I am often asked this. I started in 2003. I was still working with a husband and two boys, a grown daughter and a new granddaughter.
I started with Sci-fi because I read mostly this genre. I wanted to write since school but the excuses got in my way, and I had many. 1. Laptop and 2. Decided that a novel is nothing more than a bunch of short stories on the same subject. ie, chapters.
My first book is post apocalyptic and the main character reads a short story that I wrote in high school. Many have commented on this.
I am back to this series and am writing book six.