There’s an article in today’s Mercury News about a local writer who did what I always thought I would do but haven’t yet (registration required—try Bugmenot if you hate registration):
Lolly Winston’s dream came true.
Her first novel, “Good Grief,” is a bestseller. Lately, life’s been “a surreal string of good news,” she says. But before that, she was living a Silicon Valley nightmare.
The Los Gatos writer always dreamed of writing a novel by 40. So she quit her other jobs to finish the book she’d been working on parttime for four years.
Then the bubble burst. Her husband’s software company went bust. They were paying the mortgage with a home-equity loan. The credit card was maxed. Her stepdad died. Her brother drowned.
“It was kind of scary,” Winston says of trying to finish the book in the face of financial and emotional hardship. Once done, she found an agent who secured a book deal. “It was like winning the lottery to sell the book.”
The novel is the sometimes painful, sometimes humorous tale of a young Silicon Valley widow. After her software engineer husband dies, she suffers a breakdown at her PR job, showing up for work in her robe and slippers. She moves to Ashland, Ore., and rebuilds her life.
“Good Grief” is No. 14 on the New York Times bestseller list. Reviews have been good (“Bridget Jones meets Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.”).
You know what? It’s nice to know that it can be done. For those times when I’m not so certain.