This is it. This is the post I’ve been dreaming about since I first sat down and wrote Awakening. This is the one where I finally get to say my debut novel is officially published and available to purchase. It’s a bit surreal.

I never wrote stories when I was growing up, I told them. If I had a dollar for every time someone said I had an overactive imagination, Musk would be a pauper compared to me. Often times I’d use my storytelling to try and get myself out of trouble for whatever mischief I’d caused or to simply entertain my peers with epic tales. When I was in high school, I took a creative writing class on a whim because I needed the extra credit to pass eleventh grade. It was the only class I ever aced. It was the first time I was challenged to take all the stories in my head and try to write them down. I loved it. Sadly, no one took that as a sign that writing professionally might be something I could aspire to, so I was never encouraged to pursue it at that time.

Adult life happened after that, and with it came a steady job and growing family. Writing was put on the back burner and forgotten. Then, one day while my toddler son was napping and I was enjoying some quiet time with my feet up because I was pregnant with my daughter, a story began to form in my mind. It started with a Stone Key, and the events that surrounded that key continued to grow until I couldn’t hold it in anymore.

The only computer available to me was a three-inch-thick dinosaur of a laptop with two keys that didn’t work and could only run one program, an open-source writing platform. Before I knew it, I’d filled sketchbooks and notebooks with all the ideas swimming in my head, and when I finished writing out the story, I was able to order some proof copies to review.

That first draft was terrible. The plot had more holes than Swiss cheese and the characters were thinner than a crepe. But holding a book I wrote in my hands ignited a passion I didn’t want to let go of. Since then, Awakening has gone through many rewrites and revisions over the years. Each time it did, though, my storytelling would improve so I kept at it. It wasn’t easy. There were many times I thought about giving up but family and friends kept encouraging me to push on. Now, here I am at last, finally bringing the dream of publishing my story to life.

The world of Tersaith is officially UNLOCKED! Awakening is now available in paperback and EBOOK worldwide on Amazon. (The hardcover release date is TBD, so stay tuned.) For all of you who have stuck it out this long and encouraged me through the years, please accept my heartfelt thank you. The dedication in Awakening was written just for you.

Happy Publishing Day, Awakening!