It's official! I'm published!

The other life change in January was finishing my romance short story for an anthology our writing group (The Write Spice) decided upon at our Christmas retreat. I figured I could do it because Christmas was the only thing stretched out before me at that retreat. Who knew that life would throw a curveball and we’d be planning a wedding?

I had to make some adjustments, the hardest of which was going from writing a 75,000+ word novel to a 6,000-word short story. As I’ve mentioned many times, there are tons of rules to romance writing. I had to research those same rules and suggestions for reducing my word count by more than half.

But I did it, and no, it was not easy. I originally hoped to set the scene for my romance series, but that plan went awry, and I had to scrap several writing drafts. My Orlando trip disrupted my writing plans, and even though I wrote frantically at the pool, in the car, and in my head, I discarded most of it, too.

When I got home, I wrote like a fiend. While I missed the deadline, these ladies gave me leeway, accepting my lateness and helping me through the other processes where I lagged. Eventually, my story came together, and I submitted it and got caught up in critiquing everyone else’s manuscript.

Our book launched! It’s available at major retailers, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple. I am officially a published author.

Of course, early sales went to my relatives. Shout out to all of you who support me! I love you!

The great thing is how much I’ve learned about the process. I have experience working with an editor, going live on a Facebook Launch, and interviewing on a podcast. From there, I applied to be an officially published author on Amazon and finally created a website.

When we received our paperback copies, we discovered several mistakes. I worked with the software to correct those, and now I have a better idea of how to self-publish my book when the time comes.

It’s been a fabulous experience. Have I mentioned that I’m a published author?

Those interested in romance can find it HERE. The paperback version is a tad expensive (we don’t set that for Amazon), so if you are interested in a signed paperback version, email me at cmkerwin@gmail.com. I’m selling them for $10.