When you get to the end of your rope - tie a knot and hang on.

That's a familiar, often-used saying tossed out to people who are going through a difficult time. However, in the case of Erin Zweigart, the same line could be altered to read: When you get to the end of your rope � write a book.

To say the personable Zweigart has lived a lot in her 30 years would be an understatement.

Raised in tiny Evansville in Randolph County, Zweigart was a Republican precinct committeewoman when she was only 19 years old and made a highly publicized - but unsuccessful - run for Congress in 2004, challenging longtime incumbent U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello.

Despite operating a lightly funded grassroots campaign, Zweigart garnered 82,000 votes (30 percent) from the sprawling 12th Congressional District.

And in between her stint as a precinct committeewoman and her run for Congress, Zweigart also found time to obtain an associate's degree at Belleville Area College (now Southwestern Illinois College), a bachelor's degree at Southern Illinois University and a law degree from Western State University in California. Along with passing the bar exam in California, she also passed in Illinois. Zweigart was only 27 when she challenged Costello.

After the election loss, Zweigart said she decided it was time to embark on a career and put her education to work, but she soon found that task was easier said than done.

"I started looking for jobs, and I thought that after running for office, it would be easy and something would come along," Zweigart said. "I was sending out resumes in St. Louis and Chicago and even locally, and all I got was a stack of rejection letters. I had a friend help me rewrite my resume, and I sent it out again and got another stack of rejection letters."

With daily living expenses and sizeable student loans to repay, Zweigart soon fell on difficult financial times.

"I started applying for jobs that were not law-related and I just couldn't find a job. I ended up selling my car, and I was riding a bicycle," she said. "I had creditors calling me every day. In the summer of 2005, I really hit a low point where I wondered if I was ever going to find any work."

Zweigart said a conversation she had with herself during that same time period changed her direction.

"One day I was walking to my grandma's to get my bike and I just said, 'Lord this really sucks; I don't know what's going on here; I've taken the risks and walked by faith and I should be excelling and here I am riding a bicycle,'" she said.

"I thought maybe I just don't know how to capitalize off of my credentials. Then I had a thought, maybe I should sell my identity on eBay. I started laughing to myself, because people steal identities all the time, so why can't I sell mine? I have a law degree and a license in two states, some name recognition through politics which should be worth some money."

She explained her far-out idea to her dad and he agreed that it was funny and told her she should "write it down." Two weeks later and, according to Zweigart, after much prayer, she had written the book entitled "Identity Crisis."

"I just sat down and started writing and I actually finished the book in about two weeks," she said. "The main character in the book, Courtney Alexander, has my background and is modeled loosely after me. She has my background and shares the same experiences. It only made sense to do that, otherwise how would a person get to the point that they wanted to sell their identity?"

Zweigart would not divulge the ending of the book but said she was even "shocked" herself by the ending. Zweigart is also now employed by Hickey College, a business college in St. Louis. The writing bug has also bitten Zweigart, who is now working on a sequel to "Identity Crisis."

"I can see a whole series of books coming out of this," she said.

writeon1@shawneelink.net

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