Reflections

Time truly is a remarkable thing. It has the ability to pass painfully slow when in distress, and entirely too fast when riding the euphoric wave of bliss - that of course, took forever to finally experience. Thing is, regardless of how tightly we try to grasp the notion of living in the moment, once time is gone - it’s gone. Only leaving behind memories that we tend to revisit over and over again in our minds.

As the days continue to merge into one another and pass by, I find myself frequently reflecting on how much my life has changed over the past year. This time last May, I had spent days staring at my manuscript on the computer screen with my arms tightly crossed and my face locked in a scowl. I had to make a decision. One that definitely wasn’t easy. In fact, contemplating about it uprooted so much doubt from inside me that my stomach was constantly in knots. Would I self publish the story I’d been obsessing over and release it into the wilderness of the book world? Or would I continue to keep it to myself and always think, what if?

By then, enough friends had already read it and strongly encouraged me to act, yet still I would sit day in and day out staring at that damn screen. After a while, it actually became routine.

Log in.

Open manuscript.

Stare.

Reread.

Open publishing website.

Stare at the publish button at the bottom of the page.

Think up excuses why it wasn’t a good time.

Log out.

Terrible, I know.

This went on for two weeks straight, until I reunited with an old friend that had just self-published her own series of children’s books. They looked amazing, acting as the perfect accessory to go along with the vibrant pride that radiated off her.

She did it, and had no regrets.

That night, I went home with a newly ignited drive. The next couple days were spent researching, developing a marketing plan, cleaning up my manuscript and outlining the design for the cover. If I was going to do this, I was going to put everything into it. Go big or go home, right? Finally, on May 25th, 2015 all preparations were finally complete and refusing to allow doubt, fear or excuses to cloud my thought process, I quickly hit the publish button. The joke is, I can remember fearing something crazy would happen right then and there to prevent me from doing it, because it seemed too easy.

Since that day, this journey has been a daily learning process. Some days I’m soaring high above the clouds and others I’m stuck in bed with a bottle of wine – and that’s fine! It comes with the territory of being self-published. There’s no one to provide fun, creative and exciting new ideas each day, but you. Trying to write, market, blog, find reviewers, track sales, ship orders and stay active on social media is hard. But, these challenges have pushed me to limits I didn’t believe I could reach and proven that anything I set my mind to can be achieved.

Its insane to think that had I clung to the doubts and fears I had a year ago, Oleah Chronicles: Truth would never have been released. The characters I’ve grown to love so much - Angel, Zander and Julie - would just be names stuck on a page, never given the chance to be brought to life by the vivid imaginations of readers. Most importantly, my writing would never have evolved and their story would never continue – Blasphemous, isn’t it?

Now approaching the release date of May 15th, 2016 for the sequel to Truth, titled Justice, I’m experiencing a completely different wave of emotions. Fear and doubt have been replaced with excitement and anticipation to discover what readers will think of the chain of events that will unfold before them. There’s a new level of confidence I have knowing that people from around the globe have also fallen in love with my characters. Which is what keeps me going. Oleah Chronicles isn’t just for me anymore, but for everyone that has joined me on my winding pathway.

With that, I say thank you. Thank you for inspiring, teaching and believing in my story. Every kind word and insightful critique has helped me become the writer I am today and for that I will be forever grateful.

Funny how time can change so much in a person. It truly is a remarkable thing.