In August of 2020 I was listening to a YouTube video about manifesting the life of my dreams. Don’t mistake this for me desperately wanting millions of dollars raining down on me. I’m fortunate for what I have an am grateful every day. However, the woman asked a question that stuck with me: “What are you passionate about? If you could do anything, what would you want to do every day of your life?”

My answer? I don’t know!

On a family trip a week later, I had an abundance of ‘car time’ to think about my answer. I had mostly been working from home for six months due to the pandemic, and the lifestyle of being in at home with my children was one I had been craving for years. I was still working every day and finishing my tasks, but the stress of the job wasn’t there.

So the question persisted, and with a twist: what could I do that would allow me to be home, feel fulfilling, and be able to make the same amount of money that I do now? Furthermore, does something like this exist?

On our trip I not only had the answer to the question address my passion: writing. Now, I’m not a ‘trained writer.’ I don’t have a degree in literature, English or journalism. I haven’t submitted stories for contests or gone to seminars about how to become a better writer. Something about this idea stayed with me, however, and the same day that this idea was whispered in my ear, a story followed.

…and followed, and followed.

I had written a novel several years prior, so this idea wasn’t completely foreign to me. Sitting in the car on our trip, I allowed one of the stories that I lulled myself to sleep at night to fully play out. I didn’t have a laptop with me on my trip, but I had the next best thing: a notebook.

I filled that notebook during the long car rides throughout Oregon’s vast country. The words flowed with inspiration from the beautiful fields of yellow flowers and acres of perfectly rowed farmland. (Seriously, how do they make those rows so straight? Even with GPS I know mine would be a curvy mess.)

Somehow my hand and forearm didn’t cramp up and I enjoyed my scribbling sessions immensely, basking in the ‘therapy’ it provided to my brain to finally get this story out of me.

When I got home I was determined to not leave these fictitious characters on the pages of the glittery pink notebook where they existed. I ferociously typed the story in just shy of three weeks, marveling at the way it made plot twists that I hadn’t originally intended.

“I can’t believe what my main character just did!” I told my mom. She laughed and reminded me that I’m the author. “She did this without asking me though!”

After forming one hundred thousand words into a story that I actually liked, I was proud that I had completely an entire novel. I had no idea if my story was good, or furthermore, if anyone would be interested in reading it, but what I had done was start the ball rolling.

I told the basic storyline to my two little girls and soon overheard them playing Barbies with the same names and traits that my characters had. (Tell me this isn’t both cute and incredibly rewarding!)

I edited the book four times before handing it over to my first two beta readers: my sister and my mom. My sister plowed through the book in four days, giving me feedback throughout her readings. “I don’t ever read and I couldn’t put this down!” she said.

Pat on the back number one.

The genre of fantasy romance isn’t one my mom usually treats herself to, but said she had to stay up late one night to finish the book. “I had to know how it ended!”

Pat on the back number two.

So, have I polished this book up to self-publish my first masterpiece?

Nope!

I realized throughout editing and writing the sequel of this novel that fantasy is a little out of my current level of writing. After opening this can of words, my brain entered the creative world I believe it has secretly craved for decades. After reviewing the nearly thirty story ideas that had come to me at all hours of the day, I noticed that my genre isn’t fantasy, it’s Women’s Fiction with a touch of Romance.

Great, now what? Were the now two books that I wrote in four months wasted?

Absolutely not!

The words I wrote were stepping stones to where I’m at now, and who knows, maybe I’ll pick these books up later once I have more experience to tackle the series I started. I have acquired a great deal of knowledge about the self-publishing world, stumbled upon resources from other wonderful self-published experts, and nailed down my voice.

This, to me, is successful.

Since February of this year I have been working on what I will proudly publish as my debut novel. There were many steps I had to cross off my list to get where I am today…stay tuned!