It’s Official.

Well. I’m a published author now.

I really haven’t wrapped my head around the fact that my very first book is out in the world for everyone to read, enjoy, and judge. So, let’s pour a glass of wine and reflect on this process that was over four years in the making.

When I first sat down to write Run. back in 2020, I had no plans for it to turn into anything. I wanted to get my brain off the world I was living in and write a standalone that I’d more than likely abandon halfway through. But, all 130,000 words of Run. came into existence in a matter of weeks. Then, my standalone turned into a series, and the series needed spinoffs. Still, I never planned to share it.

I did have a goal when I wrote Run. The werewolf story has been told time and time again, to the point that one could read a new werewolf book every day of their life and probably never run out. I wanted to find a unique take on an infamous trope. Fated mates, but make them tangible. Characters that, no matter what they were, were still extremely real. No damsels in distress, no toxic, abusive relationships poorly guised as a mate bond. In fact, I was so dedicated to developing characters people could identify with, I made my husband read it. I wanted to make sure the characters were realistic and believable, so who better than someone who hates all the tropes that make up a shifter romance?

Spoilers: even he liked it.

I was very careful when I chose my beta readers. In the long run, that might not have been to my benefit. But, imposter syndrome is a very real thing. I wanted to ensure that no matter what their feedback was, they would at least like the story. If they didn’t, that meant I was a lot worse at this whole writing thing than I ever thought.

The editing process, though. That was when I almost quit. I’m onto editing Chase., and I can confidently say I just don’t like books while I’m editing them. My poor editor didn’t just hold my hand throughout the editing process. She forcefully dragged me down the path when I wanted to turn back. Figuring out how to format, upload to all the sites, and market all seemed easy, compared to that. Granted, that might be because I have an awesome PA/PR on my team.

ARC reviews have been coming in for a few weeks now, and I’m continuously astonished to see other people enjoying the little world I created. They’re commenting on the refreshing take on werewolves, a romance that’s nicely interwoven with the suspenseful plot, and the twist at the end that even I didn’t see coming. It gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling to know people are getting out of the book exactly what I tried to put into it.

It still feels weird that so many people are going to read something I wrote. It seems like a very intimate thing. Strangers won’t know who each character is based off of, or which scenes I wrote to help me process some of my own trauma. I know some people will hate it, and I can’t fault them for that. For the people who love it, I’m excited to say there are three more books in the series, and several standalone spinoffs. It was an exciting world to create and I’m looking forward to other people enjoying it!

See you in Snow Moon.