Throughout her life, Charlotte Brummett has held a variety of jobs- from being a cashier to an assistant in a dental lab- always on her feet and on the go. But all that changed on Jan. 15, 2003 at 4:02pm., when the Bellville resident was unceremoniously swept off her feet into a wheelchair, after sustaining serious injuries from an automobile accident along HWY 290 near Brenham. And while the effects of the accident forced her to give up the career she had previously known, she forged a new path, recounting the experience in the book, "Where there's a will, there's a way: My Life Struggle," set to be released on Sept. 27 by Publish America.

"I wrote the book so that everybody would know what to expect if they ever had an accident like I had," she said. Traveling home from work, Brummett looked down for a breif second to make sure the ashes from her cigarette had made their way into her car's ash tray. When she looked back up, a suburban had moved in front of her in the left lane, where it had come to a complete stop. Panicking, she looked in the right lane, where there was a car directly beside her. A concrete barrier directly to her left made it immpossible to avoid the harrowing accident that ensude. "I closed my eyes and started counting," Brummett said. "I got to two and said, "Oh my GOD," and that's when I hit him. She sustained serious injuries, with the dash board caving in and crushing her right leg, which later had to amputated. The seatbelt to catch her and the air bag was late in deploying. When it finally did deploy, Brummett's head had already hit the steering wheel, and the air bag severly injuried her scalp and head.

"I pretty much knew I wasn't going to die," Brummett said of the moment she came to after the accident. "I was just in a lot of pain."  When she looked up, trapped inside the twisted wreckage of her vehicle, the driver of the Suburban was in front of his car and the white car previously on her right was long gone. "He didn't even see if I was OK or anything," Brummett said. After being transported to a local hospital, the work of rehabilitation began. Ste stayed there for about seven days before being released. Now, along the regular body pains and getting used to being confined to a wheelchair, she also avoids driving long distances. "I just want people to know that they really can't count on anybody but themselves," she said. "It doesn't help to get depressed or give up."

To this day, she believes the accident was an insurance scam. In the end, she had to pay for all damages the Suburban sustained, along with her own medical expenses. "Part to her pen name for the book, Texas Tornado EF5, comes from her experence warding off daily calls from bill collectors," she said. "Look, I'm a Texas Tornado EF5,that's the worst kind, and I'm fixing to come tear you up, so leave me alone." The other part of her pen name, Midnight Star, which she has always liked the sound of, comes from her early days writingpoetry about heartbreak and unrequited love. After marrying her husband of 20 years, David Stull, her writing days were over, in large part because she was happy, and didn't have any heartbreak to write about. While devastating, the accident brought her back to her passion for the art form. "I just figured that everything in life happens for a reason," she said. "GOD has His plan for me.People should deal with the cards as they've been dealt and just go on. Don't mope about it. Figure out what you can do and what you can't do." Brummett is in the process of organizing local book signing events, with her book set to be released on Sept. 27. Readers can find it online at www.publishamerica.com, using the ISBN   number

1-60836-723-1