Hi Writers,
I've been attending a lot of writing conferences recently and in listening to keynote speeches I've noticed an odd correlation in the first-published stories of many writers.

Just off the top of my head, I can name three bestselling authors who cite being fired as the impetus to write and sell their first book.

• Lee Child lost his job with the BBC and soon after wrote and sold his first Jack Reacher novel.

• Sandra Brown wrote her first novel after being fired from her TV reporter position.

• Laurell K. Hamilton was downsized from her job with IBM when she decided to give the writing thing a real crack.

Anyway, don't go off and tell your boss off, this is merely an unscientific observation, but I have started to wonder if "fired" leads to "inspired." What do you think?

Keep Writing,
Maria