Anyone at any age could still enjoy a children's book!

I read children's books – but mainly because I write them! I started writing them long ago and now, in my fifties, I write them even still. 

  

But it would seem that the children's books that I will have published this year and beyond are a mix of books written years ago as well as the books I have written this year. And I'm so happy that I now have a publisher willing to accept to accept these manuscripts this year! 

 

But getting to this point took some time!

 

I wrote a children’s book in 2007 and now, 18 years later, I finally found a publisher for it.

 

That’s not to say that I spent those 18 years trying to find either an agent or a publisher for it. I did spend a long time looking for one, but not the entire 18 years.

 

No, even as I was constantly being rejected by literary agents and publishing companies, I was busy writing a lot of other things. I wrote novels, poetry books, nonfiction books and collections. I also co-authored books with a couple of people. I also continued to write more children’s books, even though I didn’t have a publisher for them. I STILL wrote those stories because I felt compelled to write them. I wrote them with the hope that someday, I will find a publisher for them. All that mattered at that time was writing them.

 

But I did not continue to look for a home for THIS particular children’s book for 18 years. I spent some time searching for one, then I stopped. I kept looking for one on and off, but it was not my main focus as a writer. My main focus as a writer was on other things – the things that WERE getting published. Like articles, essays and poems in magazines and websites.

 

I kept submitting other book manuscripts while I was doing this, sure. And I was trying to see just where I could go as an author.

 

When I did finally start getting children’s books published, I started with what was new at that time, which was The Yellow Rose. Then, I started co-authoring children’s books with my oldest, who went by the name Jennifer at that time (the name he was assigned at birth – my oldest is transgender). If that had continued in that capacity, I would have likely gotten around to submitting the book I wrote in 2007, but that didn’t happen.

 

Then I started to self-publish children’s books, among them the books I co-authored with Jennifer Wilson. That eventually stopped too, and even still, that 2007 book was not published yet!

 

I just didn’t get to it quite yet when I was self-publishing children’s books.

 

So, for a while, I didn’t have any children’s books coming out anymore, because I lost my illustrator. I also didn’t have a publisher for the children’s books, indie or otherwise.

 

But I did have publishers for other books, and it was the other books that I focused my energies on.

 

Meanwhile, that 2007 children’s book collected proverbial dust on my hard drive.

 

That was, until now.

 

My UK publisher, Baynam Books Press, recently began publishing fully-illustrated children’s books. I have seen one such book that was published and I was impressed with the quality of the art. I asked if I could start submitting one my own children’s book manuscripts and the publisher, Crystal Baynam, said yes.

 

So, I did. And held my breath!

 

Imagine my excitement when I received an acceptance on the book. Yay!

 

But it wasn’t the 2007 book I had submitted. Actually, it was a book I had written in 2009!

 

So a book I had written 16 years ago is finally going to be published. What’s interesting is that, after I self-published The Dream Forest, I made the decision to dedicate THIS book that is going to be published at the end of the month, Little Turtle Finds Friends, to my friend’s daughter. She was little at the time I had decided to dedicate this book to her and when I THOUGHT I was going to self-publish it. But my plans to self-publish it never went through and the book remained in limbo until I found a publisher who said “yes” to my inquiry about submitting children’s books manuscripts. That happened this year, and the little girl who I am dedicating the book to is now 13 years old! A little too old for children’s books, but she loves turtles, so after some back and forth with her mom, as well as input from her, I got the blessing to dedicate the book to her.

 

And as we move closer to the publication of the book, I came across that old one I wrote in 2007. I just asked Crystal if she wanted it and she said yes.

 

In fact, she told me to go ahead and send her all of my other children’s books manuscripts! How cool is that??

 

I am so thrilled and very grateful that I now have a children’s book publisher. I am especially grateful to Crystal Baynam for wanting to publish my children’s books!

 

Am I in the wrong for submitting all of them to her in one full swoop? I don’t think so. It doesn’t mean that I am no longer writing horror novels or horror story collections (and I am currently writing a middle grade horror novel!); it just means that, now that I have finally found a publisher who says “yes” to my children’s book manuscripts, I am going to send her all of them!

 

Seriously, there’s no time like the present!

 

It’s not like Crystal will publish all of them in one day. LOL I know she’ll space them out in order to build up readership and allow certain books to be published at certain times. But I am sending her everything I have at this point in time because … well, she wants them, and Baynam Books Press is a home for them.

 

Of course, when I realized that this particular children’s book was written in 2007, when my youngest was born, I was gobsmacked! But now I am feeling so much joy and gratitude that, at long last, this book will see the light of day and can be enjoyed for the little ones that it was written for. Even my youngest, who is almost 18 and is cool with having a children’s book dedicated to him no matter how old he is!

 

And that’s the beauty of children’s books. They can be enjoyed by people young and old, as well as by the young at heart.

My Five Available Short Story Collections

May is Short Story Month so for the last five days of the month, I am promoting the five short story collections I have available:

 

30 Flash Horror Stories

 

Shadows

 

Monsters & Mayhem

 

Triggered

 

Vengeance from Beyond

 

I didn’t include The Worst Thing You Ever Did because it is currently unavailable. That will change later this year.

 

And because I have another short story collection coming out next month, this is the only time I can do this!

 

Maybe by next May, there will be 10 short story collections to promote? Who knows!

 

Anyway, without further ado, here are my five short story collections for the last five days of Short Story Month.

 

30 Flash Horror Stories

 

 

A mysterious sign only one man can see...trick-or-treaters getting more trick than a treat...and ghosts that never rest. These are just a few of the thirty flash fiction horror and Halloween stories awaiting you within the pages of this book. Read these stories at your own risk!

 

Buy link

 

Shadows

 

 

What sort of horrors lurk in the shadows What monsters are waiting to attack?

 

Shadows is a collection of 20 flash fictior stories bringing our worst nightmares to life.

 

From Halloween scares to Christmas creepers, these terrifying tales will take you into worlds of fright.

 

Shadows offers stories of ghosts, zombies demons and werewolves. But not all monsters are creatures of the imagination Be careful who you trust; within these pages are people just as monstrous.

 

Buy link

 

Monsters & Mayhem

 

 

Beware of the monsters who will strike at every turn! They are on a rampage through neighborhoods, hiding on top of roofs, or lurking within your dreams just waiting to materialize. Beware the scary creatures that could tear you from limb to limb or steal you away into the night! These seven flash and micro fiction stories offer new tales of monsters and the destruction they leave in their wake.

 

Buy link

 

 

Triggered

 

 

The best kind of revenge is the kind that no one would expect.

 

Ten girls have been tormented by people who thought it was okay to hurt them. They never expected them to fight back.

 

But they do.

 

Not only do they fight back, but they delight in freeing their inner monsters on anyone who hurts them.

 

Ten girls who have been wronged. Who have been forced to conform. Who have been laughed at one too many times.

 

These girls find the power within themselves to fight back and get their revenge. And make their tormentors pay.

 

Buy link

 

 

Vengeance from Beyond

 

 

 

Halloween is a time when the veil is at its thinnest between the living and the dead.

 

When a vengeful spirit makes contact with forensic psychologist, Essie Histor, the floodgates open for other ghosts to come through as well.

 

As Essie moves from one case to another, she realizes that if a ghost is set on revenge, nothing can stop it from making sure its attackers are delivered vengeance from beyond.

 

Buy link

I Wrote About My Trauma to Tell My Story, Not to Hurt Anyone

 I don’t want to hurt anyone. Seriously. I really don’t. I may unintentionally offend strangers when I refuse to answer their messages that only say “Hello” or “Hey there, beautiful,” but my hurting people is NOT intentional. I made this very clear in a post on my Facebook author page when, after one person’s actions inspired a story idea and that person later passed away, I DO NOT want to hurt people with my writing.

 

That’s not what my writing is for.

 

Although what I write may bring up painful memories for people. But that is not my intention with my writing.

 

It’s hard to write about trauma and harder still to write about horrible things from our past. I once started a trauma journal, but after two writing episodes, I was done. I couldn’t write more.

 

But now I can, and I did.

 

I wrote about some horrible things from my past in my recent poetry book, 3 A.M. Poetry. 

 

 

I had already written about similar topics in my poetry chapbook, The House That Madness Built. 

 

 

 The only difference is that 3 A.M. goes deeper and explores the darker regions of my pain and depression. It also explores my addiction (to alcohol) and the struggles with mental health issues that resulted from the extensive trauma. It’s more personal. The House that Madness Built mainly focuses on the dysfunctional family dynamics I grew up with.

 

I only wrote about all this because it’s my story to tell. That is something that happened in my past and I felt it was time to step forward and talk about it. If people want to know about the kind of life I have had, all they need to do is read my poems, my blog posts, my essay collection and, at some point, my memoir.

 

But I don’t write all of that stuff as a way of hurting someone. That is NOT my intention at all. I only write about it because it is my story to tell, my experiences, and something that I personally have a right to talk about and share.

 

You know, I’m not going to be here forever. After I’m gone, all that’s left are the words I have written. And since people like to make up a lot of stories about me or assume a lot of bullshit about me, then I feel compelled to tell MY story.

 

The poems in those books are all things I have gone through. My experiences and my feelings. This was me showing a side of myself I was too scared to talk about in the past. This was me revealing why my alcoholism was so bad and why it lasted for so long. What drove me to drink in the first place was that everybody in my family drank, so naturally I started drinking too. But then my trauma made it worse.

 

I am no longer in that prison anymore, though. Sure, sometimes the trauma hits me hard, but for the most part, I am happy with my life now. I am no longer an alcoholic and I no longer want to take my own life.

 

I don’t want pity for what I have gone through, either. I only want to have my story told. I want people to understand why I am the way I am, and where I came from. (Sadly, many people have assumed that because of my burns or disabilities, I have had it easy and was treated with pity or special privileges when I was growing up. Uh, no!)

 

Hopefully, the act of writing about my trauma will give other people who have been through something similar the strength to share their stories too. We should not keep these things bottled up or hidden away. Our stories need to be told and out in plain sight.

 

And I want people to know that the nightmare they are going through WILL come to an end at some point. I did not succeed in trying to take my life and I am grateful for that every single day. Life got better.

 

It DOES get better. We just have to hold on and try to make it through. It’s worth it to hold on. I promise.

 

I hope that is what people will take away from this book after they read it. That is why I ended the book with two poems that offered hope, because there IS hope. The hell I was in did not last forever for me and it won’t last forever for anyone else going through something similar, either.

 

So hold on, because your future is worth it.

How Writing One Novella Helped Me to Explore New Avenues as a Writer

 

On Monday, March 10, I have a new book coming out. Curse of the Blood Witch is a vampire horror novella. When I wrote this book for NaNoWriMo many years ago, I did not get it to 50,000 words. However, I spent a long time taking it through several revisions, and when I was done with it, the final word count was at   46, 860 words. Still not 50K but still a good enough length to be called a novel.

 

Thing of it is, though, this book almost didn’t end up with a publisher.

 

After years of rejections, I gave up on trying to find a publisher or agent interested in it. I put it away and moved on to other books.

 

Then, one evening, a flock of bats flew over my house. After I posted about this on Facebook, I joked that perhaps they are vampire bats trying to convince me to submit my vampire horror novel once again. One of my friends (an actual friend who is no longer a Facebook friend) jumped on this and encouraged me to do just that. It was as though the bats had spoken! I grudgingly agreed to try to find a home for this book again, not holding out much hope.

 

This was hammered home after I received yet another rejection from a publisher.

 

Frustrated, I threw the manuscript to my beta readers, who dutifully responded with tons of suggestions and help in tweaking the manuscript. I took what advice I felt was helpful, cut gigantic chunks from what I had as a novel, and submitted the now novella-length manuscript off to a publisher. That publisher accepted the manuscript and I was thrilled it finally found a home!

 

But it’s not just this experience with writing a book that I am surprised about.

 

There are a few things, too…

 

I never thought I would write a vampire novel or novella. I love reading these kinds of books, but writing vampire fiction has not exactly been my strength. Ever since I started writing it, however, I have experimented with writing vampire short stories. I feel this is helping me to improve my ability to write vampire fiction.

 

I never thought I would write a story based on an historical figure. The main vampire in my novella is bitten by a vampire who carried the power of Elizabeth Bathory. Several years ago, my oldest created a Halloween costume dubbed a “blood witch.” At that time, I was reading about the life of Elizabeth Bathory. In my reading, I learned that she was exposed to the occult, as her family dabbled in black magic and the supernatural. This coupled with all of the legends of vampirism surrounding Elizabeth Bathory made me come up with a creation of her as a blood witch.

 

I never thought I would write an Alternate Universe (AU) story. Everything in the novella about Elizabeth Bathory is pure fabrication created to make my story work. You could say it’s an AU story, because in this story, Bathory escaped from her imprisonment and she had been an actual vampire. Everything that happens in the story follows what would have happened had she escaped. However, my own fictional version of Bathory is portrayed only in the Prologue. (And, yes, I kept the prologue. I let my publisher decide whether or not to leave it in the story and she said to leave it in.)

 

With this over and done with, I can’t help but think if I might ever end up writing another AU story based on a person in history. Anything is possible, and if this does happen again, maybe I will once again try my hand at writing another type of fiction I hadn’t tried writing before.