One year later...the story continues

Last October, after a little more than a year of writing, I had five interconnected historical fantasy novels ready to share with readers. With a great deal of excitement and trepidation, I launched the first in the series, Dragon’s Fire. The Rose of Caledon followed at Christmas, and Myrhiadh’s War two months after that. The Brigand’s Promise needed some rewrites due to a plot hole, and I released it in June of this year. The Curse of Caledon, the fifth book in the series, ended up needing extensive rewrites due to a date miscalculation, but fortunately, the changes did not affect the previous titles, and the manuscript is currently undergoing editing for release in the very near future.
 
When I started writing The Rose of Caledon on July 31, 2016, I did not expect the book to become anything I would want to share. I did not expect it to spawn a series, or to morph from a simple romance into an eight-hundred-year mystery set in a fantasy world with elements of magic thrown in. But Caledon reached out and embraced me, and I never wanted to leave. Characters became my friends, and I couldn’t wait for the part of the day when I could sit down and write.
 
Caledon has been good for me. I’m spending time doing something I absolutely love every day, and I have grown more confident as a person, a writer, and an editor because of my time spent there.
 
I grew up in a strict, religious family. The legalistic tenets of faith extended to influence my writing—so much so that my fourth-grade teacher wrote in my report card that I had “no imagination.” For years, I wrote what others expected of me, with varying degrees of success. But when I started writing the Dragon’s Fire Series, for the first time in my life, I wrote what I wanted to write without caring what anyone else thought. This formula works. I’m writing these books for me, and I’d write them even if nobody read them (although my enjoyment of them exponentially increases when others love them, too!)
 
I see my skills improving with every book I turn out. With each new title, the writing gets tighter, and my editing eye picks up on more things that I need to change and correct before publication. And the process becomes more and more fun as I go. I’ve loved writing for nearly 40 years. In Caledon, I’ve found myself as a writer and as a person. And one year after publishing, my journey is only beginning. I have so many more stories to tell!
 
So don’t stop reading! See you in Caledon... 

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