This time last year I was finishing up writing a new romance novel. With the wave of the #MeToo movement I really began to think about the knight on the white horse trope. In fact, I even wrote an earlier blog post about it, asking who sits on the white horse and preforms the rescue in the era of #MeToo. I consider myself a feminist . “In real life” I am not one for a man to swoop in and rescue me. However, I am a pushover for the concept in a romance novel. Irony, I know. So I began to think what a book would look like where rather than one person rescuing another, what if the love interests rescued each other?
So I began to write a novel unlike any other I’d ever written before. This novel featured two people deep in their own struggles. It was a challenge to write because how was I supposed to make two people so damaged, yet ready to fall in love? This book stretched me as a writer. I was instantly invested in this book as I began to write, due to the characters, they’re raw, hurting, and honest.
I put the book away for almost a year before I read through it for the first time, and I have to say, the ending of this book knocks me off of my feet every time. I ADORE the ending to this book. Authors are constantly told to write the book they’d want to read. Man, this book is one I wouldn’t be able to put down, and I haven’t been able to put it down the few times I’ve read through it.
With the mediocre sales of Quarantine Stories, I decided to put out a full novel to self-publish on Amazon. I knew that a short story collection would always be a hard sell. I don’t read short story anthologies, I prefer a full novel. So with that goal in mind, I did my last copy edit and developmental edit to get it ready. It was SO MUCH WORK this time around. Normally I love editing but with this book, it was a heavy lift. I don’t know if it took more time because I really felt that I owed to the characters to get it right, or the fact that I copy edited and developmentally edited at the same time, but it was a lot of work.
Last night I finished this mammoth rewrite/ edit and I walked away from my computer completely in awe of the story. I love that these two “broken” characters find hope in each other! It’s gorgeous, guys.
So here’s the special part. Today I had to leave the house to run a few errands. This is a big deal because no one on my house goes out these days with Covid being so bad in our area. I ran my errands and picked up lunch to go. As I walked back to my car with my lunch in my hand, I thought I’d take it up to the lake front (Lake Michigan) to eat it in my car. My normal parking spot wasn’t going to work today so I set off West down the coast. As I drove, I remembered there are two significant scenes that take place where I was driving to. I had not planned it at all! As I drove I smiled thinking of the two characters in my footsteps, or me in theirs. I pulled up to the lake front and ate my lunch where they ate theirs. And so here is the really crazy part, as I was sitting there eating my lunch the song If I Say by Mumford and Sons came on the radio. I listened to this album as I originally wrote the book. That song is my characters song! I didn’t take it as a sign or weird woo-woo. I simply enjoyed the moment, and to be able to do that these days is something really special.
In closing, I am happy where I am in my writing journey, and excited for the future. The plan is to most likely self-publish this still unnamed manuscript. That being said, I also have a full manuscript out to an agent so that may throw everything happily up into the air. I will keep you all posted and hopefully come up with a title for this special book soon.
