“Mom, I’m going to die,” I whispered faintly to my Mother.

“No, you aren’t!” She encouraged.

As I lay on my death bed at close to 300 pounds, with heaps of health problems, having surgery after surgery, I thought I would die.

So many times as I literally fought for my life, I gave up hope of ever seeing my writing dreams come true. But my Mom kept pushing me to keep fighting and I’m glad I did. Mom was right, I didn’t die.

Not only did I live, though, I now have such compelling stories about my journey from near death to living a beautiful life, that my writing is really taking off.

My inspirational stories have been published on various websites. Several upcoming anthologies include personal, encouraging stories of mine and my hometown newspaper publishes my motivational articles almost every week. Many of the stories I’m selling are about my triumph over obesity!

I’m alive and I’m walking (and a lot slimmer!) and my writing dreams are being fulfilled. I draw from those difficult experiences I struggled through and find the inspiration in them and I share it with my readers.

Writing, obesity, and I go hand in hand because I’ve been extremely ill and I’ve fought the never-ending battle with weight. But I’m winning. And the real victory is that now I get to write about it and follow my heart and see my dreams come true.

I’ve now lost over 100 pounds and have begun working on a book about it. I will share the valleys when I walked in darkness and how I reached the mountaintop where I stand today.

We all have trials and valleys in our life, whether it be health, finances, a bad marriage, or tragedy. Write about it. Put your heart, pain, and joys on paper. Bring your readers through that event with you. Let them feel your heartache, almost touch your hot tears. Make their heart skip a beat of hope with the last sentence you write. You will be glad you did. Stories from the heart, with real emotion, that come to life, are the very stories that sell– It is how I’ve found writing success!

Michele L. Tune’s inspirational articles have been published on websites such as spiritledwriter.com, medhunters.com, and write-from-home.com. Her encouraging stories are included in upcoming anthologies such as True Real Estate Stories and Christmas Memories.

She contributes often to her hometown newspaper, The Prospect-News, and receives positive feedback about how her inspiring words have helped her readers make it through a difficult day.

Michele is currently writing her first book about her struggle with illness and obesity and how she took the pounds off in a healthy way. Through this book, she hopes to lead her readers through her personal journey as well as help them achieve their own weight loss success.

Visit her new blog: https://writingthecyberhighway.blogspot.com/