The Alyson Bell series is complete!
Welcome to 2014! What a blast it's been since a decade ago, in 2004, when I first sat down at my desk and began writing notes for a ghost story about a teenage witch. Each day, while my then-Kindergartener daughter went off to school, I found myself with a brick of time and creative mindset. I wrote many short stories and poetry, but knew there was something deeper to delve into... writing a novel.
A good friend of mine from high school, Author Eric D. Goodman, had already been working as a writer for many years. I often proofread his works, including his newly published book Tracks: A Novel in Stories. It was through his inspiration and guidance that led me to become the writer that I am today.
I currently live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Things here are just generally bigger. That goes for the birds. Each day upon the beginnings of writing The Ghost of Colby Drive, a raven would appear at my balcony. It was the size of a housecat. Incredible! It had to be visiting for a reason, as it made itself impossible not to notice it. Perhaps it was the ghost of Author Lewis Carroll playing tricks on me. "Have you any idea why a raven is like a writing desk?"
Eric mentioned a contest called NaNoWriMo, which occurs annually in the month of November. The challenge is to write a 50K novel within one months time. I took to the challenge and the first edits of my first book were born. It felt rushed, but many great ideas spawned out from it. I spent the next several years editing and tweaking, inserting and deleting, until things flowed and gave it that haunting feeling I knew I would enjoy reading, thus so would my readers. I still have the original copy of the first edition of GOCD, but it reads very different from the edition that is now in print. Still, I learned many lessons in writing it - most importantly, that the way to write a book, is simply ... to begin.
I sent many letters out to have the book published by traditional houses (as self-publishing wasn't really even beginning to take off until a few years later), and the wait was always the same - roughly six months before a letter would come back stating they were flooded with persons wanting to be the next JK Rowling. While I admire her series, I didn't want to be the "next" of anyone. I just wanted to be me. That was good enough. Three years had passed and I saw opportunity in the dates. I decided then that I would do things myself... the artwork, the writing, the publishing... all of it. It would be hard, but I would learn so much in doing so. The date for the first book to go to print would be on July 7th, 2007 (07/07/07). Consecutively, the other books were written and published ~ book two, The Curse of the Moonless Knight, published on August 8th, 2008 (08/08/08) ~ book three, The Oracle of the Missing Dryad, published on September 9th, 2009 (09/09/09) ~ book four, The Door of the Thousand Keys, published on October 10th, 2010 (10/10/10) and book five, The Crystal Goddess and the Wish Keeper, published on November 11th, 2011 (11/11/11). By the year 2012, I was exhausted and afraid it would show in my writing. As much as I had wanted to have my last book published on the (12/12/12) date, I could physically not get it done. I needed time off. So I took it. In 2013, I had the beginnings of what I needed to complete the last novel in the series. I loved it. It had just the right ending. Book six, The Secret Promise: Return of the Wishing Star, published on Hallowe'en, October 31st, 2013 (31/10/13). I enlisted the talents of an additional voice, 18 year old Daphney Beaulieu, who provided several scenes and the voice to Alyson Bell.
A good friend of mine from high school, Author Eric D. Goodman, had already been working as a writer for many years. I often proofread his works, including his newly published book Tracks: A Novel in Stories. It was through his inspiration and guidance that led me to become the writer that I am today.
I currently live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Things here are just generally bigger. That goes for the birds. Each day upon the beginnings of writing The Ghost of Colby Drive, a raven would appear at my balcony. It was the size of a housecat. Incredible! It had to be visiting for a reason, as it made itself impossible not to notice it. Perhaps it was the ghost of Author Lewis Carroll playing tricks on me. "Have you any idea why a raven is like a writing desk?"
Eric mentioned a contest called NaNoWriMo, which occurs annually in the month of November. The challenge is to write a 50K novel within one months time. I took to the challenge and the first edits of my first book were born. It felt rushed, but many great ideas spawned out from it. I spent the next several years editing and tweaking, inserting and deleting, until things flowed and gave it that haunting feeling I knew I would enjoy reading, thus so would my readers. I still have the original copy of the first edition of GOCD, but it reads very different from the edition that is now in print. Still, I learned many lessons in writing it - most importantly, that the way to write a book, is simply ... to begin.
I sent many letters out to have the book published by traditional houses (as self-publishing wasn't really even beginning to take off until a few years later), and the wait was always the same - roughly six months before a letter would come back stating they were flooded with persons wanting to be the next JK Rowling. While I admire her series, I didn't want to be the "next" of anyone. I just wanted to be me. That was good enough. Three years had passed and I saw opportunity in the dates. I decided then that I would do things myself... the artwork, the writing, the publishing... all of it. It would be hard, but I would learn so much in doing so. The date for the first book to go to print would be on July 7th, 2007 (07/07/07). Consecutively, the other books were written and published ~ book two, The Curse of the Moonless Knight, published on August 8th, 2008 (08/08/08) ~ book three, The Oracle of the Missing Dryad, published on September 9th, 2009 (09/09/09) ~ book four, The Door of the Thousand Keys, published on October 10th, 2010 (10/10/10) and book five, The Crystal Goddess and the Wish Keeper, published on November 11th, 2011 (11/11/11). By the year 2012, I was exhausted and afraid it would show in my writing. As much as I had wanted to have my last book published on the (12/12/12) date, I could physically not get it done. I needed time off. So I took it. In 2013, I had the beginnings of what I needed to complete the last novel in the series. I loved it. It had just the right ending. Book six, The Secret Promise: Return of the Wishing Star, published on Hallowe'en, October 31st, 2013 (31/10/13). I enlisted the talents of an additional voice, 18 year old Daphney Beaulieu, who provided several scenes and the voice to Alyson Bell.
Later this year, there will be a special 7th book added to the series. Alyson Bell's Diary ~ The Book of the Sacred Seven Sisters. I am toying with the idea of only publishing it in hardback, but a softcover might also be available later on, if demand calls for it.
As a thank you to my fans, I am offering giveaways this year here on Goodreads. The first one will be given around Valentine's Day, with 2 autographed and personalized copies of book six available. You can enter to win here:
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...
Best of luck and happy reading!
Kristin
Additional information about the Alyson Bell series found at http://www.kristingroulx.com
and on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kristin...
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