Some people are curious about how an author comes up with their story. The where's, when's, why's and how's. Did it brew in your head for years, was it something you saw or what someone said?
Mine started out as kind of a joke between me and an online friend. He knew I loved to write stories, usually true ones, and started me on a fantasy.
We joked back and forth about what the book should be about and he came up with the name "Ch'dwen" for the main female character. For some reason, that name caught my eye and my imagination. Form there, the story started to write itself. That was two years ago.
I actually wrote the book in two months, but it took me two years of editing and joining any online group I could find that would help me define and refine my writing.
Finally, the day came when I thought it was ready for a publisher. Thats when I discovered that though I could write the book, I froze when it came to writing a Query. I really did crap out there. I went to so many Publisher sights to see what was required and each had a different take on what a query was and a synopses as well. Too much ended up in my head and not on paper (computer).
I wrote what I thought was a good query but was rejected time after time. It became frustrating of course, and I thought that if I couldn't write a decent query then I had probably not wrote a good story either. I put it away for awhile. I still wrote though as I have always done and that book stayed in my head.
During that time, I had five deaths in the family as well as the death of a friend. Tending to the dying and dead took me away from writing. I felt empty. I discovered that it was that writing that helped me get through.
I took up my book, dusted it off and re-edited it many more times. Then I submitted a chapter to a an online place called "The Book Times," That wonderful woman took my chapter and published it. But then, due to circumstances in her own life, she could no longer keep the site going and once again I looked at the publishing industry. I submitted Magic's Guardian two more times and then, looked into self publishing.
Now here was a new and scary territory. I set it all up on Amazon and my finger hoovered over send. I came very close to not sending, then realized my finger had already done it for me. YIKES.
To those who read my book and sent reviews, I am eternally grateful.You gave me the push I needed. I may not be the best nor the worse writer, I am just a writer. Some will love me some will hate me and some will be indifferent and that's okay. One cannot please everyone but the other side of the coin is, you cannot unplease (that's not really a word but it fits) everyone either. If I could give all my writings away free, I would. To me, it is about the story. The next book in the series is "Magic's Dragon" which I had planned to release the end of this month. Due to unavoidable delays, it may be the beginning of December. Hopefully it will be as well received as the first one was.