E605 - Jayne Mills - BOTTOM OF THE BREATH - Seeking Answers in The Grand Canyon, Using Our Write Brain

EPISODE 605 - Jayne Mills - BOTTOM OF THE BREATH - Seeking Answers in The Grand Canyon, Using Our Write Brain

Like both my mother and my daughter, I have always loved to read. I also dreamed of writing a book someday. In fact, as a young person, I planned to be a writer by profession.

Life, however, has a way of reminding us that we’re not in charge. In the book, Cyd’s aunt tells her, “Man plans and God laughs.” That has certainly been true in my life. It was a happy accident that I ended up changing my major from journalism to finance. I have enjoyed a long, successful, and rewarding career doing math (which I also love) and working with the best clients anyone could hope for.

In 2019, as I was undergoing chemotherapy treatments and spending lots of time on my sofa, I began writing this book in earnest. I haven’t stopped since.

BOTTOM OF THE BREATH is the result. I took five years to write, and another year to get published. I knew nothing about writing a novel when I began, and it’s a good thing I didn’t know what I didn’t know—otherwise I’m certain I would have never started.

In the course of writing this book and questioning everything from my writing ability to my sanity, I kept coming back to the desire to leave a story for my children and all my readers in which I share some of the lessons I’ve learned in my life—about the importance of family, the absolute necessity of friendship, and the power of forgiveness.

https://www.jaynemills.com/