I am Unapologetically Writing These Books for Myself

I have been writing novels for a little over a decade now, and one constant I know to be true from the very beginning is that I write the books I want to read. My ability to write a smooth and quality story has evolved and grown over the years, but even if each story I’ve created existed in the most polished and perfect version I could achieve to date, they still wouldn’t appeal to every reader. The fact is, no book does.

While I love sharing my stories with family, friends, and ultimately the world, as a stay-at-home wife and mother who also homeschools her children, I dedicate a great deal of my life to serving others, so writing, first and foremost, will always be something I do unapologetically for myself.

A reader might find that my story is too descriptive, not sexy enough, or didn't end the way they would have liked. Maybe it's too predictable, not realistic, or too sappy. While I respect every reader's opinion and in no way view those opinions as invalid or wrong, I must say, it doesn't change how I feel about my writing.

If you know what goes into building a story, fleshing out characters, and creating lives and a world that didn't exist until you put the proverbial pen to paper, than you know how much heart and soul goes into novel writing. If you are a reader and not also a writer, you might not fully understand the length in which an author must go to create a work of fiction. And that's okay. But I don't feel the need to seek a broader scope of approval based on what readers were hoping to find when they opened my book. If they don't find what they were looking for, then I fully respect that, because in the end, my books will always be about what I was missing, not what the literary world was asking for more of.

As I gear up to start work on my next novel, I can't help but wonder what my readers will think. It's already so different from the majority of the books I've published before. Who knows, maybe it will be a bigger hit than the others. Only time will tell. But I'm excited knowing that, as a self-published author, I can choose which direction I go in and tell the stories that evolve as I write them, rather than being restricted by outside expectations.

I hope that in this journey more readers will find my novels who love my stories and characters as much as I do and can appreciate my work as it evolves and from one book to the next. I already have a great group of readers who feel this way and it excites me to know that more readers are sure to be out there just waiting to discover the worlds I've created for them to enjoy.