Saturday, February 6, 2016

I did it, Mom!


I grew up inhaling books the way most people did air. My mom took me to the library every week as a kid. Most kids my age would check out two or three books. Me? I had stacks - literally stacks of books. Big ones. Chapter books. And I would read every single one in a matter of days. Sometimes, I'd even check them out more than once so I could read them again. Encyclopedia Brown, Ramona Quimby, and Farley Drexel Hatcher were some of my best friends growing up. (They still are.) My mom had to beg the librarian to let me check out more than a couple of books at a time because most kids my age didn't read more than what was required by school, much less did they read like I did. Mom always swore I would write books someday. I didn't care so much about that. I just wanted to read.

In fact, in elementary school, I failed a lot of creative writing assignments. Surprising, right? Not really. When we were given twenty minutes to write a story, there wasn't enough time to develop an outline, characters and a successful story. So I might have gotten the first paragraph or two done, but nothing more, and it would usually be marked "incomplete". When I got to junior high and high school, my teachers began expecting more from me because they knew how much I read. My sophomore English teacher refused to take book reports from me if the book was less than 150 pages, even though she didn't require that from other students. She told me "You're better than all these sappy teen romances." She was right. So I passed up Sweet Valley High for more mature authors like Stephen King and V.C. Andrews. I still devoured the sappy romances in between the 300-page monsters I summed up for English class, of course, but she had encouraged me to step outside my comfort zone.

Fast forward twenty-some years and at least a thousand books I'd devoured.

Writing my own book came as a fluke. A friend of mine discovered an old fan fiction story she'd written in high school, and we noticed that she'd put me in it. My inspiration came from that story. What had "I" done prior to being in her story? Where was "my" history? Bottom line is that she hadn't written one. "I" was a superfluous character. I wasn't okay with that. So, I began writing My Book. That was the title: My Book. Catchy, right?

Four years, at least three sets of name changes, and a lot of editing later, I published my first book, Distance and Time. I never planned on publishing it, much less making it a series. I was perfectly content with my one, silly, little story, but my friends weren't. They urged me further. I was happy with what I'd done. I was okay with it. "Josh" and "Carly," however, weren't done. Before I knew it, I was writing Better in Time, the second book and the finale, All This Time. As I neared the publication date for book three, Distance made it to #154 on the Amazon bestsellers list (out of over one million books). My mind was blown. I cried with joy for days!

Yesterday, I released the final book in the series, All This Time. My entire Time After Time series has been published. Each book has its own set of great reviews, and I have written a best seller. If, at any point, I decide to stop writing, I am profoundly comfortable with my success as an author, and I am grateful to each one of you who helped me with that journey.

I did it, Mom!
Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ

Time After Time full series purchase links:

Distance and Time (Time After Time, #1) Kindle
Distance and Time (Time After Time, #1) paperback
Autographed paperbacks: $15 through me, incl. shipping (Contact for details)
Free on Kindle Unlimited

Better in Time (Time After Time, #2) Kindle 
Better in Time" (Time After Time, #2) paperback 
Autographed paperbacks: $10 through me, incl. shipping (Contact for details)
Free on Kindle Unlimited

All This Time (Time After Time, #3) Kindle
All This Time (Time After Time, #3) paperback
Autographed paperbacks: $15 through me, incl. shipping (Contact for details)
Free on Kindle Unlimited

Amazon UK Links: (Free on Kindle Unlimited)
Distance and Time   (Paperback) 
Better in Time   (Paperback) 
All This Time   (Paperback)

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