I’ve been writing all my life. It's a little cliché maybe, but still true. I had early diaries with pick-able locks and smudged pencil scribbles, scraps of paper covered in ballpoint pen, notebooks, printed pages, digital files, and everything in-between. I have boxes in my garage right now full of these things, none of them usable, but I'm holding on to them just in case. You never know.

The goal was always to be an author. This year I am officially one.

In January I published Deep Water and Other Stories. I wanted to put something small together first, as a way to test the waters, before publishing a novel. I'm not sure why I thought doing short stories first would be easier. Writing short stories isn't necessarily easy (and if you're looking for some advice writing shorts you should check out this video by Marisa Mohi).

Publishing the collection had a pretty steep learning curve. Before this book I had no idea how much work went into doing it all on your own or how difficult it can be. There's a lot of information out there though, which is a good thing. There are literally thousands (millions?) guides to the art of self publishing. I was lucky to have friends already publishing (Marisa, Marnie, Maria, and Collette) and they all deserve medals for dealing with all my very silly questions.

But now that Deep Water and Other Stories is out of the way my novel, Mistress of Death, is next!

If you’re interest in reading more about my journey to self publishing you can read the piece of wrote for Medium - Taking the Plunge into Self Publishing. Going forward I’m going to spend more time concentrating on fiction and my newsletter. If you want to have all the news first (plus giveaways and insider only goodies) sign up for the Magical Mundane Madness newsletter below.