Happy Birthday to my first book, The Shoes Come First. Shoes was my debut novel and my first nail-biting adventure into the writing world. It’s free for the remainder of February. You can find it at the links below.

The first edition of Shoes was released on February 15, 2015, and has had a few revisions along the way. Writing was not my primary profession. In high school, I struggled through English class and my grammar… well, let’s just say thank goodness for Schoolhouse Rock!

I have been a chiropractor and acupuncturist for many years—a profession I love and am dedicated to. I decided to write a book when my middle child got his driver’s license.

Let me explain.

My grandmother was a fretter. She lived about a 2-hour drive from our house. She fretted if my mom, dad, sister, and I didn’t arrive at the agreed-upon time. I mean hand wringing, standing at the window, for sure we had been in a car accident, fretting. We had been mugged when we stopped for gas. We had a flat tire on one country road leading to her house. We hit a cow and ended up injured in a ditch, on and on and on. This was before cell phones, so calling her to say we were running late meant pulling over and paying 25 cents to make a call.

After my first child got her license, my fretting began. I didn’t even realize I was burning the bulb waiting for her to get home. When my second child began driving, I found myself wringing my hands, standing at the window. Where was he? Baseball practice was over hours ago. Then one day, it dawned on me. I was fretting. Just. Like. Grandma.

I sat down and made a list of ways to channel my worry wort of a brain into something that would decrease my fretting. What could possibly turn those creative stories inspired by anxiety and apprehension into something else? Something that would stop my adrenals from pouring cortisol like cake batter into my bloodstream and sticking fat to my hips, butt, and stomach.

That’s when my dad, super storyteller supremo, and embellisher of tall tales, told me the story about Uncle Powderly Formerly. (Yea, that was his name). You see, Uncle Formerly sold mules to Pancho Villa. But before he took the mule train from Fort Worth to meet the infamous outlaw, he fed the mules sodium bicarbonate, a.k.a. Alka Selzer. This puffed up the mules’ bellies and made them look muscular, well-fed, strong.

My creative mind started forming a story about a girl who time-traveled and met Pancho Villa. Instead of standing at the window fretting, I started writing, and I guess that used up all my fretting energy. I was able to control my worrying, reduce my waistline, and let my children drive about town without thinking they were stranded in a ditch.

So that’s it. I thank my children for spiraling me off on this fantastic journey as a writer. And although I still work full time as a chiropractor and acupuncturist, and LOVE, love, love taking care of my patients, I plan to write more Jenifer Cloud books, dip my toe in Romantic Comedy and Women’s fiction. Also, I see at least one book dedicated to the lovely Aint Elma. Because everyone needs an origin story, right?

Thanks for reading!

Share with the fretters in your life who may need a good laugh!