by Donna Every
One of the greatest joys I have as a writer is to create something from nothing. While I am an advocate of e-books, and do most of my reading that way, there is something special about holding a printed copy of your book in your hand and knowing that it was nothing but a thought in your head that you made into something tangible.
My novel What Now? is my latest example of this and it is special because it stretched me in a number of ways. After I finished my novel, The Price of Freedom, which was my first venture into historical romance writing, I had ideas for two follow up novels but they were not ready to be birthed. So I sought for inspiration for a story and the thought came to me to write a contemporary romance about an unfulfilled rock star.
Days later, I was driving my son to school and I heard the song “Faithfully” by Journey on the radio, which is about a musician being on the road and writing a letter to tell his wife that he was being faithful. I thought that was a sign but after the song finished and I turned to another station the song that was playing was “What Now?” By Rihanna and that confirmed the idea and gave me the title of the book as well.
About halfway through the book I found that it wasn’t flowing as I wanted and writing was difficult. By that time it was the middle of April, a month after Women’s International Day themed 2015 as the year to “Make It Happen”. So I threw out a challenge to my Facebook friends not to let April end without making something happen and I declared that I would finish the first draft of my book by April 30.
That was one of the hardest challenges that I ever faced because it meant writing about eighteen chapters in two weeks. Many nights I literally fell asleep at my computer, but I knew that I had to persevere and finish that first draft. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it and I also didn’t want to lose face with my Facebook friends.
In the end I completed the first draft on May 1 (a day later) and I had such a feeling of joy and accomplishment! Having written and re-written it, I am delighted that What Now? is finally being released on Amazon Kindle store this week and will soon be followed by the paperback that I can hold.
Not only has that experience shown me that I have the ability to persevere and make things happen, but it has given me the desire to share my story and encourage other people to do the same. So if you’re struggling to complete something, I have a free e-book Make It Happen – Success Strategies on my website that you can download to help you Make It Happen.
WHAT NOW? can be purchased in eBook format for: