The Journey Begins!

As with most things in life you don't really know how something will turn out until you try and writing and publishing a book was no different.

Let me just start by saying when I finally decided to publish that first story I had loads of encouragement and well wishes. This was wonderful. What I didn't have was a clue.

I am constantly being asked where I get my ideas for my stories. To be honest some have been hanging out in the attic of my brain for a very long time. Others are fresh and new and come to me through a snippet of conversation, the words of a song, or just seeing people getting on with their lives. Sometimes they come to me fully formed by and event, or tiny moment in my life.

The stories are there but how to translate what's in my head into a comprehensible piece of material that looks something like a book is a whole other ball of wax.

My collection of short biographical stories in Growing Up American are still a hot mess. One of these days I'll pull them down, rework them and send the whole tangle of jumbled up grammar, misspelled words, and inappropriately formatted prose to my editor.

That book proves one thing. I didn't know what I was doing. I had so much to learn and so many new challenges to face it's a good thing I was clueless or I may have given up. Inevitably I made plenty of mistakes. I thought I had figured out how to format my book as I diligently read through all of the guidelines in kindle, ran countless grammar and spelling checks and did loads of rewriting. I even had a friend do some editing for me.

The first thing I learned on this journey was that I CANNOT EDIT MY OWN WORK. I laugh at this fact every time I think of it because I am actually a highly trained, highly qualified, and experienced English teacher. I teach reading and writing on a daily basis and must mark students work, writing and exams. Which is just fine but my brain will not comprehend what I want when editing my own work. You can also see this fact proven out in some of my early reviews.

So get an editor everyone says, and yes that is very good advice. The thing is editing is an art. Truly it is, and with all art it is worth the price. However, there is more to getting an editor than to sending your manuscript to someone and having them fix all of your mistakes. You must find someone who gets your voice. I'm truly thankful for my editor. She's great, and not afraid to stay up all night meeting deadlines.

So now that's done what else do you have to worry about you might ask. Learning, and learning and learning. Every day you learn something new in writing. As a writer I have grown with every piece of work. I've discovered my voice and how my own words should sound to me on a page. I've discovered what marketing is, how you create sites and webpages and so many other things. Don't even get me started on figuring out how to get a cover that I like. It's all work even if it is work that you love.

Now here I have to stop and tell you about the single most important discovery I have made in my writing journey this last year. Aside from the patient support of 'my everyday hero' who knows I'm crazy and loves me anyway, Pioneer Hearts site has been the best thing to happen to me as an author. Pioneer Hearts is a site that is dedicated to Historical Western Romance and has the best people.

I found this group when reading a book by one of my favorite authors Kit Morgan who invited me to visit. Not only did I find a place where I can learn about new authors in my genre, I got to meet new friends and fellow fans of this genre and discuss the books. Another favorite author, Kirsten Osbourne asked me to join their author group and the rest is history. I'll be honest it is truly amazing to work with these remarkable ladies and very humbling to see how much I learn every day. If you've never been to this site I strongly recommend you check it out.

This past year I've published eleven different stories and if amazon is kind I'll have number twelve out soon. It's been a remarkable journey so far and I can't wait to see what comes next. My mother always says that we should never stop learning. Her mother used to say the same thing and I remind my son of it all the time. This life is beautiful, if not always easy, we should learn as much as we can.

As I continue this journey in writing, I have loads of new stories to tell, it is my fervent prayer that at