My Writing Journey

I have always been an avid reader who sees stories in my mind. I read widely--from literary fiction to police procedurals, mysteries, thrillers, YA, and women’s fiction. I’ve become particularly interested in stories that share cultural experiences and give me the opportunity to understand people in a different way. If a story has strong characters, an intriguing plot, or a unique perspective, I’m going to read it. 

 

I first said I wanted to be a writer somewhere back in elementary or middle school. I loved the projects where you wrote and illustrated your own book or story. I can remember being incredibly proud of a story I wrote on that lined paper, the kind with the dashes between the two lines so you knew where to stop your lower-case letters. Seeing it stapled together and opening like a book was thrilling. I can remember writing the beginning of a teen romance on my typewriter one summer, storing the pages in the top drawer of my desk.

 

But then life took me on a different path. I focused on musical theater and show choir. I participated in a community based theater group called Children’s Theater of Charleston in WV, where I grew up, from seventh to twelfth grades. My creative urges were channelled into being one of the wicked step-sisters in Cinderella or young Ebenezer Scrooge’s fiance Isabel in a version of A Christmas Carol called Mr. Scrooge. Writing faded to a distant memory.

 

Fast forward to adulthood, where I worked hard and built a thriving practice in my “day job” as a psychologist. While I love working with my clients, it wasn’t offering me a creative outlet I began to crave. I continued to read voraciously and watched my husband, Christopher Swann, take a story from his mind and turn it into a published novel. It was a long journey, but once I witnessed it from beginning to end, it seemed a bit less daunting.

 

Then one day, in the shower, a story came to me. It wasn’t fully formed but it gave me a tingle and I felt like there was something there. I talked about it with my husband and continue to think about it, especially while in the shower (don’t ask me why this is important, I have no clue. For me, it’s a good thinking spot.) With a little trepidation, I decided I would write it. I started, then got stuck and left it alone for months. Then I found Nanowrimo and decided I was going to finish the book. I worked my tail off that November, finished the manuscript, and bought myself a winner t-shirt from Nanowrimo.

 

I quickly learned that my manuscript needed a lot of work and that finishing a draft is the beginning, not the end. I tapped my resources--my writer husband read every word and gave me feedback and then I hired a developmental editor for more feedback. I took it to the Atlanta Writers Conference and won best pitch from one agent and one editor. I got requests for the full novel from the conference and cold querying. 

 

And then, they all said no. While frustrating, the feedback I received was incredibly helpful. It showed me my weak spots as a writer and what I needed to do differently. I put that manuscript aside and started my novel HEARTBEAT. 

 

HEARTBEAT came to me as a fully formed plot. It tackles a tough political issue that I’m passionate about--women’s reproductive rights. I wrote it in the span of only a few months, then spent about the same amount of time revising it. I found an online critique group through Twitter, which was incredibly helpful. I’m still in that same group today. I started querying and applied to Pitch Wars. I got a request from a Pitch Wars Mentor. I got multiple requests for the full manuscript from querying, but also a lot of no thank you. I took HEARTBEAT to the fall Atlanta Writers Conference and won best manuscript sample and best pitch. 

 

The morning of the conference, I got THE email, the one querying unagented writers dream about. An agent wanted to talk with me about my book and a revision. We had the conversation, found we shared a similar vision for the book, and agreed to work together. Now I’ve written two novels and am working on a third.

 

I’m interested in writing books that explore the impact of different experiences on people’s lives. As a psychologist by training, I want to explore trauma and how different people react to the same situations. Family relationships, and how different choices affect those relationships, is an area that intrigues me. Current events, especially politics, and how those events shape lives, is an area of interest, as well.