I love Kay Kendall’s Moment because it reminds us all to focus on the moments–plural–along the way, and that is a lesson that every writer must learn. Self, I’m talking to you.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned during the first third of my own crazy debut year, it’s what the authors in this forum have been trying to teach me all along. There is no Made It Moment. You can always look up or down the ladder. Stephen King yearned to be regarded as a man of letters (till The New Yorker finally started giving him his due). Unagented writers want an agent, unpublished ones a contract; self-published authors want more sales, people who haven’t written that first daring word yet want a finished manuscript. The perpetual state of want keeps we writers hungry, an arguably necessary condition. But messages like the one Kay is about to offer now will keep us happy.

You see, Kay discovered that it’s all about the numbers. Thirteen of them. Read on.

Soon after I announced the coming publication of my debut mystery, Jenny invited me to participate in this “Made It Moment” series. Of course I accepted her generous offer, even though I was only at the first mile post of a journey that could stretch out for many miles, with various “made it” stations along the way.

Let’s back up a few years, to when I began that journey. I entered the starting blocks at the onset of the new millennium when I set two goals. First, I was going to write a book. (In the process, I learned it’s customary to call your work in progress either your manuscript or your pages. The term book is reserved for something published.) After several years, I completed that goal (slightly revised to say manuscript), stood still for a moment to savor that victory, and then proceeded on down the road to my next goal—getting a contract to have my novel issued by a real publishing house. Alas, that never happened. I laid my first manuscript aside and took a hiatus.

Nevertheless, something still compelled me to write. For my second manuscript I chose the broadly defined mystery genre, and my degrees in history inspired me to emulate the sub-set of thrillers set during and between World Wars I and II. The result is Desolation Row, published this spring by Stairway Press of Seattle.

Desolation Row takes place in 1968, in Toronto, Canada, during the Vietnam War when American expatriates become enveloped in murder and suspense involving one of their own. The homesick bride of an anti-war activist must prove her husband did not murder a fellow draft resister, the black-sheep son of a U.S. Senator.  The first in a series, Desolation Row introduces amateur sleuth Austin Starr, recruited by the CIA because of her knowledge of Russian history and language. She gives up the spy game when she flees to Canada with her new husband but never loses her passion to investigate.

When the publisher of Stairway Press said he would publish this book, I was overcome with joy—and not a little relief. After performing due diligence about the company, I agreed to sign the Stairway contract. When the paperwork arrived in the mail, already signed by the publisher, my “made it moment” was about to hit.

I read through the contract slowly until I reached the ISBN numbers—one each for the paperback and for the electronic version. I could only stare at these beautiful numbers that sealed the fact that this was all real, not a dream. My second goal was achieved. I was becoming a published author. Yes, seeing those little ISBN numbers constituted my own made it moment.

Since that breathtaking day I’ve had other smaller such moments, and I’m careful to stop to relish each one. Receiving my first check, getting two bestselling authors to write cover blurbs for me, seeing my book listed on Amazon, talking by Skype to book club members who’ve chosen to read Desolation Row, and so on.

None of these however—wonderful as each was—packed the stunning wallop of those two International Standard Book Numbers.

Kay Kendall grew up in the bucolic Flint Hills of Kansas but dreamed of returning to her father’s ancestral home of Texas and also of becoming a latter-day Nancy Drew or John le Carré. Instead, higher education and circumstance led her down a long and winding road (footnote, the Beatles) to graduate studies in history at Harvard, to Canada, international corporate communications, work in Russia, and finally, finally, her beloved Texas.

She is writing her second Austin Starr mystery, Rainy Day Women, at her Texas home shared with her husband Bruce, Wills their cavalier King Charles spaniel, plus five house rabbits. Her next aspiration is to become an author able to say she “lives part-time in the Cotswolds,” an anglophile’s version of her upbringing.

One of the questions I get as people are writing their Moments is, “Can it be an Almost Made It Moment?” I had the pleasure of meeting author Suzanne Adair in person in her lovely homestate and so I am not surprised to find both a sense of modesty and grace, and a unique hand with words in this Moment. Perhaps we are talking about “peaks” instead of something as final as “making it” in this forum. But reading between the lines of Suzanne’s post…nah, I’m back to why I started this place. She’s definitely made it.

Have I “made it?” I don’t know, Jenny, but I’ve certainly had some peak moments—at least as many as I’ve had books released. They always show up out of the blue.

The first one happened in between the releases of my first and second books. I’d made author appearances for several months. Sales of that first book, Paper Woman, had reached the inevitable slow-down, and release of book two was still several months off. I visited a local bookstore for a multi-published author’s booksigning. The place was packed. Then, out of the throng, I heard a woman say, “Oh, look, there’s Suzanne Adair!” Wow, someone in that crowd actually recognized me from just one book published? Turns out that the lady was in a book club. She invited me to speak at one of their meetings. Fun!

The most recent moment came last December. One of my Facebook friends tagged me on a photo she’d taken from the balcony of her rental bungalow on St. John’s Island in the Caribbean. “Look what I found in the book collection here!” she said. I realized that the book she held was a first edition of Paper Woman. “Quick! Grab it!” I commented back. It went home to Florida with her. Three chapters of Paper Woman take place in the Caribbean. Makes sense that the book was entertaining vacationers in the Caribbean. Fun!

When will my next moment show up? Maybe soon. My fifth book, A Hostage to Heritage, has just been released. Fun!

Thanks for the opportunity to share.

Award-winning novelist Suzanne Adair is a Florida native who lives in a two hundred-year-old city at the edge of the North Carolina Piedmont, named for an English explorer who was beheaded. Her suspense and thrillers transport readers to the Southern theater of the Revolutionary War, where she brings historic towns, battles, and people to life. She fuels her creativity with Revolutionary War reenacting and visits to historic sites. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking, dancing, hiking, and spending time with her family. A Hostage to Heritage, her second Michael Stoddard American Revolution thriller, was released April 2013.

How does a writer decide whether to self-publish or pursue traditional these days? This may be the #1 question I get at writers workshops. I love this Moment because Dorothy Hayes did both–and figured out in a very visceral way which path was right for her. Once she did, she went after it with everything she had…including time. Three cheers, Dot. May your Moments keep on coming, and thanks for making Suspense Your Disbelief one of yours.

Thanks, Jenny for asking about my Made It Moment.

I had to self-publish my first book, Animal Instinct. That was way back in 2006, before the publishing world upheaval, and the onslaught of e-book publishing opportunities. But I did have a Made It Moment when animal rights organizations I had respected for decades wrote glowing reviews of my book and posted them on their websites. This amazed and humbled me. They are still there.

I had, however, a crisis of faith.

Should I write another book if I can’t get it published?

I soon realized that I didn’t have a choice. I had to write. Since a kid, I had to write things down; as a reporter for five years, I honed my craft. As a staff writer for a national animal protection organization, I not only got paid to write, but paid to write about the animals I loved and respected.

I decided, however, that writing in the ever popular mystery genre would up my publishing chances. Two years later, Murder at the P&Z was finished and I discovered that Mainly Murder Press focused on New England writers and accepted unagented submissions.  I didn’t have an agent, and I lived in Stamford, CT. This was perfect.

But submissions weren’t being accepted for the time being. So, for almost a year, I continued to send out query letters only to receive very respectful rejections. It wasn’t looking good. But I was determined not to self-publish again.

During the summer, I attended a writers’ workshop as a member of Sisters In Crime. I was advised to switch the first and second chapters. Then Mainly Murder Press announced that it would accept submissions in August. I emailed the first 50 pages of my manuscript on August 1.

After several weeks of heart-stopping communications, I got the email that said: “I’m delighted to tell you…” Let’s just say, I was screaming around the house. It only took me seventeen years to get here!

That was the original Made It Moment with this book.

When I realized, however, that a book dealer for the Malice Domestic Conference this May will stock Murder at the P&Z for mystery fans to purchase, and that the Wilton Library invited me to speak and will stock my books, and my local library is also interested—it seems as though the Made It Moments keep-on-coming.

I take deep breaths and enjoy all the special moments, along the way – like this one.

Dorothy Hayes, a graduate of Western Connecticut State University, taught Language Arts, was a staff writer for the Wilton Bulletin, and The Hour and received an honorary award for her in-depth series on Vietnam Veterans from the Society of Professional Journalists. She also worked as a staff writer for a national animal protection corporation, and wrote Animal Instinct published in 2006. She writes for Women of Mystery and Criminal Element and is a member of Sisters-in-Crime.

Am I the only child of the 70′s and 80′s who grew up scrounging the library shelves for their horror offerings? The Shining, The Omen, Audrey Rose, Burnt Offerings…these books caused my parents paroxysms of worry as to my reading habits, and me a bizarre sort of absorption and joy.

Today’s Moment-er has written a novel that sounds part Bad Seed, part Exorcist, and so I am instantly intrigued. (Especially because we share the same favorite author!) But what excites me the most is that Tony Hubbard seeks to go beyond the constraints of genre and do what all we readers and writers most want.

To tell a good story.

I’d say you’ve made it, Tony.

My debut novel, A Demon Lies Within centers around the demonic possession of a nine-year-old boy named Joshua. As such, the book falls in the genre of horror fiction. In a literature world currently dominated by young adult titles, or else those classified as mystery, thriller and suspense, horror novels may not be at the forefront of a readers’ mind or at the top of their ‘to be read’ list.

To appeal to a more mainstream audience, the book had to provide readers something they could strongly latch on to, to entice them above and beyond the horrific elements included to play to my genre-specific built in audience.

I strove to accomplish this by creating a story whose foundation was built on the strength of the characters, giving them qualities readers could identify with, while having a strong enough story to keep readers turning the pages beyond the point they might’ve planned on stopping.

Fortunately, there have been readers who normally wouldn’t seek out horror fiction give A Demon Lies Within an opportunity to entertain them.

Receiving positive feedback from those who normally don’t read horror, specifically about how they liked the characters; wanting to learn more about what was going to happen to them; and also how the strength of the story kept them turning page after page, even through scenes of horror they normally wouldn’t read, was vindication that A Demon Lies Within would be received by a larger audience.

Having readers who enjoy all genres of books saying they can’t wait to read my next novel and wondering about the status of the second book has made me feel I’ve made it.

Being identified as a writer who gives audiences a great story, no matter the genre I write, confirms that I have.

 

Tony Hubbard grew up like most boys in Massachusetts during the 1980’s, wanting to emulate basketball star Larry Bird and one day play for the Boston Celtics. Quickly realizing that a future as a professional athlete was something he would not achieve, he did the next best thing – became a sportswriter. Tony covered high school, collegiate and professional sports, and most notably,the death of Boston Celtics’ star Reggie Lewis for The Patriot Ledger.

Growing up and reading the works of Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King, he one day aspired to publish a novel in the horror genre. After leaving his professional writing career behind to make a move into the production and advertising side of the publishing business, Tony makes a return with his debut novel. Eighteen years in the making, A Demon Lies Within, releases November 2012 from Two Harbors Press.

It is with extraordinary pleasure that I feature this Moment from the road. Not only because I’ve been blogging-lite lately, trying to balance life-out-of-a-car, and this is one of a small handful of posts I’ve gotten to do. But also because as writers we wouldn’t really have the chance to Make It if we didn’t find kindred spirits along the way, and Judy Walters is one of mine.

Judy and I walked and trudged and crawled down the writers’ road for many years together. We watched each other get close, and we watched each other’s hearts break a tiny bit when close wasn’t good enough. Through it all, I read Judy’s stories of women whose hearts broke for entirely different reasons, and I was caught up in every single one. People are going to want to read these, I thought. They’re going to be changed by them.

Now Judy’s first novel is available, and I have only one more thing to say before I let Judy take over.

I am so glad she’s finally gotten her Moment!

Thank you, Jenny, for being kind enough to host me on your Made-It-Moment site.

I’ve had a bunch of Made-It-Moments already. I’m sure that sounds strange, as someone whose debut novel is just coming out, but for me, anytime someone says she loved the book, I feel I’ve made it. As an author, my goal is at once simple and complicated. Simple because I just want my readers to enjoy my stories, to find something in them that feels satisfying. Complicated because it’s not easy to do this. It takes months or years of honing and practicing and editing and revising. Months and years more to secure an agent you click with, and go through even more editing and revising before you try to find a publisher. And then more months, in my case, when my agent and I decided to move to an ebook version.

Since I decided to publish Child of Mine, a number of people have already read and liked or loved it. My agent, for one. Other writers. Beta readers. Last month, my publicist put it up on GoodReads, and a number of people there read and enjoyed it. More checked off that it was something they planned to read in the future.

A friend read it. She loved it. She sent it to another friend. She loved it too. It never gets old, hearing people tell you they enjoy your work, that you made them think or laugh or cry or…whatever you made them feel. So I’ve made it just by making a few people happy. I hope to make it some more.

Judy Walters worked as an editor in nonfiction publishing for many years before becoming a Stay-at-Home Mother to her two daughters. Child of Mine, her debut novel, is the story of an infertile midwife. it can be found on Kindle, Nook, and other etailer sites. She loves to hear from readers and can be reached at judymwalters@gmail.com.

We’ve featured around 275 Moments in this forum, so you will understand why it comes as a surprise for me to say that I have never read anything like this one. Colby Marshall got to do something with her first book that I don’t think anyone else has. To say much more would give the surprise away, so I am going to turn things over to Colby. But I’m also going to add this. May we all get the chance to give such joy as writers. If we do, we will all have truly Made It.

I’ve dreamed of that moment when I would sign a copy of my own book for someone since I was a little girl. I wrote a “newspaper” for my mother on loose-leaf notebook paper using a number two pencil with articles about the family dog and my sister and her best friend’s school science project. Years went by, and it seemed like the dream was far away. That is until one day recently, when I found myself sitting inside the Cheesecake Factory in Birmingham, Alabama, waiting to hand-deliver StairwayPress.com’s 10,000th book sold—a book that happened to be written by me.

The lucky fan arrived, unaware I’d brought a special surprise just for her from my publisher. I had with me a check for a thousand dollars. I whipped out my book during dessert, and I wrote, “Here’s to many more cheesecakes together,” absolutely clueless what to write in such a milestone of a novel. Our waiter took my book as his cue to bring out the obnoxiously large fake check to use for pictures, and as the fan said, “Oh my gosh!” over and over again, I handed her the real check for the money. She was beside herself, and I was beside myself, too, when I heard that with this money, she plans to take her grandkids to Disneyworld.

As I rode back to my hotel that evening, I couldn’t help but giggle out loud. What other job in the world could I have where I would get to do something that much fun? I’d just gotten to make someone’s day and send a few kids to Disneyworld all because one reader had supported me and paid $14.95 for my work. I laughed some more, and maybe even shed a happy tear as I realized not only had I done that, but I’d gotten to sign my book, too.

Writer by day, ballroom dancer and choreographer by night, Colby Marshall is a contributing columnist for a local magazine and a proud member of International Thriller Writers as well as Sisters in Crime. She’s active in local theatres as an actress and choreographer. She lives in Georgia with her family where she is hard at work on her new thriller.

Sometimes there is a Moment that hasn’t quite happened yet, or an author who is hoping for that Made It sensation to arise. When that happens, I often think it’s important to publish a little taste of that writer’s work–at times, this blog has been the first place a writer ever shared her prose.

Today’s guest, Jane Risdon, has been published before, but as she embarks on the long and awesome process of novel-writing, I wanted to give readers a chance to hear both her voices: the one in fiction, and the one just beginning to experience that Moment.

I know it’s coming.

I suppose I’ve enjoyed many ‘Made It Moments’ during my lifetime.  Most have been directed and facilitated by me on behalf of others – artistes – whom I’ve managed in the Music Industry.  Although I’ve been instrumental in bringing about success for others, including Number One hits in China and SE Asia, Top Twenty hits in the USA, Movie and Television Soundtracks, including The Jersey Girl, Power Rangers, Baywatch and Sinbad, I have yet to experience my own full blown ‘Made It Moment’.

Having always wanted to write and always finding excuses not to, I found myself free from all the time constraints and excuses about two years ago.  I decided to stop dreaming of writing and just get on with it.

An old friend who used to be my husband’s Fan Club Secretary was also a Pop/Rock journalist at the time, and she had turned her hand to writing. I guess I thought if she could do it, then so could I.  Mind you, she has umpteen books published and is award- winning too.  Aim high I always say!

To cut a long story short, she read my stories and encouraged me. The result has been a series of Short Stories and Flash Fiction pieces, which I’ve received great feed-back about.  Three stories have been published in ‘real’ books and others via Kindle.  I am writing four novels, including one co-written with my friend who invited me to write with her.  I am thrilled she has belief in me and so I guess to date this might be considered my ‘Made It Moment’. I feel very honoured and privileged to be writing with such an accomplished and successful writer, and I really am hopeful that this is just the first of many more personal ‘Made It Moments’.

An excerpt from Ms. Birdsong Investigates:

Amelia Payne closed her dressing-room door and leaned against it.  Her head was fit to bust as the blood pounded her temples.  She held on to the handle steadying herself, her legs felt as if they were floating from under her.  Think, think, she told herself trying to take deep breaths and centre herself.  Think.

After a while her breathing calmed a little and her temples didn’t thump as much and she moved to her sofa and sat down heavily.  She felt totally drained.  She closed her eyes and leaned against the back of the sofa, the soft fabric soothing against her skin.

Eventually she leaned over the arm and grabbed her handbag from the floor. Opening it with shaking hands she took two tablets from the bottle inside.  Then she moved into her bathroom and filled a glass with water and swallowed the pills.  She checked her watch: Linden wouldn’t be home for a while yet.

She splashed her face and wrists with cold water, leaning heavily on the basin, taking deeper breaths.  Amelia closed her swollen eyes.  When she felt strong enough she opened them and gazed at herself in the mirror – Christ, she looked a mess.  Her mascara was all but gone, so was her lipstick, and her hair looked as if she had been making passionate love all night.  She smiled wryly at her image in-spite of everything.

Moving back into her dressing-room she locked the door and removed her clothes. Her trouser suit was covered in grass and mud streaks.  She put them inside the wash basket,  removed her mud-caked shoes and lay them on the bathroom floor.  She ran a bath and automatically added her favourite bubble bath.  Sitting on the edge of the bath still shaking, she managed to put her hair up in a cloth cap then lowered herself into the hot water, sinking right up to her neck. Amelia closed her eyes waiting for the pills to kick in: her mind longing for numbness.

After years on the road and in recording studios, Jane realised a life-long ambition two years ago when she began writing. Jane was thrilled to have two stories included in an Anthology, ‘Telling Tales,’ written in aid of The Norfolk Hospice, and another in an Anthology in aid of Women’s Aid, Breakthrough and Women for Women, ‘I Am Woman’ Anthology Volume One.

She is also working on a novel with a co-author about their exploits in the 1960’s Music Business, which they hope will be ready for publication during the early part of 2013.

This Made It Moment raises several questions that have, from time to time, occupied corners of my mind. Lesser: How *do* writing teams collaborate without throwing their coffee cups (virtual or real) at each other? Greater: What does history do with its cultural atrocities? How do we ever put them down? And of particular interest to me right now: How do we find what we’re meant to do, the path we’re supposed to be walking?

Victoria’s Made It Moment concerns all three, and that is no small feat. I hope you enjoy it.

Getting published is a long and winding up-hill road strewn with difficulties, disappointments and “made it” moments of varying magnitudes.  Were there a Beaufort/Richter scale for writing success then a Pulitzer or Palme d’Or would be a 12, while completing your tax return would rate a 1.  Meeting Donald Schwarz was a life event impossible to rate on any scale.  The ultimately film noir convergence of a darkly comedic curmudgeon and a sarcastically cynical 6ft. “shiksa showgirl” was bound to produce something “not quite ready for prime time” but nonetheless fascinating.

Interrogation Tango was Don’s obsession even before we met.  I originally read it as a slim screenplay (under a different title).  The idea was great, the dialogue intense, but all of the characters had the same voice, Don’s.  He had projected parts of himself onto both Georg Elser and Arthur Nebe, and the Burger Brau Keller bombing was the sort of audacious act he himself aspired to, he simply didn’t have a cause.

“Mathematics is detective work with an imaginary perp…” was one of Don’s favorite lines.  Our challenge was to make the characters come alive without forgetting that Elser, Adolph Hitler and Arthur Nebe were certainly not figments of anyone’s imagination.  We had three key questions to answer in order to develop a realistic yet entertaining story that respected but was not totally confined by fact:

What sort of an individual could have done what Elser did?

What sort of men comprised the “Middle Management” of the Third Reich?

In what ways is history deliberately distorted and/or abridged by the last left standing?

Peter Riva of International Transactions told us “Congratulations you now have an intelligent and engaging tale on your hands.”  October 19^th 2010 is when I knew we would get published… now hurry up and wait!

Victoria King-Voreadi’s favorite game was always “What if”. She studied dramatic arts in Los Angeles, then after a mediocre play Robert De Niro gave her some advice: “Kid, in L.A. you’re just another tall blonde who wants to be in show business. Go to Europe, get some culture and figure out what you really want from this industry.” Greece seemed a logical place – home of the muses, birthplace of arts, sciences and philosophy. She wrote funding grants for EEU Media Programmes, scripts, travel articles, edited and translated manuscripts. In 1994 she met Donald Schwarz. Just like every oyster needs an irritating grain of sand in order to form a pearl, Donald and Victoria have been irritating the hell out of each other for years. She asks: “Is our book Interrogation Tango a pearl?”

Carlie Cullen may have had the made-ing-est moment ever–because it didn’t involve making it “only” as a writer…but as a strong human being and mother as well. I don’t want to steal a single ounce of thunder from this emotional post. Read on and see how sometimes daring to put words on paper means daring to become yourself.

Isn’t it funny how it’s easier to believe the bad stuff people say to you than the positive?

Two years ago, when in the early stages of working on Heart Search: Lost, my dream of writing a novel and getting it published was almost dashed by someone who, instead of being a supportive husband, took great delight in putting me down. Phrases like, “What are you wasting your time doing that for?” and “Do you honestly think anyone will pay good money to read that crap?” and “If you’re so bored that you want to write, you should go out and get a second job!” and finally, “You’re living in a dream world – no one’s going to publish anything you write!” haunted me on a daily basis.

I’d been writing since I was a child and it was such a huge part of my life. It was my emotional escape and outlet, plus it gave me a great deal of pleasure. When I decided to write my first novel, I was excited and full of ideas. I wasn’t naïve enough to think I would land a publishing deal with the ‘big six’ (although I hoped it might be a possibility one day), but that didn’t stop me. I had a goal, one which fired me and drove me on to achieve something I dreamed about – to see my book on Amazon.

As the taunts and disparaging remarks continued, I began to get worn down. My self-esteem fell through the floor and I doubted myself and my abilities. My writing began to suffer and I started to believe I would fail before I’d even reached a quarter of the way through. But I had a shining light in my life, someone who believed in me and my writing ability, someone who encouraged/cajoled/pestered me to get each new chapter written – my wonderful daughter. She took to grabbing my laptop every time I left the room, to read what I’d just written, and upon returning was greeted with the phrase, “Where’s the next bit?” It became like a mantra. She loved the story and was eager to see where I was taking the characters next. She encouraged me right up until the final words were written, which was two months after the marriage ended and we moved out.

Just under a year later, after several rounds of editing, my book, Heart Search, book one: Lost was up on Amazon. I had achieved my goal and I felt like a kid at Christmas, faced with a pile of gaily wrapped presents. My heart soared and I was filled with joy. I’d proved the doubter wrong when, at the end of the first day, I had achieved sales on both sides of the Atlantic. If ever there was a time to flip someone ‘the bird’, that would have been it!

My daughter and I looked at the screen and she hugged me, saying, “I knew you could do it, Mum, and I’m so proud of you!”

Carlie M A Cullen was born in London. She grew up in Hertfordshire where she first discovered her love of books and writing. She has been an administrator and marketer all her working life and is also a professional teacher of Ballroom and Latin American dancing.

Carlie has always written in some form or another, but Heart Search: Lost is her first novel. This was launched 8th October 2012 through Myrddin Publishing Group and work has started on book two: Heart Search: Found. She writes mainly in the Fantasy/Paranormal Romance genres for YA, New Adult and Adult.

Carlie is also a professional editor.

Carlie also holds the reins of a writing group called Writebulb. Their first anthology, The Other Way Is Essex, was published September 2012 under Myrddin Publishing Group.

Carlie currently lives in Essex, UK with her daughter.

Stacy Green’s Made It Moment came at a place that is near and dear to my heart. I think that for many writers–indie published, those with small presses, and major houses alike–the feeling of being a “real writer” has to do with seeing a book on a shelf, or appearing at a bookstore event, or library, book club, coffee shop–something physical, tangible. As virtual as our world becomes, my sense is that the live experience of connecting with readers will always contain something special, and this may be all the more true as more and more of our time is spent in bits and bytes. Stacy, I wish I had been there to see this Moment, and may you have many more!

When Jenny invited me to be a part of her “Made It Moment” series, I jumped at the chance. And then panicked. Have I really made it? Do I finally consider myself a “real author?”

A week ago, when Into The Dark first released, I would have said I wasn’t sure. But now, after my first book signing, I can finally say yes. I may be in the early stage of my career and have a lot more to learn, but little by little, people are getting to know my name.

My first ever book signing was this past Thursday at a wonderful store called New Bo Books. New Bo is one of those tiny places with lots of character and a staff who knows their customers by name. Only about 30 people can fit inside, so it was relaxed and intimate.

But public speaking isn’t my thing, and the idea of reading words I wrote in front of people I knew was nauseating. I had my list of points to address, but when I sat down in a big, comfy overstuffed chair to face the crowd who’d come to hear ME speak about MY book, I blanked out.

I couldn’t read the words on the page, my cheeks burned, and I felt incredibly foolish. I jumped right into talking about my book and felt like I was jumping from one topic to another. Then it came time to read, and naturally, the part I’d dreaded so much was the easiest. I settled in and read two separate passages from a book I’m very proud of.

And guess what? People had questions for me! Some had read the book, some bought it that night. But they all asked the same kind of questions I would love to ask my favorite authors.

That’s when it hit me: I have made it. I may be at the early stages, but that’s okay. We all start somewhere, and I’m going to cherish every moment.

Into The Dark on Amazon in Digital and Paperback
All other digital formats at MuseItUp Publishing

Stacy Green is fascinated by the workings of the criminal mind and explores true crime on her popular Thriller Thursday posts at her blog, Turning the Page.

After earning her degree in journalism, Stacy worked in advertising before becoming a stay-at-home mom to her miracle child. She rediscovered her love of writing and wrote articles for a local magazine before penning her first novel. Her debut novel, INTO THE DARK, is set in Las Vegas and features a heroine on the edge of disaster, a tormented villain, and the city’s infamous storm drains that house hundreds of homeless.