Writing a novel was never something I dreamed of doing when I was a child or even a grown-up. I was always thrilled for those I knew who wrote but never imagined I would someday join them. In 2009 at the age of 30, my husband and I went on a trip to Colorado. The mountains were awe-inspiring and an idea for a novel entered my mind. I spent the next few years working on that book. In my spare time, I attended critique workshops, a writer’s retreat, continuing education classes, and took the book all the way through the editing process. Essentially, I was writing and re-writing the book. Frankly, it was pretty darn bad. At the end of all that I put writing down, happy I gave it a shot but it was just not for me.
In 2011 I became a mom (the most amazing thing ever to happen to me) and had a fair amount of professional success as a psychologist. In 2012 Bria and Jonah entered my mind—I shoved them out! In 2013 we were beyond blessed to become parents again. At the same time, my work was exploding with amazing things happening, and Bria and Jonah came back with a vengeance! I continued to shove them out. I wasn’t good at writing and I was beyond busy!!!
Bria and Jonah did not seem to care that I didn’t have time for them. Writing about them was a choice—we all have free will—but it was a choice I don’t think I could have refused and retained my sanity. So, in March of 2015, after much prayer and many many conversations with God about how I was definitely not the person for this particular gift, I began The Light. For the first two months, the self-doubt was crippling, but I continued. I wrote while kids slept—hence the name of my publishing company Falling Dusk—while I waited for them outside of preschool, kindergarten, and piano lessons. I spent every spare second I had and wrote the entire book on the notes function of an iPad with an attached keyboard.
By November, The Light was done. Very close friends were starting to read it and not hate it. I sent it to my editor. I cried when I got her revisions, but I continued (it was not until probably book 3 or 4 of The Light Series that I stopped crying every time I received my editor’s extensive revisions). After that, I had no idea what to do. I emailed a few publishing houses and maybe even an agent. There was some interest, but nothing came of it. So I found a cover artist (the first of four) and started to try and understand this whole Indie Publishing thing.
Five years (to the day), seven books, a short story, and a children’s picture book later, here we are. The self-doubt remains but it is not as crippling. Most days I can work through it. To be honest, most days I’m too busy to think about it. These last five years have been a wild ride to say the least, one I absolutely never expected to take. Perhaps those are the best kind 😊
Thank you for being an integral part of my story! Your reviews, encouragement, and prayers mean more than you will ever know. Here’s a link for a free audiobook of The Light, please enjoy it and share the link with anyone you would like to. The platform to give audiobooks away for free didn’t exist five years ago (or last year). So much has changed in the world and in each of our lives, yet we know the One who is constant!
Here’s to the next five years!
~Jacqueline