I just published my debut novel as an indie author, Hollis and Gray (Serafina Gray Mystery: Book One). I started this journey back in 2004 and it’s taken me this long to get here. What a journey! Do you know how many times I reflected on whether I was good enough? Whether I was wasting my time? Whether I should give up while I haven’t invested too much time into it? Lots. But I’m a dreamer. And I am persistent AF. Those who know me know that when I say I’m going to do something that I’m gonna do it. Well, this took me 20 years. And I have arrived.
It started with me developing my characters and their backgrounds. I went deep, too. Developing complete lives to the point they were all real to me. That was step 1. As their lives unraveled before me, I started to see a mystery there, so that’s how this became a mystery. I studied the elements of a mystery novel and tried to stick to the formula. But then as I muddled through my story outline, plotting all my plot points, I realized I had made the whole thing so complex. My story had somehow morphed into another story — one of love and loss and regrets. I had made the whole thing so complex that it became difficult to describe my story to others. Hell, I had to depend on editorial reviews to tell me what my book was about. Funny, but it’s true.
I put my novel to the side and let life take over so many times. It’s easy to let that happen. It takes really prioritizing your writing to get to this point. I had completed my plot points…hmm, maybe a ten years ago? I believe I even had the first three chapters written, more or less. But it wasn’t until the pandemic hit where I was sheltered in place with no job that I got to writing. See, I had moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in the Fall of 2018 for a job. I married my boyfriend in 2019, but he had stayed behind in Michigan waiting for his son to graduate from high school. I was in that small San Bruno apartment by myself. Alone. Just me and two of our three cats I’d just adopted, Millie and Mateo (Milo, AKA “my coworker” came later). It was pure magic to have that kind of solitude. I know a lot of folks hated that kind of isolation but for me, it was like being a kid on a rainy day again. No kids to play with. Sucks at first, but then creativity takes over. I finished my rough draft during that time.
Then I got another job. It was hell. Pure hell. There was no such thing as work life balance, and if I did get any personal time, I was too mentally fatigued to muster up my muse. I’d put my story down for so long that I had to reread parts to refresh and recall. Where was I again? It took a lot of pause, start, pause, start to get me going again. I ended up leaving that job and getting a much better one.
New Year’s Eve, December 2022, I made the goal to wake at 5am before my day job as an HR Director, and not turn the TV on in the evenings (at least on the weekdays). I was able to finish that last chapter Mother’s Day weekend 2023. Then I found an editor on Reedsy who started in June and completed the development editing and copyediting by September. I then found a book cover and interior designer off Reedsy as well. He finished in December, for the most part. I then put my book on Amazon for pre-order, set up my website, and researched the hell out of everything. There has been such a learning curve to all of this. So much I didn’t know. Still don’t.
There were a lot of milestones along the way, but I never felt like it was time to celebrate. Sure I finished the outline. Sure I finished the rough draft. Sure I finished the final editing process. Sure I have a book cover. Sure I have a CIP block to put it in libraries. Sure I have it for pre-order on Amazon KDP (I hadn’t even known that KDP stood for Kindle Direct Publishing). Sure I have a website. And now, it is officially available. Even as I write this, it doesn’t feel real. Like is it time to celebrate yet?
Well, I mentioned to my wonderful husband that I’d been thinking for some time now that a great way to celebrate would be to buy some expensive bourbon. I even had the bourbon in mind—Widow Jane Aged 10 Years. Looks good, huh? I’d never tried bourbon. Just had Hagaan Daz bourbon vanilla ice cream and Safeway’s bourbon syrup. I was really looking forward to trying actual bourbon.
Well, last Friday night we decided it was time for that celebration. Even if it didn’t feel real yet. We purchased some King crab legs to steam up and we picked up the bourbon. We enjoyed that dinner very much and afterwards, we each poured a small bit of the bourbon into our glasses and took a sip. But that was all. One sip was mooooooore than enough. :)