Turning Dreams into Drafts: How I got where I am today as an author.

Greetings readers! I am excited to write my first blog as an author and get my official author website launched! I have been working on Unspoken Legends for almost two years now, but remember how it all started like it was yesterday! It was the night of January 5th, 2023 and I was wide awake in bed, having woken from yet another bazaar dream. This one involved werewolves, warlocks and other magical people. In particular, two characters were stuck in my head and I couldn't stop thinking about them and their story.

When I crawled out of bed the morning of January 6th, I already had an outline of the start of a story in my head. I looked at my husband and said, "I have another idea for a great book. This time I am actually going to write it! And I'm not going to stop until it's done!"

Exactly 2 months, 3 weeks and 3 days later, my house lay in absolute ruins of despair as I typed the words "The End" on my first draft of Unspoken Legends. By this point, I had already researched how to get published, how to query agents, and had joined writing groups and online querying sites. I thought I was ready to rock! Boy was I wrong!

After some rejections, I got advice on how to make my novel better and more marketable to both readers and agents. Rather than feeling rejected, defeated or insulted (I mean, my story is fantastic, after all!), I took in every bit of advice as priceless treasure to improve every day. (I will share the best bits of advice in another blog later).

As draft 1 became draft 2, and draft 2 became draft 3, and draft 4 saw some huge changes, I became antsy to at least start promoting. Ironically, one of my coworkers just announced that he would be teaching a class on how to build a website for small businesses! (Shout out to Brent!) This seemed like the perfect avenue for promoting! And bonus, when I'm ready to query again, I can share the link for my website to agents!

So that is where I am today, a gorgeous, sunny September 26, 2024: nose deep in edit round 4, and ready to launch my author website! Thanks to all the people who got me this far, including my husband, Kevin, Robin, Sam, Roxie, Emily, and Brent!

P.S. The condition of my house still hasn't recovered. Maybe when I finally get my book on shelves I can afford a maid!