Behind Every Story is a Story

Since Tanner Bride Tales is just out, I thought I’d tell a bit about the creative process behind my books. Some of you may find this completely boring. Hopefully not. If you do, the pain will be blissfully short since I only have three books out. I’ll try to keep it brief. I promise once I get this out of my system, I’ll do a post about the next book I’m writing.

I actually began writing Friends about six years ago. I know that’s a long time. I tend to write in segments of what interests me so the first part I ever wrote was the morning after scene where Kayla and Josh are arguing at his house after he catches her attempting to sneak out. I went back later and wrote the beginning. The end scene with Josh’s ex came shortly after. And then I stopped working on it for five years. I had a baby and started working full time. I eventually found the motivation to finish it and submitted it. And was turned down. So I submitted it to another publisher and was over the moon when Sugar & Spice accepted it for publication. At the suggestion of my editor Brieanna, I extended the ending. I happened to be listening to Sigur Ros at the time to put me in that romantic mood and out of it came Josh and Kayla’s wedding. I first heard “Hoppipola” at the end of the romantic comedy Penelope with Christina Ricci and James McAvoy and fell in love with it instantly. I use it as my ringtone. It’s a great movie and a great song. If you like fairy tales, you’ll love it. It was the kind of happy ending I wanted for Josh and Kayla.

I began Winning Dawn shortly after submitting Friends last January. I wanted to create an attraction between Dawn and Evan without her cheating on her boyfriend. For the most part, I wrote the story straight through with little deviation. The part where Dawn begins to suspect that she’s pregnant after becoming nauseous at the smell of coffee was inspired by my own pregnancy. Though I wasn’t fortunate enough to have another pregnant woman around to tell me why the smell of coffee was making me sick. I was so worried after completing it that readers would not like it.

Whimsy began about six years ago. I was excited about writing a story that had a full figured African American princess being the desire of a King. I finished about a third of it before I hit the wall and couldn’t seem to add anything to the story that I wanted to keep. So, like Friends, it sat unfinished for five years.  I finished it shortly after completing Winning Dawn. I was shocked at how quickly Evernight Publishing accepted it. I expected to wait for weeks.

Getting published has been a dream come true for me. I’ve been writing since high school. Until now, it’s just been for me. This is going to sound strange, but I can write a story and completely forget it. I can read older stories of mine as though someone else wrote it. I’ll think, “Wow, I wonder where this is going.” So I’d like to say thank you to all the readers who gave me someone to share my stories with. Thank you!