Almost three years ago my friends asked, “What are you going to do when your retire? You’re only sixty.”

         My response was, “I’m just getting started and I need time to follow my other passions, writing, yoga and swimming.”  Having worked in the busy and chaotic transplant world for thirty-five years, I was never bored for a minute. No amount of money could give me the satisfaction I felt when I participated on a team that provided the gift of life to one of our patients.

         Witnessing first-hand when a mother is given the news that her son has had a tragic accident and then asking her if she would consider donating his organs was as real as life gets. I spoke with those parents, brothers, and sisters and was repeatedly inspired by their courage and willingness to donate their loved ones’ organs in the most painful hours of their lives. Those donor families will always hold a special place in my heart. They inspired me to new levels of generosity and continue to inspire me to this day.

         Watching the organ recipients go from death’s door to healthy, energetic lives was witnessing a miracle. These brave people instilled a lust for life in me that makes me grateful each and every day for my health.

         If I wanted to sit back, eat bon–bons and watch I Love Lucy every day after retirement, my permission slip was signed. I had worked hard. I might have felt entitled to lazy days ahead.  Then I remembered something my mother said to me long ago, “You don’t retire from something, you retire to something.”

         My busy work life—while satisfying and fulfilling—had denied me the time to pursue other passions. I started thinking about what I was retiring to. Rather than retire from transplant, I decided to retire to trying my hand at writing a transplant murder mystery. I had been writing creatively for over fifteen years. Thanks to Brooke Warner as my writing coach I self-published a memoir, Aunt Mary’s Guide to Raising Children the Old Fashioned Way in 2009.  My mother was still living during my book tours and came with me to the events. I watched the look of pride she wore when introducing me at each event, sharing with the entire audience that I was conceived in a hospital bed in our living room when she had polio. Watching the expressions on people’s faces as she casually mentioned this tidbit made anything I would say pale by comparison.

         While working, to both keep my creative juices flowing and to manage my stress levels, with Brooke’s coaching again, I outlined a medical murder mystery entitled CUT, which I planned to write post retirement. It brought me a secret satisfaction that I could deal with frustrating situations in my demanding work life by killing folks off in my fiction. Though set in the serious and highly ethical real—and in my fiction, the sometimes corrupt—world of organ transplant, I’ve also tried to bring my sense of humor to the story. I studied improv at Second City in Chicago many years ago and enjoyed comedy. Don’t worry; if and when I kill people in my writing, I make sure to use all of their organs and tissues. After all of those years in the field, I couldn’t bear to think of doing anything else, even in my fiction.

Once my manuscript of CUT was accepted by She Writes Press,I was fortunate enough to work with Annie Tucker as a developmental and copy editor, what a gift she is. Now my debut novel CUT is coming out on April 11, 2017 and I couldn’t be more excited. I planned to release it in the month of April as that is organ & tissue donation awareness month. I invite you to read a teaser chapter of CUT on my website – www.amyspeele.com

I started the second book in this mystery series entitled, SELECTION, slated for a SWP 2018 fall release. I couldn’t be more grateful and honored be part of the talented
SWP sisterhood.