Wending Wednesday: The Journey to Publication Part 2

When we left off, my mother-in-law had just passed away.  I was grieving with nothing but time on my hands.  I decided to write again, something I hadn't done since college.

Thing One and Thing Two were getting close to reading age, so I wanted to write something for them.  Something they could relate to and would love.  I started writing Dena Powers: Superhero?  I created characters named after my girls, who had their personalities and physical traits.  They were super excited.

It kind of started out as a hobby; I'd sit down and write between getting the kids to and from school, cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping.  When everyone was at home, I'd put it aside.  But soon I was at 50 pages and I said to myself wow, this is turning into a real book.

So, I kept writing.  That 50 pages turned into 100, then 150, and about 50,000 words later, it was a novel, and I thought a pretty good one.

One day I left it at my dad's house accidentally.  He took a look and said, "This is pretty good stuff.  We should try to get you published."

So I edited.

A couple weeks later my dad emailed me: Have you seen this? 

It was an article about a new contest that was being put on by Amazon.com and Penguin.  It was called the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest.  ABNA for short.

We all, (me, my dad, my husband) decided that I should enter my little superhero novel, so I did.

Stay tuned next week for part three.

To read part one, click here.

Below is a video I made awhile back about why I started the journey.

Thursday Theme Day

Coffee. 

In my superhero series, book three to be exact, a new coffee shop opens, and the kids start to frequent it.

In Never Eighteen, Kaylee works at Starbucks in the Barnes and Noble.

In Lockdown, the police officers are offered coffee by the shooter's mother.

In Cheesy, there is always discussion between Cheesy and her father over coffee.

Not so much in the current WIP.

Any other themes that frequently end up in your work?