
I've had other moments since. Other moments where I pushed the publish button. When I signed my first books for strangers, and beloved friends. When I gave a first interview, won that first award, attended my first Festival of Books. I watched others take the leap, sitting right beside them in some instances, and seeing that same light in their eyes. It's a light that never dims.
When your first book is published, something changes inside you. If you write, and publish, simply for the joy of sharing the stories inside you, the joy never ebbs. And, when you tap the well, dipping into the flow of cosmic creativity, you cannot stopper it again. The process changes you and you change the world, one story at a time.
Every story I write is special to me. Each one holds pieces of my heart and my soul. The Treasure of Ravenwood will always be special because I wrote it for my daughter and because it was my very first published book. Even as I return to Ravenwood this month, I experience that same indescribable feeling all over again. Even as my daughter and I write another children's book we thought up, just yesterday, we see the way a story can change the lives of both the author and the reader.
Then, I was new to self-publishing and riding the wave of possibility. Now, I am still riding that wave, finding my footing, hanging ten now and then, and no less thrilled to be on this adventure. I hope you'll continue to hang out with me, and maybe even purse that dream of yours. C'mon in! The water's fine!