Journey of a dreamer...

It's so interesting to sit back after a project is over and think about how it all started. I first came up with the idea for a novel, more than 6 years ago, when I was watching the stars with my husband late one night. We had just moved for the second time in two years and were looking for jobs after school and wondering what the next step was.

It was right after the recession and jobs in manufacturing and design weren't so plentiful as we had hoped. We had each other and our optimism that we would find something and everything would work out. But too much time on your hands makes a restless person like me uneasy. So one night, while watching the stars, I decided I should write a book. I'd wanted to be a novelist my entire life, since I won my first writing award in 1st or 2nd grade. My husband said, "Why don't you write a fantasy novel. Vampires are popular. Write about those." I thought about it carefully. It's true, I love fantasy. But I didn't want to write something just because it was popular. If I were going to go that route, it would have to be a different tale indeed. Something that would bend the myth and change what we think we know. And of course there had to be love. A romantic like me needs a good heroine and a strong love interest.

My mind starting moving a mile a minute at the possibility. I loved reading and watching fantasy, but could I write about it? My mom always told me to write what you know. But luckily for me, or maybe unluckily (ha), I've never run into a dashing vampire hearthrob. And I love Celtic myths, but could I put enough of what I know to make it believeable? Maybe if I just started with the setting.

I had lived in Florida for most of my life. But the characters I wanted to write wouldn't live there. Out West? Other than trips to visit family I really don't have much experience there. The Carolinas! Yes, that's the place - I've lived there, travelled there and love the area. There is history, diversity, nature... there is so much I could do that was based in truth but with room for creativity.

With a setting in mind, it wasn't difficult for the rest of it to fit into place. I could almost see the characters start coming to life.

So I busied myself with putting to paper all the characters and adventures I had thought up each day, trying to remember everything my mom had ever taught me about writing a good story. And each night as I watched the stars, the tale of Lissie Lockheart and Connor Kingsley unfolded a little more.

It took nearly six years, another move, two children and a new job later in order to finish my beloved project. I honestly had no idea it would take so long. But life moves fast, whether you want it to or not. And at times I thought I would never finish, and the lives and loves I had created on paper would remain there, for only me to dream about.

But in between the dishes, dinners, diapers, and a 40 hour work week, I managed to seek out some quiet time every now and then. I wouldn't give up on this chance.

And whenever I could manage, I went star gazing. Because that's where it all started. A little bit of light, shining through the immense of darkness. Something bright and beautiful that seems so far away. And it may take a very long time, eons even, but eventually the light will reach you and you may never be the same.