An Author's Journey
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Denim&Diamonds
Denim & Diamonds was written in 30 days in November 2005 as part of National Novel Writing Month. That was the first year I tried it and I went it alone. I went to one write-in and was shocked that many of the others were doing it for fun. Granted, writing is fun and NaNo is the most fun of all, but they weren't taking it seriously. They didn't want to be published. But I did.When NaNo was over - and I received my Winner's Certificate - I cried. It was one of my proudest moments, but very few people knew what I had done or even what NaNo was. Winning NaNo included Lulu offering to publish my winning book. As friends and family repeatedly asked me about NaNo, I decided the best way to answer their questions was to publish my book on Lulu so they could see for themselves what can be written in 30 days or less.
Denim & Diamonds is truly exciting for me to share, because it is literally the first draft. I ran spell check on the book and sent it to Lulu. There are plot holes and the characters aren't as developed as I would like, but people are overwhelmingly enthusiastic about it. The local library has a weeks' long waiting list for it and I still get royalty payments from the sale of the book.
Local publicity has been good, too. The local newspaper, The Fulton Sun, did a front page story on me when Denim & Diamonds came out, and the local NBC affiliate, KOMU, has done two human interest stories on me. I've been asked to do talks at local libraries and festivals, have taught at children's writing festivals, and have been interviewed for newspapers from out of state.
If you are curious about what can be written in 30 days or less - come on, everyone can take 1/12th of one year to pursue their dreams - check out a copy of Denim & Diamonds. If you're in central Missouri, I recommend you go to Jinx Books, where they have a copy in stock.
