a girl. The older guy was one of our kids, and they would add their stuffed animals to the family as the other kids did. We played it primarily on their beds, which we made up to be our car.

Of course, dressing up was part of this game as well. The daddy always wore a hat, had a wallet with credit/debit cards in it, and keys. The mommy always had a purse, and I would add other things like a scarf or a hat, depending on the mood. The kid was different every time. As they grew, their roles in the game changed. At first, the daddy worked at the same place where their daddy worked. Later, the daddy’s job was as a YouTuber, and the family followed him to various shoots. The son, who had developed a fascination with geography, had a bunch of map books and would guide us to the next shoot.

I cite these two games just to give examples of how you can develop games to play with your grandchildren that cost nothing but engage them in so many roles and situations, and for that matter, hours of play. It’s not about running races or hula-hooping with the kids if that’s not within your ability.

Once they were old enough, I began having them stay over at my house for the whole weekend. We rotate every month: first the older boy stays, then the younger boy, and in the third month they both stay. This provided significant value in several ways. The parents got alone time with each boy when the other was staying at my house, and vice versa. When both boys were staying at my house, it gave their parents adult time together, which is so valuable to parents who are in the thick of parenting, especially in the preschool and elementary years.

During their visits to my home, I made sure all my major housekeeping chores were done so I could put everything on hold. The only things I did that were not kid-centric were to take care of the kitchen and make meals. I always made sure we had things we could do that weren't everyday things, like fishing, hiking, and visiting various playgrounds. I would save up and treat them to a day at one of those indoor arcades with games, activities like laser tag, and some carnival-type rides. Or I’d take them to an amusement park.

My twin sons, who are in their late 30s, would always accompany us on trips to places like the amusement park to make sure I had extra help in such crowded, potentially dangerous places.

I plan craft projects, a lot of play time, reading, doing puzzles, watching movies, and we go out for lunch/dinner at least once while they are with me. Once, when I was feeling ambitious, I decorated my whole bedroom in a Jurassic World theme and had the oldest bring his dinosaurs so we could really get into playing Jurassic World. He was delighted!

Both grandsons have phrases they use when talking to me that they started when they were very young, and now that they are approaching the pre-teen years, I’m happy that they still use them. The oldest grandson will commonly say, “Grammy...can I ask you something?” The younger grandson often says, “Right, Grammy?” when he makes a statement.

I felt that the most important part of them staying with me was that they got a lot of one-on-one time, which parents find hard to do with their work and responsibilities on a daily basis.

I’d like to provide the numerous and varied ways grandparents use to stay close to their grandchildren through these newsletters. I’d love to hear how you stay close to your grandkids. I’d also really like to hear what your grandkids call you. As I said at the beginning, my grandsons call me Grammy.

Please leave these in the comments.

Until next time.

Wendy

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It was May 30, 1893, 5:00 a.m. Engine 1500 pulled the train down the track, navigating the bends and hills easily in the mountains of Pennsylvania. They were heading east; their next performance was in Lewistown, PA.

The train held a little over 300 souls, including the train employees and their passengers. Their human passengers, that is. The Walter L. Main Circus was on board, comprising circus performers, acrobats, clowns, freaks, laborers, and management. The circus also included a menagerie of 130 horses, two lions, two Bengal Tigers, a huge ape called “The Manslayer”, and dozens more exotic animals, reptiles, and birds. Along with the living, breathing people and animals, there were train cars full of circus equipment, including a calliope, carriages, wagons, tents, and so on.

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M.S. “Red” Creswell was the capable engineer of the long train of 17 cars plus the engine. He knew the track well, and what concerned him was the descent before the sharp right-angle curve at McCann’s Crossing. This was a treacherous part of the trip, and he was nervous. He had telegraphed ahead to the Summit, a staging area before the long descent into Tyrone, PA, asking to get another engine to help bring the exceptionally long train down safely.

His three brakemen were also concerned. They would have to be instrumental in keeping the train at a manageable speed, around the normal speed of 12 mph. The crew was used to pulling up to 17 train cars, but the circus cars were twice as long as the standard train cars they were used to hauling. All the railroad workers sensed there could be trouble.

Red Creswell was denied the extra engine because the railroad didn’t want to spend the money on calling in another engine. They also knew Mr. Main’s circus was already running behind to reach their destination in Lewistown, and the railroad managers didn’t want their customers to experience further stress.

The descent was where the train picked up speed right from the start, much more than the three brakemen could control. The train's passengers began to wake from the pitching and shaking of the cars at the higher speed Red estimated at 30-40 mph. The two elephants were restless and pounding on the boards of their train car, making the car pitch back and forth even more. The right-angle curve was going to be a problem at that speed, and before anyone knew it, the terrible sound of splitting timbers and grinding metal was all anyone could hear as fourteen of the 17 cars fell over the 30-foot embankment at McCann’s Crossing, the cars pancaking one on top of the other.

After the wreck's explosive nature, there was an ominous silence as humans and animals tried to orient themselves to what had just happened. Steadily, the sound of the injured horses screaming in pain was followed by the cries of the injured and trapped passengers. Animal cages were demolished, releasing all the animals they once held. Men scrambled to help those trapped, trying to assess where they could best start their recovery efforts. The sleeper cars, which held most of the travelers, were thankfully stopped from following the wrecked train cars over the embankment when the dining car got wedged perpendicularly to the track. The dazed people began to pour out of the sleeper cars, some with minor cuts and bruises, some with more serious injuries.

As every able-bodied man started to work on the layers of the tremendous wreckage to search for the missing, the animals of the circus began to roam. Some of the men tried to secure the most dangerous of the animals, but there were so many. Hyenas, panthers, zebras, alligators, baboons, camels, dromedaries, and water buffalo were quickly wandering into the forest. Snakes, birds, and reptiles that were not native to Pennsylvania slithered and flew into the brush. There was no hope of capturing or retrieving them.

A tiger attacked one of the sacred cows and immediately began making a meal of it. One of the lions attacked a man who was trying to catch it, biting his hand. The lion had to be shot before it could do more damage to the poor man. A tiger and a couple of panthers hurried into the forest in search of what they could find to eat. The manslaying ape parked himself at the base of a large tree. Fortunately, he was bound by a rope, so he could not escape or cause any danger. The two elephants roamed the area, visually unnerved. One of the elephants sustained a slight leg injury, but both were eventually used to move the heavy timbers and train car wreckage.

Everywhere, the sounds of screaming horses and gunshots could be heard as men humanely put the injured and dying horses out of their misery. All told, Mr. Main lost at least half of the 130 valuable horses and ponies that were an integral part of the circus’s entertainment. Notably, Snowflake, valued at $20,000 and the star of the show, could not be saved despite numerous efforts to keep him alive.

The town of Tyrone was nearby, and it didn’t take long for the townspeople to make their way to the wreck to help with the recovery efforts. Many people eventually came from all around the area to see the tremendous destruction of the wrecked train, as well as the bizarre sight of all the circus animals roaming around in their part of Pennsylvania, despite the potential danger they posed.

After working through the wreckage in search of those who were missing, there were five men killed in the wreck, and 11 people were injured significantly enough that they required hospitalization. They were taken to Altoona Hospital nearby.

The dead were taken to the Tyrone undertaker’s facility, where they were prepared for burial and held there for the coroner’s inquest the next day.

In 1893, whenever there was an accident resulting in loss of life, an inquest was held by the coroner at the scene of the accident. The coroner would enlist a number of area leaders who would also weigh in on the accident scene, the cause of the accident, injuries suffered by the dead, and the steps that would be taken in the future to assign blame for the accident and loss of life. On a future date, witnesses would be called to testify about the accident at a reconvening of the inquest at the area courthouse.

The dead were: William Heverly, brakeman; Frank Train, treasurer of the circus; and James Strayer, Barney Multaney, and William Lee, who were laborers with the railroad. After the inquest, the men were given to their families for burial in their hometowns. Two of the laborers are buried at the Tyrone cemetery because they had no friends or family who responded to the undertaker's inquiries.

One of the Bengal Tigers revealed itself a day later at a nearby farm. Mrs. Andrew Thomas was shocked by the tiger attacking the cow she was milking, killing it instantly. She ran for her husband, who shot the tiger as it was eating the cow. The tiger pelt and the lion pelt from the lion killed at the wreck site were valuable and were turned over to Mr. Main. However, the tiger skull was given to the Tyrone Sportsmen’s Club, where it is proudly displayed to this day.

In the weeks and months following the train wreck, if an exceptionally large snake was found, it was suspected to be the offspring of the escaped snakes from the circus. Many tall tales were told for years after the train wreck regarding the escaped reptiles. Likely, due to the freezing temperatures in the mountains of Pennsylvania, the snakes, exotic birds, and reptiles that fled into the forest died soon thereafter.

The townspeople of Tyrone welcomed the displaced circus workers, feeding and housing them at the town hotel, in their own homes, and in the large tent that was erected as a food/work area. Some 60 circus employees slept in the sleeper cars while they waited for Mr. Main to put the circus back on its feet. Nearly all of the equipment, such as wagons, carriages, and the calliope, was completely destroyed. However, the railway got right to work building new train cars; tradespeople worked on making wagons, carriages, and other replaceable equipment, and even the local stables and farms provided horses and other animals to the circus so that the show could go on.

All the circus performers practiced to stay in shape while they were waiting to hear what their future held. They happily entertained the townspeople in thanks for their hospitality. Even the circus band performed alongside the town band at a musical recital, delighting everyone.

The circus folks were unfamiliar and, in some cases, strange to the townspeople of Tyrone, who were mainly farmers, coal miners, and railway workers, and their families. However, this did not cause bias or discrimination problems among the two groups. The townspeople understood the circus folks’ trauma and disorientation and were empathetic to their plight. They were generous and kind to the circus folk, which had a lasting effect on them as well as Mr. Main.

Amazingly, Mr. Main was able to pull his circus back together in nine days. Before the circus went on its way, it performed a free show for the entire town of Tyrone to the delight of its citizens.

In the years that followed, whenever the Walter L. Main Circus was in the area, they always made a stop in Tyrone. Surprisingly, circus performers from other circuses also began visiting Tyrone to see the wreck site and pay homage to the dead men buried in the Tyrone cemetery.

The Walter L. Main Circus train wreck and its site have become revered in the world’s circus community and will not soon be forgotten.

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The points above are just the tip of the iceberg in the long, drawn-out debate about what’s wrong with our healthcare system.

However, I want to present a positive spin on a major medical center in Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Clinic (CC).

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I have two goals in writing about my recent experience in today’s newsletter. First, I want to applaud the Cleveland Clinic, which was caught behaving at an elite level during my visit. This academic medical center is ranked number two globally for its outstanding and innovative Cardiac Care, among other things.

Secondly, I want to raise awareness of the WATCHMAN FLX Pro Left Atrial Appendage Closure procedure, which is available to patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AFib). These patients were put on blood-thinning medication for the rest of their lives, only to pray that they did not have a major stroke event in the meantime.

The main campus of the Cleveland Clinic.

Staff, Patients, and Technology: The Secret Sauce Behind the Success

Over the past 21+ years, the administrative, physician, and auxiliary staff at The Cleveland Clinic have worked to achieve a patient-centered, team-based approach to caring for the thousands who come to the Clinic every day seeking its renowned services.

A facility of its size, operating 24/7/365, needs hard-and-fast protocols for nearly every function performed. Along with the protocols, cultivating an environment of safety, privacy, and respect is paramount for all staff, patients, and visitors. There are signs posted everywhere cautioning everyone about the expected behaviors, stating, “We’re here to care for others. Thank you for making this possible.”

If every staff member is oriented on these expectations from day one, this culture will grow and stand as an example of the behavior that truly gives everyone pride in their facility.

As some of you may know, I worked as a medical transcriptionist in various hospitals, clinics, and physicians’ offices for 20+ years in my ‘previous life’. During that time, I came to expect exceptional patient care as the standard of the physicians, nurses, and transcriptionists I worked with, although some just could not control their stress levels and anger issues.

My staff knew what I expected when dealing with anyone inside or outside our office. I had experienced difficult office environments where staff were given free rein to behave as badly as they wanted without repercussions, and as a result, I did not tolerate any kind of poor behavior when I was in a management position. This provides a staff culture and environment from the start, and once established, it thrives.

Many of you may have come from offices or corporations where the culture was so oppressive that you could feel it as soon as you entered the building. I believe that an environment of mutual respect for everyone is necessary and will shine through the employees, giving the office or corporation a reputation of excellence.

The thriving, positive culture was tangible in every department at the Cleveland Clinic. We could not help but feel we were in good hands there, which allowed us to relax.

I’m the mom of three sons who played a lot of sports; I also found myself advocating for them whenever they were seen at the hospital or by specialists. I believe that family members who accompany a patient to the hospital or doctor’s office are obligated to speak up for their loved one, obtain a full understanding of what is ailing them, what the treatment will be going forward, and the medications they will be receiving.

A medical center with clear, hard, and fast protocols is perceived as trustworthy, and advocating for your family member does not come into play. This is how all medical facilities should be operated. Period.

It is no accident that many physicians are said to have a God complex and do not tolerate being asked to slow down and explain what they just said again. Unfortunately, if the highest-level staff is allowed to misbehave or shame patients and families when they are quite possibly in the worst crisis of their lives, this gives the facility a poor reputation and will begin to cost it revenue. Unfortunately, a higher majority of facilities operate in this dark, shadowy realm than we would like to admit.

The Cleveland Clinic and other top-notch medical centers across the U.S. have learned that revenue loss is the beginning of a downward spiral and should be avoided at all costs.

This is how the Cleveland Clinic has maintained its elite status over the last two decades and will continue to do so. If only this were what we could expect from the other medical centers and doctors’ offices we visit, I believe it would go a long way toward correcting the ills of the U.S. healthcare system.

I’m not so naive as to believe protocols and organization solve all problems. However, when excellence is expected across the board, excellence is more often what you will get.

If you don’t take away anything else from this newsletter, I hope you will expect a higher level of compassion, understanding, and respect from your healthcare staff going forward.

Along with these expectations, remember to use ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ when talking with the staff and even point out how much you appreciate all they did for your loved one. You will see how much it enhances their outlook after a long shift, sometimes with thankless and difficult patients and family members, and they will welcome the fact that you took the time to say a few kind words.

From AFib Risk to Real Relief: Why My Dad Chose the WATCHMAN Procedure at This Elite Center

If you or a family member has AFib and must take blood-thinning medication, you have some indication of how problematic it is. You may have found yourself thinking, “There has to be a better way to manage this.”

Atrial fibrillation occurs randomly when the top part of his heart, or atria, receives electrical impulses that throw the heart rhythm off from the lower chambers of the heart, or ventricles. This causes the ventricles to fill with blood inadequately, and in some cases, the blood pools just long enough to form clots, which then travel from the heart to the brain and cause a stroke.

In some cases, the treatment for AFib requires the patient to take blood thinners such as Coumadin or warfarin. When taking these medications, it is necessary to monitor the patient’s PT/INR (Prothrombin Time Test and International Normalized Ratio) to assess whether the patient’s blood is clotting too quickly or too slowly.

If someone you love is taking blood-thinning medication, you may be aware of the possibility of them getting nosebleeds that won’t stop for hours or nicking themselves while gardening, which becomes a major bleeding site requiring a trip to the ER. These things are problematic and can result in a patient’s reluctance to take blood-thinning medication.

Sometimes elderly patients forget to take their prescribed dose of warfarin or run out of the medication and must decide whether to buy the medication or food that week. Again, problematic.

The course of my dad’s cardiac issues went like this:

• He was diagnosed with AFib;

• He was put on blood-thinning medication;

• He was expected to take his medication without fail;

• He was expected to have his PT/INRs monitored regularly;

• It was expected that he would have open-heart surgery to correct the AFib;

• It was expected that these measures would keep him from having a stroke.

If only things worked out so neatly. While we were wrestling with the thought of him having open heart surgery, in 2018, he had a stroke that left him with the relatively minor deficits of a loss in short-term memory and aphasia which is a language disorder that impacts speech, comprehension, reading, and writing due to the damage to the brain from lack of blood flow caused by the clot that started in his heart and traveled to his brain.

Once he was released after the stroke, I began to research whether there were alternatives to open-heart surgery. Despite the deficits caused by the stroke, my dad continued to be a strong and active 80+ year old man. My mom and I felt that having open heart surgery seemed too drastic when it carried so many risk factors.

I discovered that the Cleveland Clinic was treating AFib and a slight leakage of one of his valves more conservatively. After having some cardiac tests, the Cleveland Clinic physicians were able to monitor him yearly to make sure his symptoms were not getting worse.

Open heart surgery was considered too aggressive, despite a few of the local cardiologists insisting this was the only course of action.

My parents are on Medicare, and fortunately, the Cleveland Clinic was available to them despite living over 120 miles from the facility.

Over the course of five to six years, his condition did not worsen...until it did.

He began to have mini strokes, or transient ischemic attacks (TIAs). This caused both of my parents distress, having to keep on the watch for mental changes, physical changes, and the risk of a major stroke that could leave him wheelchair bound.

The suggestion that he have a WATCHMAN procedure came out of the blue from the local neurologic specialist. We had never heard of the procedure, which is most likely because it is not a pharmaceutical drug.

Lord knows the multitude of commercials for medications bombards us night and day on television, the radio, and the internet. It seemed remarkable to us that a one-to-two-hour procedure could eliminate the need to take life-long blood-thinning medication and would reduce his risk of stroke by 92-99%!

You can’t imagine how much of a mental shift and relief were needed in my mom. She was solely responsible for the daily care of my dad, making sure he took his medications regularly without fail, had all his blood tests when they were needed, and was able to notice the slight changes that would mean he was having another stroke. It was something she had to keep reminding herself.

The WATCHMAN procedure had become so routine, posing minimal side effects and promising near 100% relief from the risk of stroke in the future, that it seemed like a no-brainer to have it done. No one in the family had heard of the device, and it took some research to begin to feel comfortable with the thought of the surgeons performing this procedure.

The WATCHMAN FLX, which is only the size of a quarter.

It is made from a fine-mesh, MRI-compatible metal.

The procedure begins with a transesophageal echocardiogram being passed into his throat so the surgeons can see exactly where the WATCHMAN is and where it is going. Fluoroscopy is also used to ensure proper device placement. Then, the surgeons make two small incisions in the patient’s groin area through which they will work the WATCHMAN device and its placement tools up into the heart through the femoral veins. From start to finish, the procedure takes one to two hours.

The WATCHMAN FLX is seated in the Left Atrial Appendage, where 90% of stroke-causing clots form.

During the final consultation before scheduling the procedure, the surgeon explained that once the WATCHMAN was placed and reevaluated in six weeks, my dad may be able to reduce or even stop taking the blood thinners. No more PT/INRs! Best of all, his risk of suffering another stroke, even a TIA, would be reduced by 92%-99%.

I want to return to the sense of trust and the feeling that you are in good, reliable hands at the Cleveland Clinic, as these are important factors in deciding to have the WATCHMAN procedure done in the first place.

When you reach the Cleveland Clinic main campus, it can feel a bit overwhelming. It is a humongous medical center! There were cars, buses, people, and signs everywhere, so we had to take it one step at a time.

Here’s one of the remarkable things and a credit to the CC: every person we encountered looked us in the eye, smiled warmly, and asked if they could help us. After helping us, they said, “Have a good day!” without fail. This was true of staff on their scheduled shift, as well as of staff leaving the Clinic after their shift or arriving for their shift.

The medical center also employs people they call “the Red Coats”. It is their sole job to stand near the entrance and repeatedly answer questions about how to reach certain offices, where to get a wheelchair, and which way the cafeteria is. Not a job for me! Repetitive questions of the same nature would drive me bonkers. The Red Coats are as nice as they can be and go out of their way to help anyone and everyone.

We had to be at the Cleveland Clinic for three full days. My dad had a bunch of tests done before the procedure, so my mom and I sat around A LOT or walked long distances to get food and drinks for ourselves.

My mom has an Apple watch that counts her steps, and every day it shows that we took 5,500-8,500 steps. I’m ashamed to say that this is about 4,000 more steps than I normally take in a day. I live a sedentary life, folks.

All the staff at The Clinic seem to know the stress the patient’s family is under and go out of their way to offer help or advice. I’ve been a visitor to many hospitals where, when a patient pushes the call button for a nurse, the call is not answered promptly or in a friendly tone.

Not at The Clinic.

Without fail, the call button was answered within seconds, and a staff member followed up by entering my dad’s or my hospital room and helping with a smile and a light-hearted attitude.

Taking care of people of all ages during what may be the worst time of their lives requires a special type of person. I have encountered unnecessarily angry, mean, and nasty nurses, physicians, and other hospital staff members over the years. It seems like such an easy thing to remedy, but often, it is not. When you don’t have to worry about how you or your family member is going to be treated, it reduces stress tenfold.

Caught in the Act of True Freedom: My Dad’s Life After Saying Goodbye to Anticoagulants

After the procedure was complete and my dad had recovered from being under anesthesia, we noticed a renewed vim and vigor in him. One of the things I noticed in the days after the procedure was his ability to remain awake and alert for longer periods of time during the day and evening. When he is questioned about how he feels, his answer, without fail, is, “Terrific.”

Not having to take blood-thinning medications means more than just not having to worry about maintaining a strict balance between blood clotting and blood thinning. He has the freedom to eat more spinach and broccoli, which he enjoys.

There is no longer the worry about him having a fall, hitting his head, and developing a subdural hematoma due to his blood being too thin. After having blood work taken, if his blood were too thin, the area where they drew the blood from in his arm would become excessively bruised and sore.

Best of all? No stroke risk. Strokes are unpredictable as to when they may occur, but also as to the degree of deficits the patient may be left with. Some have next to no deficits; some, like my dad, have deficits that can be frustrating, but not life-threatening. Some strokes cause an entire side of the patient’s body to be limp and useless. Death is also a fear with strokes.

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Thank you for reading my newsletter! I hope you will be better educated about why choosing a medical treatment center with a reputation for excellence can be the right choice for you or a family member, ensuring exceptional care. I hope you will feel more informed about the level of privacy, respect, and care you and your family members have the right to expect.

Lastly, I hope you will feel more educated on atrial fibrillation and the WATCHMAN procedure so that if you know someone who is suffering with AFib, blood thinners, and the risk for strokes, or have a family member that is having these issues, you could pass this newsletter on for them as an alternative care procedure that will help give them more freedom in their life in general.

Did you like this type of newsletter topic? Do you have suggestions for medical topics that I can report on in the future? I happened to divert from my usual writing and self-publish my debut novel. I will continue to do so whenever I have the opportunity to present new and interesting topics.

Take care!

Wendy

This newsletter is about the trials and tribulations I encountered when editing my manuscript. Hopefully, this will be useful for those who are:

• About to edit their manuscript

• Currently editing their manuscript

• Saving this info for their future editing

• Afraid to use AI

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Don’t Believe Everything You Think

I believed that I could edit my work on my own. For 15 years, I edited while typing as a medical transcriptionist, achieving 100% accuracy. Typing is not transcribing. I naturally edited as I typed when it came to my manuscript. When it was time for me to do what I thought was deep editing, I realized I made more mistakes than I knew because I still found errors even in my third round of editing.

While editing, I found that I HATE to edit; I just despise it. I much prefer typing for 10 hours straight (even with the cat running across my keyboard every couple of hours) to editing chapter after chapter. I actually put my manuscript away for weeks, even months at a time, because I couldn’t stand to read through it one more time.

This is why it is said that editing is where most writers quit.

When I came back to it, though, I had a fresh perspective on my work and was able to tackle it again. Realize that when I say ‘editing’, I’m also cutting things out, rearranging paragraphs, and a whole bunch of things other than just looking for typos and punctuation errors.

All the articles out there about publishing a book say you MUST have your manuscript edited by a professional. I thought this would be my saving grace. So, I investigated the cost of professional editing, you know, because I HATE editing.

The first place I contacted was $5,000. WTF people? I’m living on an extremely limited budget; I can’t pay $5,000 for anything! It turns out professional editing costs anywhere from $1,900 to $5,000, though I’m sure some charge more than $5,000. I had to bite the bullet and continue to edit the manuscript myself.

You vs Your Manuscript: Round Two

“Here are my three golden rules of self-editing: Thou shalt cultivate a mindset of change; Thou shalt seek out knowledge of thy craft; Thou shalt work with the right editing tools...” –Jeanette Smith

Self-editing is why it has taken me so long to send my book to the publisher. I envision that the first readers would find an inexcusable error in my writing, post it on social media, and ruin my reputation as a writer with my first book. It’s the stuff nightmares are made of, like the one where you show up to school completely naked. Yeah, that bad.

I type in Word, so the first editing platform I used was Word’s editor, and then I found Grammarly, which disagreed with Word’s editor on some things (damn you, Oxford comma).

Grammarly highlighted the dreaded ‘passive/active’ sentences (which I abhor!), suggested better ways to structure my sentences, and found the punctuation issues I missed. In addition, it highlights areas where you can make your writing more interesting and effective, and it helps you make the right impression on your reader or measure the readability of your writing. There is a fee for using Grammarly.

At this point in the fun-filled world of self-editing, I joined an online group that offered to critique the first 5,000 words of your manuscript. I was sure the people who would review and critique my 5,000 words would have glowing things to say.

Um, no.

Instead, the one person who critiqued my words ripped them to shreds. This was where I first heard the dreaded phrases, “if the first line doesn’t grab them, they’re gone” and “you have to kill your darlings”. On the day I got that critique back, I had to do some hard rock music therapy and sing it at the top of my lungs.

Tag-Team Carnage: You + AI vs the Manuscript

Enough was enough. I stopped editing and did A LOT of reading about writing a book, editing a book, and publishing a book. I steeled myself and let devastation roar through the manuscript. The first thing I did was shorten my story; I went from 119,000 words to 90,000. It made me feel more like a butcher than a surgeon.

The second thing I did was to utilize one of the advanced editing platforms, ProWritingAid. But when I was prompted to pay or get out (my words), I moved on to AutoCrit (like ProWritingAid with some exceptions). I thought I had found the ‘end all’ in editing platforms, until I couldn’t understand all the functions.

It takes a bit of reading to figure out all the available measurements in AutoCrit, but it is worth it. It measures your writing against the chosen genre and tells you how your work compares to writing within that genre.

Here is the list of the other general measurements available in AutoCrit:

• Planning

• Pacing

• Dialogue

• Strong Writing

• Word Choice

• Repetition

• Readability

• Inspiration

• Publishing

• Analysis

I always ran the Analysis because it gives you the option to choose a ‘Combination Report’, which includes all the measurements I wanted. There is a fee to use AutoCrit, too.

Robot Red Pen

“So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself...” —Franklin D. Roosevelt

My brother works for Google, and he couldn’t believe I wasn't using Gemini or any other AI platform. He pointed out that editing tools such as ProWritingAid and AutoCrit are AI-assisted analysis tools, so I was already kind of using AI. The reason I wasn't using the AI platforms was that I couldn’t see any benefit to my daily life of writing or playing games on my phone.

As it turns out, I had a fixed mindset about AI. People with fixed mindsets are afraid to step out of their comfort zone, use something unfamiliar, or use something that doesn’t feel safe. I’m normally not so close-minded, but once I realized what I was keeping myself from, I gained more flexibility in my thinking.

After Thanksgiving and all my brother’s preaching, I tried ChatGPT. I found out I had to learn how to create prompts to get the results I wanted. After that, it was fun to put in prompts and get in-depth answers. Then I went to Gemini and was bothered that after so many prompts, it wouldn’t answer anymore until the next day (Sh—don’t tell my brother I was bothered). So, I used a combination of ChatGPT and Gemini and began really loving AI.

When AI Judges You

I don’t remember what led me to Grok, but I started using Grok and loved it more than the other two I had been using. I got the idea to create a prompt like this: “I have written a 36-chapter novel. I am going to give you a chapter at a time, and I’d like you to evaluate it, critique it, and suggest improvements for it.”

I was blown away by what it sent back to me. Grok tells me what it liked (and why), gives me critiques and suggestions for fixing them, and points out areas for improvement with suggestions on how to make improvements. It remembers the story from previous chapters and offers suggestions based on them.

As far as critiques, here’s a list of the things it checked in my writing:

• Information dumping

• Telling vs showing

• Inconsistencies and typos

• Character depth

• Dialogue and scene balance

• Tone shifts

• Pacing issues

• Repetition

• Lack of plot progression

• Expository overload

See why I was blown away? Maybe it’s because I’m new to using AI products, and there are AI platforms out there that will give even more information about a manuscript. At this time, though, I’m only familiar with those I’ve written about above.

One of the things I needed a lot of help with was pacing. Jeepers! Pacing and passive/active sentences were the bane of my existence. However, after going through all 36 chapters, I learned how to correct both pacing and passive/active sentences and a lot about writing a book. I will write my other books so much differently now.

When I’m editing manuscripts in the future (I have two whole books on hold), I will be using Grammarly and Grok; Grammarly as I type and Grok once I’ve finished typing the manuscript.

I’m not afraid to use AI for editing or in general anymore. As a writer, I don’t agree that people should use AI to write entire pieces and pretend it’s their own original work or to imitate human writing. I’m a stickler about not using it to write anything myself. I’m not afraid of AI taking over my job because there are many reasons AI can never fully imitate human writing.

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I’ll close with this pertinent quote:

“To write is human, to edit is divine.” -Stephen King

Thank you for reading!

Take care,

Wendy

I began writing my book, Surfacing, as a therapy of sorts. My ex had left me for another woman, and I had to do something that would get all the pain and hurt out of my head.

I’m 60-years-old and I learned to type in high school back in 1982. I refreshed my typing skills when I became a medical transcriptionist and learned to type and edit simultaneously. It took me three months to pour out approximately 119,000 words. It was cathartic and gave me a high I had not felt in a long time.

Once it was all typed up, I began researching my next step. Editing. While I was editing my manuscript, I came across a ‘fun fact’: we no longer use a double space after a period. Everything must be single-spaced. When did they change this? And why? I had typed my entire 119,000-word manuscript with double spaces after every period.

I was furious that I would have to go through the entire manuscript and fix this error. But I did it. My fury blinded me to the correct way of fixing this error, so I went through the entire manuscript and fixed every error.

I complained to my brother, who is very computer savvy, about having to fix all those errors. He asked me why I didn’t use Word's ‘Find and Replace’ function to fix them. 😳WTF? I’m a complete idiot.

Stop Writing Pretty...Start Editing Ruthless

My research on writing a book gave me a huge realization. “You have to kill your darlings.” Also, a romance novel, which my book is, should not exceed 80,000 words. How am I going to cut out roughly 39,000 words??

I read, edited, reread, edited some more, and reread and edited my manuscript until I became sick of the book and had to put it away for a couple of weeks. Having to cut so much from the book really put me in a sad mood for a while.

That’s when I investigated having the manuscript professionally edited. Boy, I was shocked! Every professional editor I found quoted thousands of dollars to edit my manuscript. I have a limited income, and I wouldn’t be able to afford professional editing unless I hit the lottery.

“We’re Excited to Work with You”; Famous Last Words

I had to put my book away for another couple of weeks due to frustration. I had been looking at websites about writing and publishing. My email inbox began to fill up with emails from everywhere. Then I received an email that gave me great hope. A company was interested in publishing my book. I was so excited that I told all my closest friends and family. I was on cloud 9 and suddenly felt invincible.

I received their contract via email and scheduled an appointment to go over all the particulars with the representative. My ego was so high at that point. The fall to the lowest of lows was a long drop, and I hit bottom really hard.

The company that wanted to publish my book was a “vanity press”, a nickname created in the world of publishing. They present themselves as a way to publish a person’s book, but once you meet with their representative, you are presented with the total cost of publishing your book with the company. Hold onto your hat!

For the low cost of $8,000 (approximately), the company will do everything from publishing your book to marketing it once it is published. I nearly fell off my chair.

The representative went on to tell me that payment plans were available to make the cost of publishing more manageable. However, these monthly payments were more than I could afford, and I would be paying for the publishing for years.

I had to tell the representative that I could not afford their costs, and I would have to decline their offer. Of course, this is when she did everything she could to keep me from withdrawing from their offer, and I basically had to hang up on her to stop the hard sell.

As I said, the fall from the super high my ego was experiencing to the mega low I hit once I was faced with the reality of these “vanity press” companies and their prices, I had to take an extended break from working on my book and trying to take the next step in publishing it. Honestly, I almost gave up for good.

The Freelance Life I Signed Up For vs. The One I Actually Got

I started looking into freelancing and signed up with a few companies online that offered freelance work. It was slow going to get any work done. I was such a newbie; I didn’t have much in my portfolio to present as my experience.

Then I got a bite. I had a virtual assistant as one of my interests. A person who had gotten a lot of freelance work from the site I was using wanted to schedule a phone interview. They had signed up with the site for years. Everything seemed legitimate, so I scheduled a call with the potential employer.

The potential employer was a woman, and she offered me a great opportunity. I was eager, but still cautious. She said she wanted to hire me and that I would start at a certain wage, with the wage increasing each year after six months incrementally. I was hooked!

The first thing you do when you start a new job is to fill out all the forms for employment. You reveal your Social Security number and virtually all your private information right from the start. She told me to go to a certain website and fill out all the forms there.

The website she sent me to was a little sketchy. Then she called me and asked me if I had a credit card. I did. She wanted me to buy a bunch of items with my credit card and have her reimburse me. RED FLAG!

She couldn’t understand why I’d have a problem with that. First of all, my credit card was maxed out. No problem, she said. She will pay me the money needed to clear my credit card so I can make the purchases. MEGA RED FLAG!

I turned down the job. It had to be a scam. I was disappointed that someone or some people were able to appear legitimate when they weren’t. Thankfully, I did not give them all my personal information.

A couple of weeks later, I got another bite. I did the research, and they appeared to be legitimate, but once I started texting them about the job and what I needed to do, the sketchiness signals began popping up again. Damn it!

I tried to register a complaint with the website I was getting these job offers from, but they didn’t have a complaint form. Are you kidding me? I am just one person, and I was presented with two scams. How many more scam artists are out there doing the same thing? Other people must run into these scams.

Dear Manuscript: I’m Taking a Break. It’s Not You. It’s Me.

I withdrew my information from the website and again, retreated to my fallback of doing nothing to further my employment or publishing my book. It was summer at that point. I let everything go and instead spent a lot of time with my grandsons.

Over the ten weeks they were off school, we went fishing, we went to a bunch of different playgrounds, we hunted for crayfish, and we enjoyed swimming in the creek that had a huge area of calm water where the boys used the masks and the snorkels I bought them to explore the bottom of the creek. We also went swimming at the local pool, where they improved their swimming skills. I was so proud of them. They were fearless when it came to the water, when they had been overly cautious about it before.

Once they went back to school, I was faced with what to do. Should I concentrate on my book again? Should I try the freelancing route again? Freelancing scared me because of the scams I experienced. I went back to working on my book again.

I felt my book was edited sufficiently by me because I am very detail-oriented, and I also had the help of Grammarly, which pointed out those damn ‘passive/active’ errors all throughout my book. I really had to do a lot of research on how to fix those passive sentences, but I finally got the hang of it.

I Sent My Baby to Strangers...Here’s How It’s Going

I felt my next step was to get an agent to look at my manuscript and possibly like it enough to represent me. Thus began my months-long endeavor into how to write a query letter that would capture an agent’s interest. Also, I had to make sure the first few sentences of my book were powerful enough to grab an agent’s attention.

I got involved with an online group that helped each other work on our books, offered critiques, and shared information about getting an agent. I offered the first 5,000 words for whoever picked up my work to critique. The man who picked up my book was extremely harsh about the beginning. He said a lot of things that I didn’t want to hear, and I was devastated.

The Eternal Struggle: Imposter Syndrome vs. Delusions of Grandeur

This is when I took another long break from my book. I mean a long, long break. I didn’t think about it or work on it for months. As I searched websites and Facebook groups, I found that many people do this: put their book away for a while. I also found that, like me, people begin to think they are not good enough to write a book.

I was constantly thinking about that. I mean, who am I? I had some college credits, but did not finish and get a degree. I had a good handle on grammar, spelling, punctuation, and related matters. If I didn’t know something, I researched it until I understood it. But am I good enough to write a book? The guy who critiqued my first 5,000 pages didn’t think so. Bummer!

This is where I’ll end my post. I hope you got some information from it that will help you on your writing journey. Know that it is very common for writers to feel unworthy and put their work away for months at a time. Even Stephen King admitted he put some of his books away for long periods.

I’m here to tell you that writing can be a hard job, so you shouldn’t feel down on yourself or defeated. Keep writing. I did, and it's been good for me; I’ve learned so much through the process. In fact, I think the breaks I took were the best thing for me. It gave me perspective and then encouragement to keep at it.

Keep writing. Unite with other writers. It is great to have a community to encourage us.

Take care,

Wendy

Hiya, Readers and Kindred Spirits! Welcome to my debut newsletter, Creators Unite.

I’m so eager to connect with people on Substack and share my journey into the nail-biting world of starting and running a viable career as a writer. First, here’s my bio: Wendy Patterson.

Meet the Creator Behind the Words

I am a 60-something woman who has three sons and two grandsons. Yep, I’m a Grammy, and I love it! I swear I can feel my soul soaring whenever I’m playing with those guys.

I’m newly divorced after 36 years of marriage, and yes, it was traumatic; the operative word is “was”. I’m so over it now and realize that putting my energy into a new venture is far more productive than lamenting what should be and isn’t.

I recently completed the final edit on my debut novel, Surfacing. It is a coming-of-age romance that I’m going to self-publish through Draft2Digital. I’m super proud of it. I’ll let you know when it’s available.

When I’m not writing or playing with the kiddos, I love to be in or near the water. I like to fish, poke around in creeks for crayfish and cool-looking rocks, kayak, and swim. I live in Pennsylvania, where nature abounds, so I spend as much time as possible indulging in the peace and renewal that nature provides.

I love animals of all kinds, no matter whether they have fur, fins, scales, or feathers (however, I’m quite partial to the furry kind). My bestie is a cat named Chippy, although he does get on my last nerve when he walks across my keyboard.

I’m a proud member of Gen X, and yes, I grew up on hose water and enjoyed a childhood with little parental supervision. I have a charming blend of cynicism, sarcasm, and skepticism, as required of a Gen Xer.

My favorite music is rock. Sometimes, the louder the better, which is all the better to sing out loud. My playlist is full of Led Zeppelin, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and my absolute favorite, Pearl Jam.

I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur and had a short run at it as an independent medical transcriptionist. Many of you may have seen ads that say, “become a medical transcriptionist and work from home.” Yup, that was my dream back when my kids were little, and that’s how I started out. I developed my skills and experience to the point where I became a go-to transcriptionist in my area.

One day, out of the blue, I was approached to help set up a medical transcription company from scratch. I was named Operations Manager and worked on all aspects of the business, from setting up the remote transcription software to processing payroll. In two years, the company grew from zero to over $6 million in yearly revenue.

And then burnout hit me like a ton of bricks.

I left the company for the sake of my physical and mental health and spent a year recovering. I worked from home for almost three years, first doing medical transcription and later managing medical transcriptionists across the country and internationally. It was just my luck, though, that at that point, the medical transcription was being outsourced to India and the Philippines. The industry collapsed in the U.S., and I was downsized right out of a job.

That was the beginning of the darkest time in my life. Perimenopause played its wicked game with me (all you perimenopausal women and the men who love them know what I’m talking about). Situations, circumstances, and body chemistry conspired against me to add major depression to the free-for-all being waged upon me.

Then, my husband left me, and we eventually divorced.

Fortunately, I was able to pull myself up from the depths with medication, therapy, and an intensive 10-week course through a company named Rebuilders International, LLC. They provide group counseling on rebuilding a better life and a more positive mindset after divorce. I can truly say this course saved me, and I’ll be forever grateful for their insights and coaching.

My Newsletter Mission: Create, Inspire, Transform

I began rebuilding my life by completing a story I’d had in mind since I was a teenager. Becoming a published author had also been a dream of mine, but raising three boys was so chaotic and expensive that I could not pursue that dream until now.

I began writing the story that became Surfacing and found that I didn’t want to do anything else but write. I had to make myself eat, sleep, and do chores, and then reward myself by allowing myself to sit, uninterrupted, and write. Over 18 months, I wrote three full-length novels.

I’ve always been an avid reader, both for pleasure and for education. Before the internet and cell phones, I spent hours at the library researching things I wanted to learn more about and even more hours at home reading both fiction and nonfiction.

Once I got a cell phone that could access the internet, I was attached to it 24/7/365. I had become so attached to my phone that I even named it Phoney (I know, I’m such a geek).

After writing the three novels, I devoured as much info about becoming a published author as I could ingest daily. I found a disturbing recurring theme in the information about becoming a published author, though; only a very small percentage of authors become published. Of those who do, only an even smaller percentage of them actually make the kind of money you can pay some bills with. The infinitesimally smallest percentage gets what we would call “rich” from their books (James Patterson, I’m talking about you, Sir).

Bummer!

I didn’t let those sad statistics deter me. I spent months learning how to write the type of query letter that no agent could resist, only to conclude that the likelihood of an unknown author having their book published by a traditional publishing company was about the same as when chickens get teeth. OK, it’s not THAT unlikely, but it is damn near impossible.

I put my dreams of becoming a published author away for months because I was so disheartened. In the meantime, I still needed to earn money. Speaking of chickens, I’m no spring chicken myself, and time seemed to be slipping away too rapidly to sit back and do nothing. No one would hire me for a regular job due to my age and the huge gap in my job history, which was due to the depression. The divorce settlement was favorable to me in that I was able to continue living in the house I’d lived in for 30 years and receive alimony that covered my fixed bills, almost. I needed to make more money.

I could not get out of my head that I had it in me to create and grow a writer’s business that would pay me more than alimony and set me up for my retirement. (Shh—don’t tell anyone that I have next to no money set aside for retirement; bad financial planning, I know). I began hearing about this so-called “Creator’s Economy,” and the growth estimated to occur was astounding. I had to get in on it.

I had been experimenting with writing on Medium and attempting to take on freelance jobs through a company that shall remain nameless due to the exceptionally bad experiences I had with scammers posing as legitimate employers. Nothing was working out in my favor despite the months of work I put into it.

Then Substack walked into my life (queue the angelic chorus and parting clouds).

I studied Substack and what I needed to do to start writing on the platform.

First, I needed to find my niche. I read that phrase so much everywhere that seeing it in my own writing almost makes me cringe. As you have seen from my bio, I’m into a lot of things, and I didn’t even write about ALL my interests. I realized that at the core of my interests is making money from my writing. I liked the community I began to see on Substack, and really liked the idea of forming a “creators” community where we can all learn from each other, support each other, encourage each other when we fail, and applaud each other when we succeed. Once I decided on a name (admittedly with the help of AI), Creators Unite was born.

Join Me on My Journey

This is where you come in. I have made my newsletter and posts free to subscribers as I begin this process, so anyone can follow along. I invite you to subscribe so you won’t miss the steps I’ve taken and will take to grow my business. I’m committed to revealing everything, and that means the good, the bad, and yes, the ugly. If anything, subscribing will help you avoid FOMO (fear of missing out).

Just click on the “Subscribe” button, and you’ll be in on the ground floor and can follow everything as it is unveiled. I plan to use Substack to its fullest extent, including Notes, Chat, and Live streaming. I look forward to collaborating with my subscribers and recommending them to help them grow their Substacks.

I’m open to questions, comments, and DMs about everything, so don’t be afraid to contact me.

I’m so excited to begin this journey with the support of the Substack community. Even before I had my Substack site set up, I was connecting with other Substackians (that’s a new word, what do you think about it?) and was surprised by the positive interactions and offers to help me that I encountered. It is unlike any other platform I’ve experienced on the internet.

I believe I’m home!

Stay wild, keep writing, and UNITE!

Wendy