I'm an author

Since it's widely accepted that you can't put anything on the internet that isn't true, I guess the title above is accurate.  It's such a weird sensation to introduce myself as such, but now that I've approved the cover for Center Courtship, I guess it's kind of official!  I wrote a bunch of words, some people liked it, and the name on the book is going to be mine and not Author Authorson.  Although, I'm sure Author is a fine individual.  The words inside that book will be mine!  All mine!  I just can't wait to hold it in my hands and cradle it like the baby it is!

A little about my journey.  Because that is what this blog is called.

A few years ago, this story started floating around my head and after some mental tweaking, I decided to write it out.  

At first, I went through the required internal argument of "can I even?"  I don't mean the teenager's lament of not being able to 'even'.  I meant - could I even do this?  

I decided to do a practice run by writing a fan-fic mini-story using the characters from Fifty Shades.  I realized I enjoyed creating that story and the few people who read it really seemed to enjoy it so when I was partially finished with that, I started with that floater in my brain.   

Floaters... get it?

I had a rough time transitioning between the two when I was writing both at the same time – as they’re written from P.O.V.'s but I finally finished the FF and got really busy on what was then named The Asparagus Embarrassment.  I finished it up and shared it with a number of friends and family and I got some really favorable reviews from them so I figured ‘what the heck – let’s do this thing’ and sent it out to a number of publishing companies. 

Friends in writing groups warned me of the rejections, but the first few hurt anyway.  After some self-deprivation I got back to work sending out queries to publishers and in September of 2015 Intrigue Publishing asked to see ‘the rest of the story.’  I was told it would be about a month before I’d hear from them again.  Two weeks later, they asked for book two.  They said it would be another month, the following week I got a contract! 

I walked on air those first few weeks.  An air of disbelief.  But it was still a squishy, fluffy cloud of excitement. 

The book has gone through a bit of a change since then, after their editor looked at it and made some suggestions to help make it better.  I will admit, I was a bit upset by all the changes they wanted to make, but I am glad they did because I think it’s a lot better now than it was. 

As I said before, the original title of the book was The Asparagus Embarrassment, but we decided to go with a title that was more all-encompassing of the theme of the story.  That is why it is now Center Courtship. Of course, this doesn’t mean I won’t keep talking about asparagus.  Seriously, it’s yummy! 

Liza Brown