Let me share a bit about my writing, and how I arrived at this point in my life...
For me, writing is a deeply fulfilling creative outlet. It was what I was born to do. Even as a little girl, I loved writing little stories and lines and lines of poetry. Even my poetry became rhyming stories. I had notebooks filled from cover to cover with my childish scrawl. I pottered around with story ideas through the years, writing about anything I could think of. It was always my deepest desire to be published one day. Of course I had no clue back then how to go about it, and at one point even created my book cover before I'd even started on the book itself (talk about jumping the gun!). But, as with all things, there were processes and structures I had to learn, which would come in time.
Fast forward twenty years. My wonderful six-year-old son with his crazy imagination, came to me one day saying, "The Coaspies are coming! The Coaspies are coming!"
I didn't think too much of it, until he said the same thing the next day. And the next.
Finally, I asked him what on earth he was talking about. He proceeded to tell me all about these endearing little "Coaspies" in his head - what they were, what they looked like, what they sounded like. I was captivated by these little “toast people” in my precious son's mind. It was then that I decided to once and for all, put pen to paper and officially write my very first novel as an adult (even though it was a children’s book). No more tinkering with stuff that wouldn’t get me anywhere. This was it: I would try my hand at being an author!
So that was my very first attempt, and I can credit my son (now grown up and in his twenties) for giving me the courage to take that first step. After I wrote the first Coaspie book, I wrote its sequel. Shortly after that, I took the plunge and wrote Finding Freedom, an adult novel about child trafficking. My sister helped put it on Amazon for me, and within a very short space of time I had sold two thousand copies and received some incredible reviews! What a boost! By then I was well and truly immersed into the captivating world of writing, and loving every minute. Then I wrote the Dream Trilogy, about three generations of women whose lives are turned upside down by the family patriarch. Those, too, went onto Amazon.
The problem was, I was still essentially “hiding” and not exploring all the available options on social media. Not letting my true colors shine as a writer.
It was only earlier this year when I submitted Lucia’s Web for publication, that it was accepted! I was ecstatic.
Anybody who has written a book, knows what a challenging journey it can be with its various elements (building interesting characters, believable plot with twists and turns, numerous rounds of edits), but there’s little else that’s more fulfilling than reaching the end, and the contentment of having done a great job. I believe strongly in writing stories that are DIFFERENT in some way, of thinking outside the conventional box. If I’m going to go to the trouble of writing a book (which is no mean feat, let me tell you!), I must ensure the story is going to be life-changing to my reader. I don’t want to do what everybody else is doing; I want my books to be memorable. There’s still a touch of romance in the sub-plot of my books (what girl doesn’t like a bit of romance?), but that isn’t the focus of my stories.
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