The Adventure Begins ... Again

Hello, and welcome to my blog. This is my first time writing a blog. I’ve read many of them over the years and enjoyed … less than half of the ones I read.

I’ve never really been a blog person, preferring to keep my thoughts private. I’m not a social person, nor am I one to thrive in social situations. I’m an introvert who enjoys being at home. So, why, you ask, am I writing a blog. Well, I really don’t have a good answer other than I thought it was something I wanted to try.
 
I’ve just set up this new website to promote my books. I’ve written over twenty novels and have previously published four — one with a publisher and three self-published. I thought it might be enjoyable to try my hand at blogging to talk about my adventures, or misadventures as the case may be, in getting my novels published.

You will learn more from a glorious failure than you ever will from something you never finished. ~ Neil Gaiman

I tend to be a bit wordy, but I will try to keep these blog posts fairly brief. I’m going to try to post one each week, but I’m terrible with schedules and often don’t stick to them out of spite. So, I will TRY to post one weekly, but I won’t guarantee it.
 
Let me tell you a little about how I got to where I am now. It all started a long time ago…

Just kidding. I’ve been writing ever since I was a child my daughter’s age. I “published” my first book in the third grade. It was just a handmade cover made from cardboard and wallpaper and someone sewing the pages to it, but I wrote it and I illustrated it. I still have that book and have used it as inspiration in my endeavor.

I was an avid journal writer throughout school. I did it mainly to keep my sanity in a difficult and dysfunctional family life, but it kept me writing. Then, I went to college and sort of fell out of writing. I’ve always loved stories, though, and have had vivid, colorful, and often memorable dreams. When I remember a dream, it stays with me forever. Call it a mental quirk, but my brain is like the Hotel California for dreams.

Anyway, the desire to write didn’t return until much later, after I was married. My husband and I were living in Alexandria, Virginia, at the time. I was having a wonderful dream one morning about meeting my favorite hockey player in a restaurant. Not actually being there together but happening upon each other. He bought me a dessert and had it sent over to my table. I gazed into his eyes and invited him over to my table. He rose gracefully from his chair across the room and began walking toward me. Just before he got to my table, my husband woke me up to get ready for work.

I just wanted to go back to sleep to find out what happened. But I couldn’t. I had to go to work. I couldn’t get that dream out of my mind. Several days later, I decided I just HAD to know how the scene ended. So, I sat down and wrote it out. It ended up being the first chapter of one of my books.
 
Fast-forward fifteen years and here we are now.

In my next post, I’ll take you with me as I reminisce about the start of my self-publishing journey all those long years ago, in a galaxy far, far away … no, wait, that was something else!