When I decided to write a book, I looked for help. I turned to an online writers' programs. I applied to UCLA's Writers' Program Online and took classes offered through Writers' League of Texas. I will talk about that experience in a later post. For now, let's just talk about the importance of reading. 

Reading is a writer's foundation. Remembering back to my childhood, I can still sense the magic of reading. I know that sounds cliché because everyone says it. You know what they say, "You open a book, and voilá, you are transported to a different time and place!" Kind of magical what our brains are able to accomplish with imagination.

When I was in third grade, our teacher would take us to the library and tell us to pick out a book. Naturally, I looked to the book shelves that were just my height. There, I spotted a big, fat book called Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, which by the way, was first published in 1868. So there I was in 1969, a little Catholic, Lat...