When One Door Closes, Another One Opens

When my mother was alive she would often say, “cuando una puerta se cierra, otra se abre”. In English, this popular phrase translates, “when one door closes, another one opens”, and that is just what happened to me a few years ago.

I have been an educator for over twenty-five years, and in the fall of 2017 I was beginning my eighth year as superintendent of schools at a school district. Shortly after the school year started, the majority of the school board and I agreed that it was time for new leadership. We worked out a financial agreement and I was released from my three year contract.

As I took some time to transition into a new phase in my life, I came across a short story I had written in a Texas Tech creative writing class 25 years earlier. The professor had graded my work and left the parting comment, “this would a great first chapter to a novel”.

I stopped rummaging through drawers for a minute and quickly skimmed through the short story. I set it aside and continued with my winter cleaning.

Early the next morning, I sat down and took time to read the short story over breakfast and reviewed the feedback I was given. Throughout the day, my professor’s comments echoed in my mind – haunting and challenging me to finish what I had started so many years ago. That evening, I opened my laptop and began to outline The Valiente Series. Initially, the series was going to be a trilogy, but as I continued to create storylines and different characters it developed into a six book series.

Over the next 18 months, I wrote almost every day and completed the first three books. Still, I was very hesitant to have anyone read them. The fear that what I had to say would not resonate with anyone was very real. However, after a little prodding, I allowed a few of my family members read my work.

It was my family’s encouragement and belief in my writing, their enthusiasm for the series, and their genuine love for the characters I have created, that lead me to pursue publication.

Courage and Consequences (Book 1) and Tattoos and Temptations (Book 2) were released this past spring. Flames and Fury (Book 3) will be released later this month.

I completed Book 4 this summer, and I have outlined Book 5. My goal is to have them ready by winter.

I have enjoyed exploring my creativity through writing, and I am having fun. I guess mother knows best…