Ever since I turned sixteen, I've been working and those experiences have led me to some very interesting characters. I've worked in many fields with job titles such as waitress, bartender, hostess, bank teller, hospital bill collector, dishwasher, Blockbuster peon, nurse's aide, Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN), Registered Nurse (RN), and massage therapist. None of those jobs were as difficult as making myself sit down and write a book in order to become a writer with a finished product.

I know people talk about being a writer and how great that must be to set your own hours. The problem with that, your characters arrive at all times of the day or night so actually, the story controls you. Then you have to shuffle that with work, husband, house, kids, errands, the toilet backing up, and you find out quite quickly, it takes a huge amount of discipline, coffee, chocolate, and many inspiring stories on Oprah to keep the creative spirit alive and flowing.

I was blessed from the beginning with my the art of weaving a good tale. My creativity is inherited. I come from a long line of storytellers (or BS artists, depending on the story). My great-grandmother was one of the best and she could tell you the most incredible tales of her life. I can't tell you if all of it was true, but it didn't matter. The way she told it had a lasting impact on me. Then she passed the talent to her daughter, my grandmother, and then she passed it to my father and his siblings. I'm hoping I've inherited the "storytelling" gene well enough to keep you intrigued from the first line to the last word.

Now, here's a little bit about me. I was born in the late sixties, in Austin, Texas just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the University of Texas Campus, home of the Texas Longhorns. My parents were young, excited parents who encouraged my creative spirit. I'm sure there were some days they regretted that parenting choice, but it gave me the great chance to use my imagination and somehow, tuck all these stories away in my skull for future use.

After earning my nursing degree and working in the ICU, CCU, Cardiac ICU, Adult and Pediatric ER, I woke up one day to find I had turned into a "burned out old trauma nurse" at the young age of thirty. I decided it was time for a change. Off to school I went to earn a journalism degree and enter the field of the freelance/fulltime writer.

At the time, I lived in Irving, Texas and just a street over was North Lake College. When I went there to sign up for classes, I noticed a posting stating I could earn school credit as I wrote for the school paper. "Well," I thought. "That'll be an easy 'A' because I know how to write." Turns out, I didn't know how to write. I could save your life if you came into the ER when I was working but I couldn't write well at all. I had the great fortune of meeting Kathleen Stockmeier, the student instructor for the News-Register at North Lake College. She critiqued my first submission by painting it red with errors. Instead of running the other direction in defeat, I thought it had to be the best advice I'd ever been given. It made me hungry for more instruction and knowledge on how to write a great story.

About the same time, I met my husband and a year to the day of our first date, we married and soon after, moved to St. Louis for his job. I completed my journalism degree at Washington University and had the great pleasure of taking classes from incredible instructors such as Emmy-winning Ava Ehrlich, Advertising Extraordinaire-Del Schwinke, and Pulitzer-Prize Winner Repps Hudson. 

When I told my parents I had ventured into the writing world, they couldn't have been happier for two reasons. One, I wasn't living at home anymore and secondly, I was married to a wonderful man. Basically, they didn't have to worry about paying for the "starving artist" and that made them quite pleased

Not long after I earned my journalism degree, I started writing "Worth the Weight". The idea came to me years ago. It started in college when I overheard a couple of girls in my dorm, screaming at each other. I found out later these former best friends no longer talked to each other because one lost over seventy pounds and the other had not. I couldn't tell you if they ever reconciled because the one who did not lose the weight, quit school and moved home. The event stayed with me for so many years and it made me wonder when you improve yourself, what happens to the people around you who are used to the old you?

Worth the Weight is a story of empowering yourself and everything that goes with it, good and bad. No matter how or when you decide to take control of your life and make those necessary changes to make you a better and happier person, the world as you know it will also make adjustments. You may find yourself wanting to fall back into unhealthy habits or bad relationships or simply not take care of yourself anymore. Before you do, think about what you want. This isn't a free pass to leave your family to try your luck in Hollywood, but I hope you find Megan's journey an inspiring one and maybe it'll be the kick you need to make your life your own.

Many blessings,

Patricia

Please let me hear from you and the amazing changes you've made in your life! patricia@patriciawfischer.com