Enter the endless woods of imagination!
My First Writers’ Conference
Wednesday, June 19th, 2024
The second week of June of 2024 was a magical jumpstart for my author career. I attended my first writers’ conference!
It was the Write-to-Publish conference at Wheaton University in Wheaton, Illinois. The conference is a division of the Christian Writers Institute, an excellent online institute from which I’ve taken many of my online writing courses. I have had the pleasure of meeting new friends. I have also met Brett Harris, who, along with his twin brother Alex, wrote “Do Hard Things.” I also met Steve Laube, a literary agent who runs the Steve Laube Agency, and whose courses I’ve taken on the Christian Writers Institute. His advice on book proposals and LLC’s was just what I needed. And of course, I met other authors. I was so happy to buy my very own copies of “Wisteria” by Ginny Graham, the “Heirs of Neverland” series by Kara Swanson, and the “Curious Realities” series by Sara Ella (and yes, I got these books all signed). I’ve already started reading these new books, and I’m already loving them! Yeah, I have always been the fairytale and fantasy freak (and proud of it).
And oh yes, I visited the Marion E. Wade Center. The place where you can view the books, works, papers, and even personal belongings of great British authors whose works have influenced Christianity and the literary world itself. Yes, this includes C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien! This right here is the very wardrobe owned by C.S. Lewis himself!
Talk about inspiration! I peeked inside. No Narnia, sadly.
And of course, check out these writing desks used by Lewis and Tolkien!
It was so neat to see all these things by big-name fantasy authors admired by everyone. Hey, maybe someday, my own writing desk will be famous!
So why is a raven like a writing desk?
So those were only a few of the many highlights of my first writers’ conference. I look forward to future conferences and the years down the road of my author career.
Engaging in the Writing of my First Fantasy Series
Friday, April 26th, 2024
I really do enjoy writing my Kennedy Ryan series. Nothing like a Christian series of mystery, action, and adventure with a little Wild Western vibes thrown into the twenty-first century, right? And I plan to write science fiction in the near future.
But my favorite genre of all is fantasy. How can I not write fantasy? All my life, even as a little girl, I have written stories about magical worlds with fairies and mermaids, heavily inspired by the old Barbie and Disney movies, Narnia . . . oh, I can name so much! Even those good ol’ Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, pretty much anything from Hanna-Barbera, Rocky and Bullwinkle, all those old cartoons have played significant roles in the nostalgic playground of my imagination.
I have had many fantasy series in mind for who knows how many years. But I am finally getting started on one of those fantasy series. A trilogy. A trilogy featuring King Arthurian legends. One of the best parts? Writing the first drafts of this trilogy has become part of my assignments from my online course from Author Media, “The 5-Year Plan To Become A Bestselling Author.” Nothing like a taking an online writing course to add a little extra motivation to my writing!
But, as a child, I only knew the bare minimum of the King Arthur legends. That needed to be fixed. So here came the books. I have read all four of the King Arthur books by Howard Pyle. Those books made for an excellent start. Then, of course, I found myself buying a Barnes & Noble edition of Thomas Malory’s “Le Morte d’Arthur.” And believe me when I say it that this famous fifteenth-century work of the King Arthur legends is no easy read! And this Barnes & Noble edition is basically twenty-one books packed in a single volume! I plan to move onto other famous works such as Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “Idylls of the King” to keep that studious inspiration coming.
Oh, yes, there are modern adaptations of the King Arthur legends that I have drawn inspiration from. Most notably the 2008 BBC “Merlin” series. I was sixteen when I first watched that series. My sisters and I were at a sleepover at a friend’s house. It didn’t take long after that for my family to start watching the series. And fall in love with it. Everything about that series is awesome. The plots, of each individual episode and the overarching plots, the characters (oh, the shenanigans and sarcastic, witty remarks between Merlin and Arthur are hilarious!) and the music. Oh, the glorious thirty seconds of the theme music.
So that’s where I am at right now. Writing first drafts of my own King Arthur fantasy trilogy. Rewatching the “Merlin” series with my brother and his girlfriend (who hasn’t seen the series yet and is totally enthralled!).
Not gonna share any details of my King Arthur stuff yet, though. Too early for spoilers!
Taking Online Classes for Aspiring Authors
Monday, February 24th, 2024
What has been the most helpful thing for me in my author journey? Taking online courses on Author Media and the Christian Writers Institute, of course!
These websites were recommended to me by a friend who is also an author. I cannot brag enough about how excellent and informative these courses have been.
Author Media is a website run by Thomas Umstattd, Jr. The purpose of Author Media is to train aspiring authors to build their platforms, sell their books, and break into the book-publishing industry. Features on the website include a blog, a podcast, courses, and much more. This is the link to the website: https://www.authormedia.com/.
The Christian Writers Institute teaches Christian authors on how to improve their writing crafts and skills. Many of Thomas Umstattd Jr’s courses are included on the CWI. This is the link to the website: https://christianwritersinstitute.com/.
Courses I have taken (and currently take) include “How to Make Your Author Website Amazing” (Author Media), “The 10 Ks of a Good Book” (CWI), and “The 5-Year Plan To Become A Bestselling Author” (Author Media). These are only a few of the courses that I have taken. The 5-Year Plan course is my personal favorite: it is a literal five-year course (I know, a very long time for one course!) that is divided into four quarters per year. Each quarter has it own assignments, such as reading books on the craft of writing, listening to the Writing Excuses Podcast, writing short stories (you even enter one into a short story contest) and novels, and participating in NaNoWriMo.
I owe a lot to these courses; without them I am certain that I would still be way behind in building my author career!
Beginning of my Author Career
Monday, February 24th, 2024
The image you see above is the front cover of the first edition of my first book, “Kennedy Ryan: A Story of Adjustment and Adventure.” This first edition is one of the beginnings of my road down my author career, and boy, was it a rocky road! And it still is, in many ways.
I was 21 years old and in my second year of college. At the time, I didn’t yet declare my double major in Music and English. I was more focused on Gen-Eds and trying to figure out my path for my life. I hadn’t taken any writing classes at all. I was writing the first draft of my Kennedy Ryan novel. Without any writing experience or know-how. But there I was, publishing my story with WestBow Press.
Fast-forward a few years later. Very few sales. Typos in the book. No marketing skills whatsoever. Wondering if I should republish the book.
I met with my author friend who recommended Author Media and the Christian Writers Institute to me. She encouraged me to pull the book from WestBow and republish it. So I did. I rewrote the entire story. I took my online courses. In January of 2022, I republished my second edition of “Kennedy Ryan: A Story of Adjustment and Adventure” on Amazon KDP.
But I would argue that the seeds of the garden of my author career were planted years before I even went to college. For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed writing stories and poems. Even as a little girl. My most favorite genre is fantasy, back then and nowadays. I actually hope to build my author brand in the fantasy genre. But that doesn’t mean I won’t try other genres. My Kennedy Ryan series, after all, is not fantasy. It is young adult mystery and Christian fiction.
I first created the character of Kennedy Ryan when I was about 11 or 12 years old. I was inspired to create Kennedy by a PC game called “Barbie: Explorer.” My two younger sisters and I loved Barbie growing up. The game’s adventure genre, as well as Barbie’s travels through Egypt, made me think of Wild West adventures (due to Egypt and the Wild West both being associated with the desert landscape). My siblings and I, being imaginative kids, made up our own story based on the story of the game; this culminated in the creation of Kennedy Ryan. At that time, my older brother was a hardcore fan of “Indiana Jones”, and he had my sisters and I come up with state names for our characters. I chose “Kennedy Arizona.” This was short-lived; I changed the name to “Kennedy Texas.” Upon actually preparing to write the first draft of my first book at age 21, though, I did away with the state name in order to avoid legal comparisons with “Indiana Jones.” In writing the stories over the years, I had made countless revisions until I came to the story I am at right now. The entire Kennedy Ryan series will be made up of three novels and a collection of seven novellas.
I graduated from Montana State University of Billings in December 2021 with an English BA and a Music BA. I dedicated my first poetry book, “Step Into Creativity”, to my college poetry teacher, Tami K. Haaland. I look forward to my future in writing fiction and poetry.