Lorraine Reguly- Listen to her journey from Nope to Hope!

Lorraine Reguly (1971-) was born and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. By age 4, Lorraine was reading, and by age 6, writing in cursive. In Grade 8, she was valedictorian. She quit high school four times, after being raped at the end of her first year. She was a still a virgin and was completely devastated. She used drugs as a coping mechanism and became promiscuous. She became a single mom at age 18, returned to school, and graduated with honours, winning several scholarships and awards. Lorraine sought counselling, finally telling someone about what had happened to her. She became a certified high school Mathematics and English teacher in 1999. She taught for several years. In 2005, she was in an accident in which she nearly lost her right leg. Throughout her life, Lorraine has had her share of problems. She has done drugs, earned money through prostitution, suffered discrimination due to her half-Spanish son, and had suicidal thoughts for years. She attempted suicide once, and has been the victim of depression, too. A major turning point of her life occurred when Lorraine’s appendix burst and she nearly died. She re-connected with her son, and began blogging a few months later, in January 2013. She began a freelance writing and editing business in 2014, and started to take her writing seriously. Lorraine won the only short story contest she ever entered, and became a contributor to a memoir anthology. She is also a contributing author to a short story anthology. In 2014, Lorraine self-published her first book of short stories, Risky Issues, and has plans for many more books, including an autobiographical memoir series and a collection of letters she wrote to her son. She also plans to write and publish different works of fiction, including a suspense novel and an erotica novella series. Lorraine blogs at Wording Well (which offers writing, freelancing, and blogging tips to others) and Laying It Out There (where she shares personal stories, book reviews, author interviews, and other things – such as information related to self-publishing. Lorraine also writes poetry, which she shares on this site. Lorraine loves reading murder mysteries, playing cards, spending time with her family, and shooting pool (playing billiards). She likes cats – even though she's allergic to them – and dislikes snow and cold weather. One day, she hopes to live near a beach so she can go swimming every day when she's not relaxing in a hammock!