GAZELLE MAGAZINE AUGUST 2018 | Page 83

“When my daughters graduated from high school, we sent them to Australia to live with my family,” Simcoke said. “They got jobs - Alex was there for seven months, Jessie was there for three months. I wanted them to see Australian culture. It was my heritage, it’s part of who they are.” As for herself, Simcoke plans a trip Down Under when she turns 50 next year. “I went there for my sister’s wedding in my 20s. I just remember that everything looked smaller to me - when I was a child, everything looked big,” she recalled. “I want to visit the Commercial, it will evoke so many memories, just walking around.” In the meantime, she is already making plans for her next big project. “I’d love for 'The Distance Between Us' to be a movie. I’m also thinking about a sequel,” she said. “At first, I was really nervous about putting myself out there. The biggest challenge was finding the right self-publishing company. But after years of research, I was fortunate to find my editor, Andrew Doty, right here in St. Louis. And he put me in contact with Peggy Nehman, who did an outstanding job of designing the cover. I’m so grateful for both of them.” But even before she set out to publish a book, Simcoke said the encouragement of family and friends went a long way. “Just start writing - the only thing stopping you is you. As time passes, your writing will improve, and your story will evolve,” she said.“In my 30s, my sister gave me a purple notebook. I was raising my family and working full-time, so I would write here and there. I was writing just for me. I thought that it would be a dream come true if I ever got published. I would sit for hours, and the words would spill onto the page. There was a story in my mind … the story of Olivia as a child, but I didn’t know which direction I was going to take with it.” Simcoke said she wrote her first book using pen and paper, not from beginning to end, but by writing chapters and piecing them together. “The book’s epilogue was in the purple notebook,” she said. “But there are so many notebooks now.” SAVVY I SOPHISTICATED I SASSY 81