Dr. Eddra Marchand fell in

love with writing at a very young age.

As the youngest of four children growing up in New Orleans, Marchand would

spend lots of time composing poetry. Though the passion was always there,

the writing ebbed when she attended Xavier University for her undergraduate

work and stopped completely when she attended Emory University for medical

school and performed her residency for three years after that.

Eventually, the skeleton for a story started forming and, as she took

maternity leave after the birth of her daughter, Mallory, Marchand began

writing the book that would become her debut novel, "Balancing Acts,"

at every chance she had.

"It became an addiciton of sorts," said Marchand. "It was

either write or sleep while she was napping and I often chose writing."

It took Marchand four years to complete the book and get it published,

which meant that she had another maternity leave after her son, Zachary,

was born to use to work on writing and publishing the novel.

"Balancing Acts" is about a single woman's journey to self-discovery.

Cassandra Nicholas is doing well professionally but not personally and

she is rapidly approaching the age of 35, when it is more likely that

she will die in a plane crash than get married. Through a series of events,

she evolves into a person at peace with being herself.

Marchand cites authors Bebe Moore Campbell and E. Lynn Harris among her

influences, as well as local author Ferrol Sams Sr., who gave her some

signed copies of his books and showed her that she could be both a doctor

and a successful author.

Though nothing in the book is directly related to the medical field, Marchand

feels that going through the grueling process of medical school and residency

gave her the discipline to complete the project. It may have also helped

her when it came to publishing the book. She sent letters out to a number

of big publishers and, while the feedback was positive, there was no movement.

That is when she and her husband, Norbert, decided to form their own publishing

company, MZV Publishing, and get the book released.

"The ultimate goal is to help all writers get their talents out there,"

said Marchand. "But we have to get this project off the ground first."

The project is getting there. She recently held a reading and book signing

for "Balancing Acts" and the book is available at www.mzvpublishing.com

and will soon be available on Amazon.com. Family and friends are helping

market the book in Philadelphia and New Orleans, and Marchand will have

a book signing at the Barnes and Noble in Fayetteville Nov. 22 at noon

before heading to New Orleans for the Bayou Classic and participating

in a signing there.

Marchand's advice for aspiring authors is to stick with it and to

get as much feedback as possible. She not only had family and friends

read and critique her work while writing it, she also had a focus group

of nine people from different backgrounds give their opinions throughout

the process. Marchand also joined some Internet writing groups and got

lots of good feedback and advice.

Looking back on the process, Marchand feels that it was very organic and

that the novel evolved daily. She had the skeleton of the book very early

on and knew what some of the big scenes would be. Her biggest challenges

were from getting from point A to point B and then having to re-read almost

the entire book every time she sat down to write more. The good news is

that she already has the skeleton of the sequel down and plans to start

writing it after the new year.

"I will get into the grind again," said Marchand. "I can

feel it approaching. However, if maternity leave is required for Book

II, there won't be one."

For more information on "Balancing Acts," and her company, visit

www.mzvpublishing.com.