Former Lockhart resident Dilsa Saunders Bailey says she wishes she could remember the name of the substitute teacher who unknowingly put her on the road to being an author when she was in the eighth grade.

“He gave me an A-plus on a short story,” she said. “I started writing as a hobby.”

That hobby has led to the publishing of her first novel, “Dreams Thrown Away.” It is the story of a young southern girl faced with life-changing choices after her parents’ tragic deaths. The journey of the young woman takes her to the Northeast where life is hard, fast and destructive. She lands in Philadelphia with nothing but a suitcase and a dream of an Ivy League education, wealth and love. She finds all three, but she has to make some tough life or flight choices in the process.

Mrs. Bailey, who now lives in the Atlanta area, is the daughter of Gladys and Robert Saunders and grew up in Lockhart in the home of her grandparents, Robin and Pearline Lucas. She attended elementary school in Adamsburg and graduated from Lockhart High School in 1973. After high school she went to New Jersey where she went to college at Temple University and Kean University. She then went to work for IBM in Philadelphia as an account administrator. For the past 20 years she has worked in healthcare. She is director of Medical Staff Services at South Fulton Medical Center and is a licensed real estate saleswoman. She and her husband of 30 years, James, have two daughters — Kristina and Lisa — who are college students.

Mrs. Bailey said she has been writing since she was 13, but lost some of the material she created each time she moved. Last year, she found a book she had saved in a binder in her basement storage. She recreated it and it became the basis for “Dreams Thrown Away.”

“I started it in December and finished it in April,” she said. “I had never given up on writing, but you know how life just takes over.”

Her book was published by Outskirts Press on Aug. 14.

She is the former vice president of education for a local toastmasters International Chapter, the Victory voices of Vision Club held at Victory Baptist Church in Stone Mountain. She was Toastmaster of the Year for 2007. In her spare time, she enjoys reading fiction and self-help books, writing speeches and traveling. Her next speaking engagement is in October at a National Association of Medical Staff Services Conference to be held in Reno, Nev. She hopes to travel to Lockhart for the Oct. 10 Lockhart High School reunion.

Mrs. Bailey blogs about self-publishing on her website, www.simplydilsa.com and promotes her book on www.dilsasaundersbailey,com where an excerpt of her novel can be read. Her book is available on www.Amazon.com or can be ordered by local bookstores at www.outskirtpress.com/buybooks.