Release day marks a very special day in an author’s journey. It’s the day when we finally get to share our baby with the world. Writing a book is a labor of love. From the wondrous moment when inspiration strikes, through getting to know the characters, who they are, how they react, what their motivations are … essentially, what makes them tick, it is a journey with ups and downs. Hours upon hours of research, writing, and the never-ending editing cycle go into each book for me and when at last it is deemed done, we send it off to gain someone else’s acceptance for publication. And even after the publishing home is determined, there are more hours spent on getting the book ready for its final debut.

Up until release day, the book is our own. We can mold and shape at will and a bajillion times do a last minute tweak or two. But once it is released, the book belongs to the world and each reader brings their own experiences to the act of reading and we, the author, the creator, are no longer in control. We cannot tell people how to read the book … the reader will either see what we intended to put on the page or they won’t.

So, The Journal of Angela Ashby no longer belongs just to me … may the world embrace Angela, Mallory, Tatiana, and the rest of the characters and story — it is your time to fly, Angela. And now it is time for me to focus on my next work.

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The post Book Birthday for Angela appeared first on Be the Cat.

The roots of this story go back to 2009 while I was working on another book and Angela intruded to tell me that I was going to write her story. At that moment, I was so engrossed with the story I was in the middle of, and the words were flowing at such a rate I could barely keep up, that this new character was more of a nuisance than anything else. I pointed to the end of the story idea line and told Angela to get comfortable … because it was going to be awhile. She didn’t wait patiently.

Of ALL my characters, Angela has always been the most emphatic about who she is and the story she had to tell. Angela embodies the spirit of Be the Cat!! more than any character I’ve worked with. She knows who she is and makes no apologies.

Most of the time, I have some sort of idea of what the story is about before starting the writing process. Not this time. I simply knew my character had a story and it was my job to tell it. So — no outline, no story notes, nothing but me and a blinking cursor on the blank page. Imagine my surprise when this dilapidated carnival tent appeared as if by magic.

I had never written anything but contemporary to this point, and yet here, in the middle (well, more like the middle of the beginning) of the story popped up an object I knew had to contain magic. The last line of the image sums up exactly how I felt at that moment. Wait!! What is this doing in the middle of the story??? It didn’t belong.. (Or so I thought.)

But I was curious. First of all, it was a cool, old, tent and I wanted to know what was inside. This was the moment where the story turned from being an obligation to explore on behalf of my character to needing to satisfy my curiosity. From this moment forward, I was totally hooked, and I hope you will be, too.

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The post The Advent of Angela Ashby appeared first on Be the Cat.