First off, thank you Indie Writer’s Support for giving me this opportunity to air my dirty laundry, well not all of it. I’ll save something for next time.
Every writer’s journey is fraught with humorous anecdotes, stumbles, pitfalls, and miracles. Yes, it is a journey that perfectly mirrors this adventure we call life, and just like life, you better hold on tight, because as the country western lyric says it’s going to be “one Hell of a ride”.
I have always been a writer, or at least dabbled in it, whether it be speeches, short stories, poetry, screen treatments, but it was my sideline, not my profession. However, my serious journey began in 2010, when I published In the Face of Evil a historical novel based on my mother’s survival of the Holocaust. I should say self-published, as no one showed any interest in doing it for me. Much of that was due to the lack of editing, and not knowing the publishing business. It took me three years to write, and a stack of rejection notices wasn’t going to stop me from publishing it. Call it beginners luck, but that book became a Finalist in the National Jewish Book Awards. Not bad. Imagine if I would have had it professionally edited? To this day it is one of the highest rated books on Amazon and Goodreads, not easy to maintain with those angry trolls that cruise the virtual world and live and breathe to write abusive one and two-star reviews. Anyway, after toiling, suffering, through one of the darkest times in human history I needed to write something lighter, less taxing on my psyche.
Just around that time I read this little book entitled Fifty Shades of Grey. Well, it doesn’t get lighter than that. Not a particularly well-written book, but it held my interest. I began to study the romance genre, reading voraciously, everything from paranormal to BDSM. Oh, my goodness those sweaty nights of reading, who wouldn’t be hooked. I was literally infected with the romance germ and the only cure was for me to pass it on through my writing. In February 2014 I self-published (at this point I was fairly turned off by the publishing industry) my first book in the Romance/Sexy/Suspense genre The One, which became the first in my The Only One series. In June, I published The One & More, bringing me to my release with Soul Mate Publishing One More Time is Not Enough. These three-feature explicit sex with very suspenseful stories.
Then came a publishing contract with Hartwood Publishing and my next two books Escape and Vengeance about an uber Mossad agent and his art curator muse Layla. In this serie,s I toned the sex down and focused more on the suspense and thriller aspects.
In between I wrote and self-published on June 1, 2018, a romance/thriller/paranormal entitled The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci, which is the first in my Out of Time series. Really excited about this book as its doing phenomenally well.
Presently I'm finishing my third in my Tip of the Spear series, which will be titled Ransom, before starting the next book in the Out of Time series.
What I’ve learned along the way could fill a book, however, I have no interest in writing that one. Suffice it to say, I’ve spent a lot of money on poor editing, PR, advertising, the list goes on-and-on. Yes, I’ve sold books in a vacuum, despite myself. What I wanted was a home, a place to hang my hat. Fellow authors to communicate with, share ideas, brainstorm, all of which had been lacking in my creative world.
My goodness, what an inspiration it is to finally develop a writing family. I have a notebook filled with review site possibilities, book tour companies, raffle copter events, marketing tips, and a whole slew of new Facebook and Twitter friends and my very own, growing with leaps and bounds, newsletter. I’m learning what works and what doesn’t work from writers who’ve walked barefoot over the burning coals and are kind enough to share, preventing me from burning my Tootsies.
I now have a fabulous critique group and most importantly I have a personal assistant who has changed my life. She’s my editor and marketer and I bless the day I found her.
My thank-you to all who have come before and who continue to be an inspiration. It just keeps getting better, and the future looks ever so bright.
