Canyon County author Catherine Bybee was once an emergency room nurse at Henry Mayo hospital. She says her new career as novelist isn’t quite as messy.

“This is a lot cleaner and I don’t have to touch bodily fluids anymore, which is kind of nice,” said Bybee (a nom de plume).

A work related injury five years ago (She hurt her back and shoulder lifting a woman from a wheelchair to a gurney) wheeled her life in a new direction.

“As I was convalescing I spent quite a bit of time writing the first full novel. Then I actually got to the words ‘The End’ and then immediately started my second book which was published,” said Bybee (photo left).

Now, more than merely being published, her novel Wife by Wednesday is a New York Times best selling author, for combined print and e-book fiction.

The New York Times describes the plot of Wife by Wednesday as “A wealthy, titled Englishman who must marry to receive his inheritance offers the American owner of a matchmaking firm $10 million to enter a sham marriage. But will it remain a sham?”

“It’s got some wit and snark and fun. And makes it all fall together so they can have their Happily Ever After,” said Bybee.

That fairy-tale ending is ideal for Bybee who has always been obsessed with romance novels. Even on the ER shifts.

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“Especially as an ER nurse, for so many years, you spend your day and your night oftentimes in very awful situations. So when I open up a book I want to escape,” said Bybee.

Now as an author, Bybee peoples her stories with nurses and doctors since that is what she knows.

“I could take a year of my life, a day in the life of an ER nurse, for a year and come up with ideas that would last me a lifetime to write about,” Bybee said.

However, being a Registered Nurse doesn’t actually qualify one for being a novelist. Did she think she would be good enough?

“Oh, I didn’t. Oh, self-doubt. Ugh, didn’t think I would be,” said Bybee.

With certifiable success Bybee understands a lot more about writing and says there are three things to writing a best selling novel.

1) Simply write a good book. “You have to catch your readers by having a good book,” said Bybee.

2) Cover art makes a big difference. “Most people do judge a book by its cover. So, if the cover looks like garbage chances are you’re not going to pick it up,” Bybee said.

3) Cost. “One of the things that makes things everything really great right now in publishing, especially with electronic publishing, is the cost of electronic books have gone down to nothing,” said Bybee.

For Bybee, perhaps the most important element is to write what you would love to read yourself. That’s why it’s romance for her.

“You still know at the end of the day, when you get to that very last page that two people are going to be committed to each other, there’s a Happily Ever After. You can walk away from that book going “Oh, rainbows and fairy tales.” That’s what I want when I pick up a book. So that’s why I write it,” said Bybee.

Catherine Bybee, the author of Wife by Wednesday, will be at the Canyon Country Library, 18601 Soledad Canyon Road from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 23, 2012. She will speak about publishing, writing e-books, and her newest adult fiction novel, Wife by Wednesday.

Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing.

Visit Bybee’s website by clicking here.