It was a quiet afternoon. I had just
finished about ten pages worth of story and illustrations. Smiling
proudly, I handed them to my mother. “Here, go and get these
published.”
My mom didn't want to disappoint me, so
she agreed. But the truth was, she didn't know anything about the
publishing industry. I didn't either. I was only nine.
In the meantime, I kept writing and
illustrating, hoping that I would be able to publish my books one
day.
When I was fourteen, I had a computer
in my room for the first time. Now I had easy access to learn about
the publishing industry. I opened a search site and typed in “publish
your book”. Several results came up. I was overwhelmed.
After reading the first two sites, I
felt a little sick to my stomach. This was going to be a long,
grueling process. And I might never become an author. That thought
alone terrified me. I decided to write some more and worry about the
research later. I didn't look up publishing again for almost two
years.
When I was sixteen I moved to New Port
Richey, Florida with my family to be closer to my grandmother. My
grandmother, who was an artist herself, saw my raw talent and began
working with me, teaching me art, and giving me constructive
criticism on my stories. We spent a lot of time at the local library.
I delved back into my publishing research. I checked out every book
the library had.
This time I read them all. I learned
that there were many different routes to becoming a published author.
None of them were wrong or bad. All of them had their own trials and
tribulations. I learned about traditional publishing, vanity
publishing, and later POD (print on demand publishing).
I dreamed, I made lists, and I mulled
over the pros and cons of each type of publishing.
When I was nineteen, and barely out of
high school, I finished my first book, Destiny And Faith Go To
Twincentric Academy. Destiny and Faith were based off of two twin
babies I had written about when I was younger (about ten years old)
named Lillian and Filana (Destiny and Faith's middle names are a
tribute to these original characters).
I wasn't ready to publish the
story yet, though. It wasn't ready. I wasn't ready.
I had read that a great start for new
authors was to get a short story published in a magazine. So I
focused on that. I pulled my short story Bristol's Big Wish out and
began cutting the word count until it was acceptable for a magazine
submission. When I was finished, it was only 800 words.
I sent it to Highlights For Children
without really knowing the criteria for submission. I was rejected.
But it was the nicest rejection letter that I could have probably
received. The letter mentioned how I was talented and the story was
great. It just wasn't a right fit for their magazine. Maybe they were
just being nice. I don't know. But I moved on.
Between nineteen and twenty-two I
focused on writing fiction for adults. This was mainly romance and
mystery romance. It was a whole different ball game than writing for
kids. I liked it more and less at the same time.
While I had more freedom of expression,
I also had less freedom for creativity. Or at least that's the way it
felt.
At twenty-two, I dug up Destiny And Faith Go To Twincentric
Academy and decided that it was time to get it published. My mom was
a nurse to a patient who also happened to be a former editor. She
looked over my book, edited the grammar mistakes, and thought it was
a great story.
In late 2011, we moved back to
Missouri, using Poplar Bluff as a landing point. We ended up staying
here.
In 2012, I finally finished publishing
Destiny And Faith Go To Twincentric Academy with Createspace. I had
chosen this route for a few reasons.
One, I wanted to keep all the rights to
my book.
Two, I wanted to illustrate my own
book.
Three, and most importantly, my father
was dying of cancer and I wanted him to see me as a published author
before he died.
Destiny And Faith Go To Twincentric
Academy came out in January 2012.
My father received his own signed copy.
He passed away two months later on March 9, 2012.
But for me, this was just the beginning.
