As an author, one of the most common questions I am asked is “How long have you been writing?” My answer is usually something like, “My whole life,” but that’s not really what people want to know. They want to hear about my journey, how I became a published author.
I have fifteen published books under my belt. The first was published in 2012, but that wasn’t the beginning. I wrote my first book in 2006. Couldn’t find a publisher. Wrote my second book in 2007, which took a couple years to revise and polish. I started submitting it to publishers in 2008. Two years later, I signed my first publishing contract. Nearly two years after that, the book [The Rock of Ivanore, Tanglewood Press] finally came out in 2012.
During the interim years, I kept writing. Book #2 [The Last Enchanter, Tanglewood Press] came out in 2013 with another in 2014 with a different publisher. Then things started going south. My first publisher went on hiatus and announced they were not going to publish the third book in my series. The second publisher just sort of vanished. Fortunately, a third publisher picked up my now orphaned book and republished it [Contact, Evernight Teen]. But I was still stuck with a series installment with no publisher. That’s when my journey changed direction.
Around this time, a friend of mine lost her husband to a sudden illness. She is an amazing sci-fi author but had never published anything, so I founded Skyrocket Press and published her short story collection [Martian Goods, Noelle Campbell]. Since then I’ve published many of my own books and other authors’ books via Skyrocket Press.
Our newest title, The Word and the Struggle by Raymond A. White, is a collection of essays about the Old Testament. I am currently in the process of publishing books three thru six of my fantasy series The Crystal Keeper, which I hope will be out soon.
So that’s it in a nutshell, my author’s journey. Very condensed, I know, but the next time you read a good book, remember that the journey the author followed to get that book into your hands was often a long and difficult one. But I can guarantee that for all of us, it’s been one helluva ride!
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