RED DARKLING
I started my author’s journey at age 7, when I wrote a “novel” about two princesses who lived beside a magic forest with talking rabbits and unicorns—your basic 7-year-old girl stuff. It’s been all downhill (uphill?) since then: majored in English in college, with a concentration in writing. My first “real” job was on the editorial staff of an international service club magazine. Since about 2006, I’ve been a self-employed freelance writer, primarily in the health care industry. Not as much fun as talking rabbits, but I’m good at it, and it keeps my internet on.
Self-publishing was far less intimidating than pursuing the traditional path. I made the decision when I learned I’d have to face multiple rejections from agents before facing multiple rejections from publishers. It was one layer of rejection too many for me.
My biggest win so far, hands down, is being asked to have Red Darkling featured by Your Paper Quest. And you know that’s legit because it’s literally already happened and there’s nothing to be gained by sucking up at this point.
My advice to a new indie writer is to write the story you want to write. Don’t worry if it’ll sell, or if people will like it. In the end, none of us have control over that, so you might as well make yourself happy. And trust me, that story will be better than anything you could write for an audience.
