A writer who won’t give up! (part 1)

I finally feel confident enough to share my experience from the past six months. Here goes…

About a year ago, I had been feeling so lucky that the self-publishing revolution was taking off at exactly the same time that I had decided to discontinue my IT career and dive headfirst into my long-lost writing passion. I wrote a book about my insane past, researched and selected a self-publishing “services” company, published my book online, and pursued all marketing opportunities that seemed like a good fit.

Then.

Nothing.

I guess I had been feeling a little too lucky. Sadly, I had to accept the fact that my book “Fisheye” wasn’t going to earn the sales that I had hoped for.

Things were definitely not going as planned. It was December 2012 and I needed to come up with a Plan B. Fast.

I was living in Santa Cruz, California at the time. Via Facebook, I reconnected with a former girlfriend of my father’s (from 30 years ago) and told her about my situation. I let her know that I was officially in panic mode.

Her name is Hillary and she lives in Denver, Colorado. She told me her heart was wide open and to get myself to Colorado as soon as possible. I accepted her offer but not before we exchanged more messages. She finally revealed that she had been battling stage 3 breast cancer for the past year.

I said “Hillary! Your health comes first. I had no idea you were struggling!”

She told me she felt like she was over the worst part (diagnosis, mastectomy, chemotherapy) and truly welcomed the opportunity to have me in Colorado.

After a few more back and forth conversations about what would be best for both of us, I packed up my Prius and my life in California and drove to Colorado.

To be continued…