-A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.
By Jean de La Fontaine

I had a startling yet major moment in my life happen recently. For months I have tried to avoid discussing it too much. I wanted to look on the bright side of everything that has happened in my life since I first started writing my book but inevitably I have had to face my demons. I suppose, at some point, we all have to don’t we?

When I wrote my first book, Isle of Skye, I wasn’t really thinking about the publishing aspect. I couldn’t see the importance of self promoting, editing, and all the little things that go into actually publishing a book. I wrote a story, did some editing and moved on to the next book. I tried not to get too down on myself when the reviews came in, after all, everyone loved the story, who cares about a few typos and grammatical issues?

Unfortunately, after pouring my heart and soul into book two, Isle of Night, I found out how devastating those little mistakes can be. Right after I published it, I sat down and immediately saw three errors. I wanted to hit my head against the wall. How could I miss this? I just spent the last two months, every single day, going over the manuscript.

After reading a few of the reviews which said how great the story was but please get this thing edited so it can be amazing, I had a moment of self realization.

You see, I guess I always assumed that my friends and family would buy my books and maybe a few others but it wasn’t until the numbers started pouring in that I had to sit down and reevaluate a few things. I had to admit something that I still couldn’t quite say aloud.

I had to admit that I was an author.

I am now an author who has perfect strangers buying my books. It kills me that it took me this long to have this epiphany. I also realized that I had an obligation not only to my readers but myself. I have to to put forth the best version of my books so that instead of people noticing flaws they could simply get lost and enjoy the story.

I guess that’s why I picked the quote at the beginning of this blog post. I have finally realized that I was too scared to admit that I was really, truly, an author. I think I am finally ready to make the next step in my journey.

So, with that being said, I am pleased to announce, that I think I found an editor. I feel such an excitement and sense of relief now. Instead of stressing out over the first two books and starting the third, I can relax knowing that there is someone out there that is going to fix those pesky things that have been holding me back.

When I wrote the inquiry, you have no idea, how much restraint I had to show in my email. I tried to sound as professional as possible but what I really wanted to write was three very important questions:

1) Do you have a sense of humor?
2) Do long, rambling, emotional emails bother you?
3) Does the use of an occasional f-bomb offend you?

Nope, I didn’t write any of those because let’s face it, I didn’t want to scare the poor woman off. Eventually she’ll find out what a train wreck I can be but for now I want to lull her into complacency… ok, if she reads this, I hope she knows I’m just joking * See question one*. I guess it’s because these books are like my babies and I am fiercely protective of them but I know that I need help and if I have to pay a professional then so be it.

If all my reviewers have been honest, which I think they have, my story is pretty freaking good. So guess what poor punctuation, bad grammar, and the occasional typo? Your asses, otherwise known as my demons, are being kicked to the curb. A year from now I hope that my editing woes will be a mere fleck of dust in my life rear view mirror.

I also hope that more people will get to read my story that I created and find as much joy in reading it as I did writing it.