After thinking about what I wanted to write next, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to write about one of the main reasons I write, and why I’ve been pushing myself to learn about self publishing: it was a dream. Now that dream is coming true, and every day when I think about it I have moments of disbelief. Is this really happening? This can’t be happening. And then something happens that reaffirms that yes, this truly is real and it’s happening.

If I can do one thing as an author, and as a person, it is to inspire others to follow their dreams, whether it’s to become an author themselves, to be an artist, or even to be an athlete of some kind. We all need to have dreams. That is what gets us through the hard days and the days when we want to quit “adulting” altogether. I’ve had plenty of those days, and several in the last few weeks. Keeping my dream as a focus in my life has helped get me through those days.

My writing buddy. He makes sure I take my breaks.

Now one thing that I want to point out is that dreams are hard. They often take hard work and sacrifice to accomplish. I can’t tell you how many hours, days and weeks I’ve spent doing two things: working my day job and writing. I also can’t begin to tell you how much time I’ve spent researching self publishing and marketing and then actually going out and using what I’ve learned. Dreams are HARD!!! But they wouldn’t be dreams worth having and see come true if they weren’t.

Well, my dream is about to come true. Soon I’ll be a published author, something I’ve wanted since I was thirteen.

When I was in college I attended a forum where a man (I can’t remember his name off hand) said something remarkable. He said, paraphrasing, that one day we’re all going to have our dreams come true. What are you going to do the day after?

We always need a dream, something to work toward. I guess that right now I need to find that next dream, whether it’s to complete my trilogy as a self published author or to be able to make a living off of writing; it’s up to me. But I need that next dream because when our wildest dreams come true, what are we going to work toward the next day?

When I first began the Weregal Chronicles I was writing for fun. I hadn’t written anything since college so I was a bit rusty and unsure of what I wanted to write about. My college creative writing classes were good, but I never got the warm fuzzies that I was good enough to become published. At that point I also stopped reading for fun and started on some new hobbies that I enjoy.

Fast forward to last spring when I found Relentless by Karen Lynch. I love that book!! Her work introduced me to many new YA authors (including Melissa Haag, another one of my all time favorites) and so began my need to write stories for the characters in my head. Like I said, the Weregal Chronicles was never going to be published, so I just wrote what I wanted to. There was no rhyme or reason to it, and I had no idea what it was going to be about. I had two characters. That was it. No plot.

As I wrote the story took shape and I began to fall in love with it. Now Perfect Scents is more than what I could ever have imagined it to be. These two original characters came alive, and with them came more characters that I’ve watched grow, like children, into who they have become.

I don’t remember when it was that I decided I was actually going to publish Perfect Scents. Every now and then I thought about it, and figured since I was writing I might as well. What would it hurt? Then I would worry that writing would become a job and I wouldn’t want to do it anymore and it wouldn’t be fun. While sometimes I feel the pressure, I’ve never lost the fun of writing these stories. I think part of that is due to those who have beta read Perfect Scents for me. They’ve helped me see my book from many different perspectives and have helped me see where I needed work, but most of all they helped me see a much larger picture than what I’d first imagined.

Like I said, I don’t remember when it was I decided to publish Perfect Scents, but I know that since then I’ve been on an incredible journey, and I’ve learned so much. I can’t wait to continue learning, and I can’t wait to see where this journey continues to take me. The revisions for Book 2 (currently nameless) are underway and the plotline for Book 3 is being fleshed out and solidified. While I know Perfect Scents is coming out soon, I don’t have an exact date yet. When I do, y’all will be the first to know!

Until then, I hope you enjoy the teasers!