Wow! It has been a wild ride to get to this point.
To be honest, I didn’t think I’d make it to this point. I’ve been writing fiction since I was a child. Scifi, fantasy, romance (smutty fanfiction before I was old enough to be writing smutty fanfiction.) Let’s be real, after decades of not finishing a book, not publishing a novella let alone a novel, I didn’t think I’d get here.
October was a defining month for me. Anyone who is a spoonie knows you can’t predict when a flare will knock you right on your adorable behind. That was it, it wasn’t an especially bad flare, but it was the flare that made me say, “This is bullshit, but it’s never going to end. Why am I putting everything on hold?”
So, I made a decision. I put my focus on, forced my ADHD brain to not touch a damn thing except Threads and Fire. I didn’t watch shows, I didn’t read books, I got off my full-time job and started this one. The one I love. I wrote during my lunch break, my fifteen. I wrote while my husband drove us to appointments. I didn’t even pick up my glasses from the optomitrist for three months, because honestly, who has time to do that when you have set a goal to finish a book by Spring and you only started in Autumn.
I had one mission, to get this book into hands that were not my mother’s! The first draft was nothing like the second, the second was nothing like the fifth. By the 11th draft I finally had the story I needed to share with you all. It’s been edited and re-edited, and then right before uploading my manuscript I edited it some more. Because I’m crazy, and I’m still nervous it’s not perfect.
But perfect is for people who don’t have big dreams. Perfection comes with time.
I also created the cover myself, with guidance from a few amazing people. This book means the world to me, and I hope you all will fall in love with Hollow Veil, The Smokehouse, Cece, and Benjir like I did while writing it.
And, I’m not editing this post. This is the real stuff. My feelings and thoughts, and there you have them.
Best Wishes, Darlings!
Stormie D.