While some students struggled to balance class, social life and sleep, Laurie Gloyd juggled collegiate obligations with the pursuit of larger goals. 

Gloyd, 43, set out to publish her own book, and she did so as a nursing student, wife and mother of six. The author said she has dreamt of publishing a book since high school.

“At our 25-year high school anniversary, my friend showed me a newspaper where we all said what we wanted to accomplish in 10 years. I was the only one who had done what they said,” Gloyd said. 

Gloyd’s husband of 25 years, Richard, claims she always put the family first, and worked hard to not let her work interfere with her home life.

“It wasn’t a hassle on the family at all, she always put her family first. She would stay up late editing and working on it so that it didn’t interfere,” he said. 

Gloyd fell in love with writing in school, and that love resulted in a novel called, “The Man in the Middle.” The book transpires from the perspective of Jason, a man who is crucified next to Jesus.

“I wrote the book 15 years ago,” she said. “I didn’t have the confidence then to get it published, but the book was never far from my mind. Something kept on telling me to work on the book. So, I started the process to get it published, which took around two years.”

Throughout the entire process, Gloyd never let her studies lack. She made school a priority and wrote in her spare time.

“I did what I needed to do for class, but I also forced myself to write in my spare time,” she said.

Gloyd faced problems when trying to handle the publication process, schoolwork and family. However, she found comfort in prayer and her religion.

“The days when I didn’t turn to the Lord, I felt like I would go insane,” she said. “I tried to have time for God every day to get my thoughts focused. Everything will work out in the eyes of God.” 

Gloyd weathered the stress and remained opportunistic about future writing projects — she planned to release more books in the future. Though she kept her goals in mind, the author said it was hard to devote time to writing.

“It’s hard — I have ideas in mind, and I try to jot some things down, but I graduate with my nursing degree in May and I am devoting a lot of time to my studies right now,” she said.

Gloyd worked hard to manage her time wisely, in order to not sacrifice any aspect of her life for another.

“She’s incredible. She decided to go back to school full time after we had our last child in school,” said Richard Gloyd. “Then she decided to pursue publishing the book.”

However her husband isn’t the only one that has been inspired by Gloyd. 

Sandra Norris, one of Gloyd’s closest friends, attested to the fact that Gloyd was a hard worker.

“She waited so long to publish the book, and she was scared it wasn’t good enough,” Norris said. 

“But she proved that when you have a dream you should just do it. Don’t put it on the back burner. The way she lived her life made me realize I was on the wrong path and she helped me get on the right one.” 

Despite the arduous publication process, Gloyd said she only regrets not putting pen to paper sooner. 

“Don’t give up on your dreams. It took me a long time — I wrote the book 10 years ago,” she said. “But I never gave up. If I had, then none of this would have happened,” she said.