It is strange how things come about. I was doing a job which I really enjoyed helping people get through difficult situations by using hypnotherapy, counselling, NLP and life coaching techniques - a very worthwhile and rewarding job.
Like all people do, our family had a number of stressful years, and I lost my Dad in April 2015 - the grief and stress took their toll and I ended up having back problems which have gone on to give me other health issues, which in turn led to a depressive state - needing to keep my mind occupied, I revisited some stories I wrote 21 years ago on a very ancient word processor (after losing my Mum to cancer).
When you read something that you have written so long ago it was like reading someone else’s work - quite fascinating. The first thing that occurred to me was that I can do better than this! So I set myself an exercise to take one of the stories and improve it. As I wrote it, the story morphed into something very different and the characters took on a life of their own. It is written rather like a soap opera and has ended up being a bit of a Victorian Melodrama with lots of twists and turns. I got a few people to read it and much to my surprise the feedback I had from them was positive and the general comment was - you need to publish this - Really?
I know that I’m not the greatest wordsmith in the world but I hope I write an entertaining story, which is what I set out to do.
I had no idea about publishing an Ebook so I scoured the internet and eventually sent some sample chapters to the lovely people at Troubadour/Matador publishing - they read them and said they would be delighted to represent me and help me publish my book - wow!
It's been a long process, even with help it is quite hard work and the copy editing was interesting - everything is a learning process and I have learnt so much.
I have fulfilled a lifelong dream of becoming a published author, of not just one book, but two, Mask of Innocence and The Ghost of Hearts-Hope. I am now working on my third book, so watch this space...
Thank you for reading, Marion Shepherd