The Road to Indie

My journey begins with the spark of an idea. A character came up to me in my dreams and whispered, “write about me.” Now, this was nothing new to me—characters had been doing this to me off and on for over thirty years. For many years, their voices were drowned out by self-doubt and then by the incessant crying of babies and nagging of the waitressing job that (barely) helped to pay our bills. I watched a lot of TV in those days—days when I came home at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning, too exhausted from a long night’s shift to even think.

I watched reruns of Stargate Atlantis and Robin Hood on BBC’s On Demand channel. As I watched them, a strange thing happened. Characters began to speak again.

Major Lorne: “I’m the 2IC of Atlantis. Why wasn’t I on that mission?”

Sir Guy: “I’m not a monster. Tell them about the pain I was feeling.”

I began to write their stories, sometimes jumping out of bed at 3:00 despite having to be up at 7:00 to get the kids ready for school. I had discovered a world steeped in controversy, the world of fan fiction.

Now I don’t give a rat’s pitooty what anyone thinks of fan fiction—they can call the authors of fan fiction talentless hacks or world/character thieves all they want. Fan fiction brought me back to writing, a passion I had put by the wayside for many years in an effort to work and raise two boys.  For that alone, I will always be grateful, even if I never get published.

But not being published has never been a goal of mine. Since I was a little girl, I’ve wanted to write stories and share them with others. I was off on a side road for a bit, but now I’m back on the highway and I’m inviting you all to share the road trip with me. I plan to share my triumphs and my failures, my hard work and my goofing off. The road I am on is also steeped in controversy. It is the road to Indie publishing. So come along—sometimes the road will be straight and smooth, other times it will be bumpy or even washed away, but we will make it to our destination.