How do I put ten years of stories into a few paragraphs?

I have no idea. When I first started this journey, it wassomething fun to do because at the time I was unable to find something I wantedto read.  After a conversation with mybeloved friend Morgan Jane Mitchell about how she had been writing True BloodFanfiction for quite some time, I fell down the rabbit hole of self-publishingand then an idea was born. I don’t think if she hadn’t been holding my hand thewhole way that I would be celebrating ten years of being a published author.

Believe it or not I began writing a paranormal romance abouta drug addicted stripper who fell for a vampire. Ha. That didn’t last long. Thestory evolved into a contemporary new adult romance that was terrible. It wasnot edited like at all, and I was just like this is fantastic.

It was utter garbage, and I had no business publishingprobably my first ten stories. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. And thatdumpster fire of a first book I produced for $13.  The book sold decently well considering howbad it was. I think I managed to debut under the top three hundred on theAmazon eBooks bestseller’s list for that week.  I have no idea why, but I’m grateful that thereaders from that time took a chance on me. I kept writing and improving mystorytelling. I attempted to work with some editors who also weren’t the greatest,but the book world was so different then. It wasn’t a business for me yet and Iwas a stay-at-home mom who didn’t want to go back to working fast food or pursuingbeing a pharmacy tech any further, because it didn’t bring me joy.

Not that work is fun for everyone, but I wanted to work fromhome and do something that I love.

Writing filled this space in me that I didn’t know I wasmissing, and once I started there was no stopping me. I finally found somethingthat sparked so much passion in me. For the first time I had this sense ofbelonging to a community. All through school I struggled to fit in and maketrue friends outside of a few who I am still close with until this day.  My childhood bestie owns nearly every book I’veever written and has copies of some paperbacks I’ve never held.

She has been such a huge supporter and I love her for it becauseshe’s not a dedicated reader, but she reads my books.

With anything there are downsides and I struggled for awhile to find my niche. What really called to me to write about.

I’ve had so much encouragement from my fellow authors andreaders to keep going on days I thought maybe I wasn’t as cut out for this as Ithought. I wanted to give up so many times.

We were struggling financially, and I needed a paying job.

Then I saw this picture on Pinterest. (I get a lot of visualinspiration from there) And this idea for the story Baby came to me. I started planninga motorcycle club romance and I was invited to participate in an anthology thatwas MC romance based and I needed to write a submission for that. I thoughtwell what better than a prequel to Baby that introduces the club and why she isthis spoiled biker brat. Grim The Beginning was born, and I started bringingBlack Rebel Riders’ MC to life in early 2014. Then tragedy struck my family andmy uncle, Cowboy passed away in a motorcycle accident.

I dropped from the anthology and was unsure if I would continuewith the story but then I realized that I owed it to my characters and myselfto move forward with the story. My father had belonged to Brothers of The Wheelwhen I was a child and I thought about my dad and how he would have told me tokeep going. That he would have wanted me to keep chasing this dream.  I dedicated that first MC story to some of thepeople who shaped me with their love of rock ‘n roll and Harley Davidson motorcycles.The editing was again terrible but somehow Grim attracted a readership. And forthe first time I tasted some real success and I fell in love with writinggritty alphaholes and never looked back.

I’m still improving on my craft and continue to learn andgrow with each new book.

I’ve had so many ups and downs. I’ve made new friends and lostthem. I spent years ghostwriting stories for other people until I was earningan income from my books that allowed me to solely focus on my own stories.  I learned so much from the experience that I don’tregret it. I made my peace with those stories never having my name on them so don’task or try and figure out if they were published.

I’ve written well over 100 books and hope to write 100 more.

To celebrate my tenth year, I’ve gone back to where I trulyfell in love with writing. Back to Grim and the BRRMC. His book is getting somemuch needed love and edits. I’ll be publishing the special edition hardback soon,so be on the lookout.

The ebook and paperback versions will be updated with thenew edits soon. Here is the front cover for the hardback.

Happy reading!

Glenna