"How I Turned My Story into a Published Book: A First-Time Author's Journey"

I'm mentally trying to prepare myself for the most likely responses to going public with Sera's story. "Is there anything you don't do?" or the "You had time to write a book?" So to answer the first question, yes, I don't shower regularly or get more than five hours of sleep on a normal day-to-day basis. How perfect is it, that the lack of sleep thing also partially answers the second question?' Due to the, often random, hours of my profession as a mortician, sometimes I get home from work at 3 or 4 in the morning and simply cannot fall back asleep. That's why huge chunks of the book might seem like a fever dream to readers, it's because I'm delirious. Just kidding, sort of (not really).

In all honesty this isn't something that just happened overnight. It was a project started almost a decade ago, that was forgotten, and then reemerged at just the right time in my life when I was looking for a healthy outlet for a very stressful industry. I won't go into detail so much about the premise for the series or how her story came to fruition because I explain it at the end of the first novel, but...I am willing to share that working on Sera's story helped me through some of the most emotionally challenging moments of my life.

The craziest thing about it, is that the parts that include many of the same world issues we are having today, they were all written into the plot back in 2015, almost a decade ago. This was long before covid hit, yet there are eerie similarities. So, rereading it all this time later, made it feel like some kind of creepy prophecy.

So, anyway, I did this thing. I wrote a book. Then initiated the process to getting it published, and have officially realized that it's going to be a lot more work than I anticipated. Mostly because my writing skills are junior college level at best, and grammar and punctuation will be the death of me. If you are reading this blog then you already know.

But I clicked the buttons, and when that brown paper bag (you know, the one with the black Amazon logo) showed up on my door I started shaking knowing that all of my work was contained inside of it. Tearing it open, I didn't know if I was going to laugh or cry. Even though it is fiction, it's still a piece of me, small character traits tucked into people that those closest to me will recognize. So honestly, I did both. I laughed hysterically and I cried.

We are still editing, it feels like the process will never end or like its so hard to even begin. But the excitement remains and the joy that I know that is coming is sustaining me from all of the daily things that keep me from pouring over the book from cover to cover until it is finished. I cannot wait to share it with everyone. I hope that it will be published by my birthday month (February) but if not, its because this editing crap takes forever, and I want it to be PERFECT. Because, Sera deserves it. (And you guys do too.)