One of the things that has amazed me about being an author is I think of ideas in the most unusual circumstances. Such was the case for my upcoming novel, Writing Soulmates.
Here is how and when I came up with the idea...
In July 2017, I was in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, at a big weekend-long convention for a women's auxiliary for a military organization. I went from one meeting to another (the ones I could legally and ethically go to) and interacted with a lot of military family members. One evening when I was on my way to get a bite of dinner with everyone else from the auxiliary chapter I was a member of, I thought of an idea for another romance book. I already knew the title and some of the plot: Writing Soulmates and a high-school English teacher who meets the lead singer of a new local rock band.
It bears mentioning that while I was at this convention between meetings, I worked as much as I could on what is now Professional Fans and Twofold Love Comeback . And I couldn't believe I had conceived another idea for a book.
Since the summer of 2017, in addition to a few major personal life changes, I published not only the two above-mentioned books but also Active Waiting ...all in 2018. I thought since 2018 was a great publishing year for me, 2019 would be even better. However, though I wrote on a nearly daily basis I didn't publish anything. I felt discouraged and wondered if I really had what it took to be an author. Was my chance at being a better author gone and the stories I had been working on would only be ones I'd never publish. And if I publish them several years from now, everyone would lose interest in me.
Yet I still wrote...and rewrote...and continued doing so day after day, regardless of how I felt. On Black Friday last year, I finished the first draft of Writing Soulmates. I thought during the long, cold winter, someone would read and critique it. In that way, I could publish it just before Valentine's Day. That plan fell through. Without going into too much detail, I just didn't "feel" it. At the beginning of February, I decided to publish it on April 25. Again, nothing materialized.
At the end of June, I finally got someone to read it. However, she read only the first two chapters and said she wasn't into it. She then challenged me to write a more detailed and compelling first two chapters. After all the hard work I had done to grab the reader's attention at chapter 1, I get this?! In thinking about it for a few days, I realized those first two chapters had content I had never written before. Therefore I booted up my laptop again and, in a matter of days, wrote an even better first two chapters...and beyond.
As a result, most of the remainder of the book changed, not to mention how I took feedback from others. With renewed determination, I got to rewriting Writing Soulmates and set another goal...
It no accident that I finished this "literary child" of mine three years after its conception. I mentioned earlier that I thought I didn't have what it took to be an author. I beg to differ; I didn't give up when my best-laid plans failed.
What is going on in your life right now that is taking longer than expected? What have you learned? What things have you had to change to make your goal come to pass?
If you'd like to download an advance reader copy of Writing Soulmates, please click on this link. https://dl.bookfunnel.com/865zkji9jv
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