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First draft, round two!

Here we are again. The completion of a messy and glorious first draft of a novel! It’s been a little over two years since I completed the very first draft of my first novel. The Journey of a First Draft

“I’d been warned that writing a second book was difficult but writing Legendary felt nearly impossible.” Stephanie Garber

When I read these words as part of the author’s acknowledgments in a book I’d just finished reading, an immediate “Yes!” came out of my mouth. I was in the throes of the first draft of my own book two.

I’m not sure why I thought writing the first draft of book two would be easier. I mean, I remember distinctly how harrowing it was the first time around, but surely the hundreds (literally) of hours I spent writing book one would count for something, right?

In some ways, yes, I knew a whole lot more coming into round two than my naïve and blissfully ignorant self did back in 2020. But, as Stephanie Garber alluded to, writing book two in a series comes with a whole set of heavier weights.

Despite the challenges, this blog and my intent are always to uplift and encourage. Even now, I hear Taimani shouting, “Fight we must!” And, of course, the echo must always be, “Win we shall!”

Plus, this is a celebration post; the first draft of Win We Shall, all 70,000+ messy words, is written.

*deep exhale*

Before I jump head-first into the revision process, I’d like to keep with my pattern of celebrating milestones with sharing. Here are my top three takeaways from writing a first draft, round two:

Community makes all the difference

At some point during the revision process for Fight We Must, I was able to connect with a small group of writers – Gordon, Richard, and Shala. For a few months, we met weekly, sharing a few chapters and giving feedback as alpha readers to each other’s stories.

This time around, the core of the writing group expanded and truly began to embody its name: Mosaic. For the past year, six of us have been meeting up weekly to share our writing, critique, discuss, and most importantly encourage each other along the way. We’re a diverse bunch – a Trini, a Trini living in Jamaica, a Jamaican living in the U.S., a South African in the U.S., plus a Brit, and myself. Special shoutout to our UK writer who joins us every week at 2:00 AM (or later) her time!

We’re all writing different stories ranging from fantasy to non-fiction to women’s fiction and more. But at the core, we all share the same values – and that is our true power together.

I can’t wait to introduce our group and each writer to you later this year when we officially launch our project to the public. Stay tuned!

I’d also like to thank Zakyla for joining me on a few “writing days” where we’d move from coffee shops to libraries, making fun days full of writing.

Plotting versus “pantsing”

I wish I was a plotter – that I could outline and masterfully outline my novel in advance. I tried… many times. I even bought a beautiful tri-fold board that I intended to fill with sticky notes for each scene, mapping out the story and making writing the draft a breeze. Alas… a plotter, I am not.

“Pantsing” in writing is to write by the seam of your pants. It’s also referred to as discovery writing. For better or for worse, this is how I write. For the life of me, I cannot figure out a scene until I throw my characters in and see what they will do.

Quite frankly, I will work with whatever keeps the momentum going and gets words on the page – but I still have author dreams that one day I’ll be able to plot in advance.

Readers make all the effort worth it!

As I was getting ready to publish Fight We Must, I remember having a moment of panic – “What if no one reads this? What if people hate it?” Gordon may say that I had several moments of panic.

Since then, one of my greatest joys has been to receive an email or message from readers in any form or fashion. Sometimes it has been a reader reaching out with congrats, encouragement, or simple pleasure to find a values-based book. Sometimes it was a parent, thanking me for writing something that spurred meaningful conversations with the youngsters in their home. I even connected to a few writers, which is special in its own right.

Let me also give a special thanks to each person who took the time to give a rating or review online. In the book world, ratings mean a great deal – and I appreciate the support!

Here’s an example that makes “my glad bag buss”…

“This is one of those rare books that you can feel confidant handing off to your children and know it will enrich, encourage and build them.”

Bottom line: writing is a journey.

I recently read Nova by Chuck Black. In the opening scene, a father tells his daughter, “The journey of a thousand miles doesn’t begin with a step – it begins with a dream.” I still believe that the “next right step” is always the most important, but Chuck was right – if you don’t have a dream, a purpose, or a mission, you’ll never make it through the long, winding journey.

As Dr. Woodroffe, President of Congress-WBN, has declared many times, “The power of the journey has forged us and made us strong!”

May we all continue journeying and moving forward from strength to strength until the End.

Fight we must but win we shall!

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The Rocky Road of Revision

It’s been almost a year to the date since finishing the first draft of my first novel. You can read about that year-long process here.

If you would have asked me at that time where I’d be in April 2022, my eyes would have sparked with determination and I would have talked about publishing the first book by the end of 2021 and having a completed first draft of the second book in the series. After all, the first draft had to be the hardest part of writing, right? And if I could write 81,000 words from scratch in 12 months, editing and fixing the words would be a lot easier than writing on a blank page, surely.

Oh, how wrong I was!

Truth be told, I probably kept 10% (or less) of what I wrote in the first draft during the revision process. It was an almost total rewrite. It was brutal; it was frustrating; and, it was also full of discovery.

Looking back, the journey of the first draft was really me getting to know my characters and understand what their journey would be. For any aspiring writers out there, I will say there is a more efficient way to do this. Before starting the first draft, invest in plotting and thinking about the characters. The better you can do this upfront, the less painful it is during revision. Certainly, writing the same novel five times over is not sustainable.

Onto the next step.

Navigating this rocky, uphill trail of revision was extremely difficult. Perhaps I’ve already said that enough? Well, it feels like the same broken record that played throughout 2021. In fact, oftentimes the more progress I made, the further I felt from the finish line.

But despite that sludge through mud, it was not my truth. I remember seeing this image sometime during the year and it was something I would come back to often for perspective.

Yes, it’s important to pull back and see the forest through the trees.

Taking a look at the forest, you may be wondering, where I am in the process now? In December 2021 I finished pushing through my rewrite (aka revision) and had a completed second draft on my hands. Yes! I did survive.

This took a little over eight months, but in fairness, there were a few months in there where we were moving our family internationally, I started a new job and all the many moving parts that you might imagine with those two major life changes. Writing had to pause for my own sanity.

After having a second draft in December, I took another three months to read it through and do another revision. Some rewriting of scenes and even a chapter or two, but this one went quicker comparatively.

Now, I just finished sending this third draft out to a handful of wonderful volunteer beta readers. This is giving me a chance to pause and reflect. Hence this new blog post.

Already, I know there are a million and one things I need to fix. Beta readers surely must possess the patience of saints to read through roughness. But I’m looking forward to the good, bad, and ugly of what they have to say about the story overall.

I know I’ll have at least one more major revision after my betas before I get the novel ready to send to an editor. I’d be lying if I said there weren’t (many) times I’ve thought about just chucking the whole thing out the proverbial window. But there’s something to be said about seeing something through to the end and having enough courage to publish even if it’s imperfect. I’m resolved to keep moving forward.

Before I close, I’ll share three things that have helped me tremendously during this revision process.

#1 Accountability

I continued using an online critiquing platform to post my chapters and review other works, and that did help – even though it was extremely time-consuming. Even more important for me though, was a small group of writers-in-progress that met weekly online for one hour. Even if availability sometimes ebbed and flowed, sending out one chapter a week to this small group helped to create a cadence and level of accountability that were invaluable.

Big up to Gordon, Richard, and Shala!

#2 Investment

Thanks to this small group, over the course of 30 weeks, it was no longer my blood, sweat, and tears alone invested. My story now held the fingerprints of others. At this point, I began to feel honor-bound to keep moving forward.

#3 Hope

When I consider how far my writing has come from the very first chapter I wrote in 2020 to today, it is like chalk and cheese (West Indians tend to put more flavor on sayings like “apples and oranges”). It is with this encouragement in mind, that I allow my heart to fill with hope that my final version will be much improved from where it is now.

Thanks to everyone who has continued to make this journey with me. Writing can often feel like a solitary endeavor sitting at a keyboard every night, but I have a deep love and appreciation for the wider community which includes all of you!

May each of you see movement forward and progress both big and small on your own personal challenge projects. May you also see beauty along the journey!

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The Journey of a First Draft

I’ve always loved reading. From age four, I slept with books like stuffed toys. At age ten, I read The Iliad and The Odyssey, because it looked interesting and I wanted to conquer a “huge” book.

I co-authored a notebook series with my BFF in elementary school about the adventures of two twins, Sara and Clara. Unfortunately, its readership only extended to my eight-year old daughter when she found the yellowed pages in an old box decades later.

For one reason or another, my college and career choices took me deep into the business world. Writing was a powerful communication tool, but never more than a short-form way to express ideas and conduct business. Twice I collated strong ideas into a “book”, but the truth be told, they were closer to a collection of blog posts around topics which I was passionate about. I had moments of poetry and life-journey captures, but these were again communication tools versus deliberate story-telling.

Enter 2020, the year that turned everyone and everything on its head.

Ambitious goals like completing my first triathlon before I turned the ripe old age of forty came to a screeching halt. From my home base in the Caribbean, our country went into complete lockdown from mid-March to fight the raging pandemic.

But as the saying goes, one should never let a good crisis go to waste, right? Sure, the first few weeks of lockdown I jumped into the throes of baking, home projects and exercising by YouTube like many others. However, I had six months until my birthday and I wanted to accomplish something that was a true stretch goal.

Thankfully not the device I used for my first draft, but reflections of the past.
This beauty resides at The Dirt Oven in Tobago, W.I.

The idea of writing a novel had been percolating in my mind and spirit for years. My daughter inherited the same love and passion for reading, with a lean towards the world of the magical and fantasy. Through her, I jumped head first into the realm of Hogwarts and went to places like the Lost Cities. Through her, a desire to tell stories was truly kindled. I wanted both her and my son (if I can ever manage to stoke his own love of reading) to cherish stories that celebrated diverse heroes and heroines who walked in the same values we held dear as a family.

COVID was the trigger event that finally slowed me down long enough to write that first chapter.

The first few weeks of writing were a whirlwind. I found writing software that was built for writers. I listened to a YouTube series on creative writing from my favorite author. I tried a rough outline for the novel, but soon realized that I am a discovery writer and simply dove into meeting my characters and the plot as I wrote.

A few chapters and a couple thousand words in, I was feeling great. It’s not so hard, right? Oh, how wrong I was.

I learned about the importance of critique groups in one of the lectures I listened to. Being in lockdown, I searched for a group virtually. What I found was a beautiful online community of writers with a well-structured and managed platform to give and receive critiques, talk and much more. I posted the first chapter of my treasured novel to the forum and BAM, my naïve eyes were finally opened.

Thankfully, the feedback I received was laced with heavy doses of encouragement. Most experienced creatives realize that it’s a long, often arduous journey, that requires lots of love and support along the way.

My husband was a rock, reading each chapter with interest, but restraining himself from offering too much advice or feedback that would have inevitably stopped me short. I’m hoping my daughter will eventually be a beta reader, but even her interest in naming characters or randomly reading over my shoulder to catch something helped. My son committed to reading the book after I make a million dollars. I guess it’s good to have goals. Haha.

A few months into writing, I finally adjusted my goal of completing my first novel within six months to finishing my first draft within six months. Eventually, months passed with all of the ups and downs of 2020. A year later, in March 2021, I reached thirty chapters and 82,854 words of my completed first draft.

Exhale.

I’m listening more closely to advice, while still staying true to myself and keeping balanced in the process. Part of that advice was to take a break and let the first draft “sit” for a bit before jumping into revision mode. So after I finished the draft, I took time to build out some marketing assets like social media accounts and an author website. Afterall, this far in, I am fully committed to birthing and publishing this baby. I’m also taking some time to reflect on the journey thus far and some of the lessons I’ve learned.

Taking time to reflect. Pull above the noise and demands. Take a breath.
Tobago, W.I.

Without further ado or introduction, let me conclude this post with these reflections.

Make use of what you have

If you wait for the perfect time, the perfect place or the perfect idea, it’ll never happen. I had a good, basic idea for a story. I set up a folding table in a corner of our front room, next to my husband’s desk and two makeshift virtual school stations. I don’t have a nice study or a spot to write peacefully behind closed doors. But I do have headphones and a consistent spot to create a daily routine.

The power of cracks of time

I have a full-time demanding job. I’m a mom to two teenagers with active lives and interests. I’m a wife, a friend and someone who is now officially in her forties, which means I need to keep fit and healthy. I’m becoming a writer in the midst of all of this. I wish I could say that I’m an early bird who writes in the hours before the busyness of the day hits, but alas, that is not me. I write in the cracks of time which means that I may have an hour here, twenty minutes there, three hours on a Sunday. I might muse on the plot during my commute time. But every little bit adds up. Doing little steps and making effort every day is what matters. It’s about building a trajectory and keeping momentum.

It takes a community

No man is an island. And even if you live on an island, nothing survives in isolation. The input from my online writing community is invaluable, and even that is an understatement. My family members are my biggest supporters and cheerleaders, having a fan base before ever publishing is a treasure.

Once I get through this next draft, I’ll be delving into the publishing process and expanding my net of support even further. I’ll need to find an editor, cover artist, beta readers, reviewers, promoters and eventually fans. Each and every person contributes to the overall community of what it takes to be an author.

I am thankful, even at this early stage.

Be patient… and kind

A year into the writing journey, I am a much more patient and kind reader. I also read a lot wider and specifically look for indies alongside traditionally published authors. Writing has expanded my world.

I have also learned to be more patient and kind with myself. It’s okay to be naïve, it’s okay to take longer than expected, it’s okay for the first draft to be a little crappy. The important thing is to learn, keep moving, and continue improving and refining. One of my favorite writing proverbs is, the only thing that can’t be edited is a blank page.

This special bloom was our first dragon fruit flower. We planted a cutting in May 2020, and it bloomed in April 2021 – almost matching my own first draft journey. The incredibly fragrant blossom comes out at night and only lasts a few hours. By the next day it closes and quickly dries up and withers to make way for the developing fruit.

The writing journey has also spilled over into my professional life. I pay more attention to detail and presentation, especially in all forms of written communication. I have a lot more patience for rough ideas and thoughts that come in seed form. The end of a matter rarely looks like the beginning.

In the end, my encouragement to others is to walk boldly in purpose. Be unafraid to plunge into areas that make you uncomfortable, that stretch every area of your skills and capability. But always be balanced, remembering and prioritizing the things that are most important in life.

Thank you for joining me on my own journey. With any luck, I hope to share Book 1 of my first trilogy later in 2021.

Special thanks to:

Writing platform: Scrivener www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview
Favorite author: Brandon Sanderson https://www.youtube.com/user/BrandSanderson
Writing community: Scribophile www.scribophile.com

Publishing Real Talk

The Path to Publishing: A Guide for New Authors

A question I’ve been asked many times over the years is how I publish. When I started writing back in 2020, I admit that I had no clue what publishing looked like (or writing, for that matter, as I would soon discover). But my core purpose was clear: to write stories full of the values I wanted my kids to see, stories they would love. That’s why my first piece of advice when it comes to publishing is simple but crucial: Don’t do it for the money.

Yes, you can make money eventually, but for most indie and traditional authors, it’ll be a long road to get there. If you want to sustain your writing journey, you need to know your “why” beyond income.

Understanding Your Publishing Options

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty of writing and publishing, let’s talk about the two main paths you can take. Traditional publishing means working with established publishing houses – they handle the costs, provide professional editing, and offer marketing support. But you’ll need to find an agent first, and you’ll have less creative control over your work.

Then there’s independent (or indie) publishing, the path I chose. You maintain complete creative control and earn higher royalties per book, but you’re responsible for all the upfront costs and marketing. It’s a faster route to market, but every decision – and every task – falls on your shoulders.

The Writing Journey: Your First Steps

Let me share something I learned early on: don’t do this alone. Even if you write your first draft in solitary confinement (as many of us do), the quicker you can plug into a small, trusted group of other writers, the better. I mention Mosaic Writing Group in almost every blog post and in the acknowledgments of everything I’ve written. Community is that important to every single step of the process.

During these early stages, I’m a big fan of “always be learning.” I listened to Brandon Sanderson’s course on writing (which he shares generously for free on YouTube), podcasts like Fiction Writing Made Easy and Novel Marketing, and devoured books like Save the Cat Writes a Novel and Everybody Writes. But here’s an important tip: don’t listen to so much that you get paralyzed. Pick a few resources, learn what you can, and keep moving forward.

Writing Your Book: The Real Deal

Let’s talk about what actually happens when you sit down to write. Your first draft? It’s going to be ugly. That’s okay – it’s supposed to be. Whether you start with an outline (if you’re a plotter) or dive straight in (if you’re a pantser), the key is getting that entire first draft down without editing as you go.

I use Scrivener for my first drafts, but you can use whatever works for you – pen and paper, Word, Google Docs, anything. Some writers prefer to complete their entire first draft before showing it to anyone. That’s fine, but I found that sharing a chapter a week with my writing group kept me accountable and gave me early feedback that proved invaluable.

Personal Note: In my first book, I only kept about 10% of what I wrote in my first draft. That’s pretty extreme, I admit, but I had a lot to learn. Things got better with my second book.

The Editing Marathon

Here’s where things get serious – and potentially expensive. Professional editing isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s essential. There are different types: developmental editing (looking at big-picture story elements), copy editing (grammar and spelling), and line editing (style and clarity). For my first book, I went through four complete drafts before even reaching the beta reader stage. My second book needed fewer rounds, but still required multiple passes.

Beta readers are your secret weapon – they’re not just friends and family, but neutral readers who can give you honest feedback about what works and what doesn’t. Their input led to some of the most important improvements in my books.

The Indie Publishing Path: What It Really Takes

If you choose to go indie like I did, here’s what you need to know about the costs and processes:

Professional Editing

Remember when I said it gets expensive? Professional editing is your first big investment, typically ranging from $500 to over $1,000. Don’t try to skip this step – neither your own brain nor Grammarly can replace a professional editor’s expertise.

Cover Design

This is your next major investment, and again, don’t try to cut corners. Unless you’re a trained graphic designer, budget at least a few hundred dollars for your cover. You’ll need different versions for ebook and paperback formats, and potentially more if you plan to do hardcover or audiobook versions.

Other Needs

Other things you’ll need before publishing: ISBNs (based on the country you publish in, for the U.S. this is Bowker, and you’ll need a separate ISBN for each format of your book), author bio, back matter, blurb/description, marketing materials (website, social media, newsletter). You’ll also need to format your book. While you can pay someone for this, I found tools like Atticus (I have a Windows machine) or Vellum (Mac only) easy to use.

Publish!

There are two main platforms I recommend using: Amazon and IngramSpark (which covers all other retailers from places like Barnes and Noble to indie bookstores to libraries). The publishing part is actually “free” because I think even Ingram has removed their costs at this point. Be forewarned that there are a million little decisions you’ll need to make in this process: publish date, categories, price, and many others. One of the big decisions for ebooks is whether you want to be part of Kindle Unlimited – which means you cannot have your ebook available anywhere else. I started in KU, but ended up coming out of it because I eventually want to sell books direct on my website and elsewhere.

The Reality of Earnings

I don’t mean to start and end this blog with money talk, but I think it’s important to be transparent about what you can expect to earn. For my roughly 80,000-word books, the printing costs alone are $6-7 per book. After various platform fees and discounts, I make about $3 per book sold on Amazon and roughly 25 cents through IngramSpark.

There’s a group I belong to called 20booksto50K. It’s built on the premise that it takes about 20 books to build a sustainable income. For me, this is my retirement plan: publishing 20 books before I leave the corporate world (~1 per year).

Why It’s All Worth It

Let me end where we began – with your “why.” My author brand crystallized around “Writing to Uplift the Future.” This drives everything I do, from story selection to marketing decisions. When you’re clear about your purpose, the challenges of publishing become steps on your journey rather than obstacles in your path.

Stories are important. Whether you choose traditional or indie publishing, remember that your words have the power to impact readers’ lives. That’s worth every bit of effort this journey requires.

Want to learn more about publishing or share your own journey? Drop a comment below or sign up for my newsletter. I’d love to hear your story.

Expanding Horizons

Hello, world! It’s been so long since I’ve written a blog post that I feel a nostalgic greeting is in order. Did I really not write a single blog in 2024?? While my words may not have made it to my website, I promise that my fingers were consistently flying across my keyboard. Let me share the journey with you.

2024: A Year of Stories Unfolding

The K’Luma Series Continues

Win We Shall was published in May 2024, and my heart still swells when I think about it. One of the most touching reviews I received recently was this: “The series has also been very impacting and encouraging. The posture of the characters has fortified my own.” This is why I write. Even if I never sell “a million copies” of the series, finding my raison d’être (reason/purpose) for writing in this first series is something I treasure.

(Quick author note: If you’ve read either of the K’Luma books, would you consider leaving a review on Amazon? Even just a star rating helps other readers find these stories of hope!)

The journey continues with Book 3, where I’ve drafted over 50,000 words, exploring two different points of view. This final book needs to capture the Mountain Kingdom (a picture of Zion) just right. While the perfect flow hasn’t emerged yet, I’m learning that sometimes the most important stories need time to mature, like fine cocoa beans in the Caribbean sun.

New Adventures Begin

Speaking of cocoa… A new story has taken root in my heart: a series about a 12-year-old Trini girl fighting to save her cocoa farm. What started as a middle-grade novel has blossomed into something even more exciting – The Cocoa Club, a potential TV series! Thanks to a notice from the Atlanta Writers Club about a screenwriting fellowship, Gordon and I spent the latter part of 2024 crafting our first TV pilot.

Some timely inspiration: breakfast, inclusive of cocoa tea at Cafe Mariposa, Lopinot, Trinidad, Nov. 2024

A Legacy of Love

To crown the year, I embarked on perhaps my most personal project yet: writing my Grandma’s memoir for her 90th birthday. Through countless midnight writing sessions, hours of recorded memories, and the invaluable support of my family and Mosaic Writing Group, we captured nine decades of history, faith, and love. The book is now at the printer, ready for its family launch on February 1st. (I’m on pins and needles hoping Grandma loves it!)

Looking Ahead to 2025

As Solomon wisely wrote: “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” (Proverbs 16:9) Ultimately, only the Grace knows the way, but here’s what’s on the horizon:

The Cocoa Club Dreams

We’re taking bold steps to bring The Cocoa Club to screens everywhere. Whether through the fellowship or other paths, Gordon and I are committed to writing the entire series while seeking the right team to bring this vision to life. As I shared in my fellowship application:

“My long-term goal is to create compelling content across multiple platforms that serves as a beacon of hope in an increasingly chaotic world. While I began this journey as a novelist writing young adult and middle-grade fiction, I recognize the powerful impact that television and visual media have on young audiences. I aim to tell stories that ground young people in enduring values while igniting their vision for the future.”

Books in Progress

The Cocoa Club will exist in both TV and novel form – I’m currently revising the first book draft to align with our expanded vision for the series. And yes, Book 3 of the K’Luma series continues to simmer, waiting for just the right moment to reveal its full flavor.

Meanwhile, I’m celebrating alongside my fellow Mosaic writers as their stories develop and move toward publication. There’s something magical about being part of a community of storytellers, each weaving tales of hope and purpose.

Stay Connected!

Want to be the first to know about The Cocoa Club developments, new book releases, and other writing adventures? Subscribe to my newsletter! Each quarter, I share exclusive updates, behind-the-scenes peeks at my writing process, and occasional Caribbean recipes that inspire my stories.

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Cheers to the future! Thanks for being on this journey with me.

I’ll end with two images from a hike with family and friends to close out 2024. Adventure, community, fresh air, and mountains… this is my happy place.

Win We Shall Update

Homecoming and Looking Ahead

I’m drafting this update while traveling back home after a transformational sojourn to the land that inspired Jamroq. The trip has been full of impartation and inspiration, connecting to people and a land we love.

Even better, before leaving home, I was able to send out draft two of Win We Shall to my beta readers. It was a great milestone to hit, and it allowed me to use the trip to start outlining and thinking about the next set of stories I want to write.

I’m also happy to share that during the trip, my developmental editor, a.k.a. Gordon, finished a full read-through of Win We Shall. Here’s a picture of him reading on the beach. His vote for my next project is to continue the K’Luma series, but we shall see…

THE JOURNEY

I’m not sure there is a more appropriate phrase for these first two books than Fight we must, but win we shall! From my very first blog post, I described the process of writing and publishing as a journey, and it’s true. A harrowing and challenging trek on the hardest days, but a journey full of Light, hope, joy, and most importantly community.

I’ll give a little spoiler to say that my dedication for book two will be for my writing family – Mosaic. There is a core of us, all in various stages of our author and creative journey, who meet weekly to progress our stories, hold each other accountable, and most of all, encourage each other. Their fingerprints are all over my books.

WIN WE SHALL

As things progress, I am anticipating a release for Win We Shall in early 2024 – where the heart-pounding adventures of Charlotte and Sonos will continue. No spoilers here, but Charlotte still has two sisters to save amid an Empire thrown into chaos with the Emperor’s curse.

Over and over, the best feedback I’ve received on Fight We Must, and also from those who have been tracking Win We Shall through the early drafts, has been the excitement around seeing eternal values brought to life through a story.

“This is one of those rare books that you can feel confident handing off to your children and know it will enrich, encourage and build them.”
Amazon review for Fight We Must

I can’t wait to share this exciting sequel with you.

Onwards, upwards

PS – I’m trying to be more deliberate about sharing updates and keeping in touch through my newsletter. Sign up below if you haven’t already.

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Fight We Must

Two unlikely heroes.

One impossible quest.

Charlotte, a village girl from one of the conquered isles, is the last hope to restore her family after the Emperor ripped them apart.

Sonos, the second son of the Emperor, is on the run after accidentally killing a man, and more importantly defying his father.

From their once-sheltered lives, neither ever imagined they might be heroes; but a powerful force will bind them together and set them to a purpose that will change the world.

Fight We Must is a Teen Fantasy flavored with elements of Sci-Fi and Steampunk. It is the first book of the K’Luma series, by debut author, Heidi Alert.

The setting is the K’Luma Empire, a fantasy world, but the conquered isles draw strong inspiration from the Caribbean, especially Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica. You’ll also see reflections of the Samoan culture, including their beautiful language.

If you’re looking for a values-based story that the whole family will enjoy, dive into the K’Luma world and learn why we must fight!

Link to purchase on Amazon.

Help spread the word on social media: IG: @heidialert FB: heidialertauthor

Acknowledgments

As I write this blog post, I also feel compelled to share my acknowledgments for the book. I know they usually are reserved for after someone reads the story, but you all deserve to be seen and acknowledged before, during, and after. So here we go…

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others.” This African proverb captures the heart and soul of my author journey.

So often, writing is a solitary venture. Staring at a blank screen, writing for hours on end, toiling to bring an idea to life. Quite frankly, although I’ve been a reader all my life, I never knew what it would take to turn a basic storyline into a novel with characters, plot, pacing, dialogue, and all the million little pieces required for a finished novel.

But we’re here! And please indulge me a few acknowledgments to those who made this possible.

Firstly, I want to thank you, dear reader. Without you, everything is for naught. I hoped you loved the story and felt connected to Charlotte, Sonos, and the rest of the gang. But more than anything, my greatest wish is for the words to inspire, give hope and make you think.

As an indie author, one of the greatest ways you can help support and ensure that more stories like this come to life is to leave a review. Every single rating and recommendation does a lot to help spread the word, improve rankings and help this book reach a wide pool of readers. I’d love to connect on social media, and if you’re able to engage and spread the word to your own networks, those efforts also mean a great deal! You can find links and contact info on my website: www.heidialert.com

While I took great liberties in the storytelling, the unseen realm is real. The core of this story, inclusive of the title, is linked to my Congress-WBN community. You’ll also see inspiration from Moses, Joshua, and Isaiah, just to name a few. I hope those who know the “thing behind the thing” enjoy all the references that you know and love!

You may have also picked up multiple references to the Caribbean – especially Jamaica with flavors from Trinidad & Tobago, where I lived for eleven years. Jumping oceans to the Pacific, Samoa was the inspiration for Kimwaki – I simply love their language.

I already named my family in the dedication, but I must again acknowledge them here. Gordon, aside from being my best friend and confidant, you are my biggest supporter and champion. You were the first one to read my rawest attempt and the last to read my final version before going off to the editor. You were my developmental editor and helped ensure all the characters had an arc, not just a two-dimensional journey. Our life together in Trinidad & Tobago was infused with your own Guyanese-Jamaican roots, and helped make this story all the richer.

Zakyla, it was your drawing and naming of Charlotte that first inspired the main character for this story. Your avid reading also gave this mama a deep-seated desire to provide clean fantasy options for you, and others like you, to devour. I can’t wait to read your own book one day!

Zhaun, whether you meant it as a challenge or not, your declaration that “I’ll read the book after you sell a million copies,” helped me to think and dream bigger. Thank you.

To my alpha readers who stuck with the story through the earliest version on Scrib, thank you! Special shout-out to Kathryn Elliott and Kalten Browning! Even in those rough chapters, you saw what was possible.

To my weekly writing group, Mosaic, who walked with me through the grueling rewrite of version two. Thank you, Richard Ince, Shala Alert, and Gordon Alert.

To my beta readers: even though it was more polished than versions one and two, it was still quite rough around the edges. Notwithstanding, you found a way to both encourage and challenge me. Kevin Khelawan, Ruth Rudden, Kalten, and Allison Browning – thank you!

Sara Coombes, my editor extraordinaire – thank you for the extra time to fix the final holes and rewrite the last chapter about 20 times. Your flexibility and collaborative approach were wonderful to bring the final polish to the book.

My dear Alert ones… Grayson, Shala, and Koen, you worked magic, passion, and grace to come up with an amazing cover. Koen, I love that you made your voice heard and became a champion of the book! Thank you all for putting your fingerprints all over this venture – it’s better because of all three of you.

Special mention to Ilya Spencer who also played a part in the journey to a finished product.

To my Gilliland crew: Mom and Dad (a.k.a. Mr. and Mrs. Kim), Crystal, Brock… you guys are my rocks. You’ve always believed in me, encouraged me, and loved me through every up, down, turn, and phase of life. Thank you! Special shout out to Becky, Josh, and all my Pittsburgh nieces: Molly, Emily, Addy, Leah, and Lib. Love yinz.

To all my friends and family, too numerous to mention each by name, who spoke life and encouragement along the way – thank you for being part of the process in every way both big and small.

Lastly, to my roots and community: Elijah Centre. Plain and simple, without you, this book would not exist. You are the heart, soul, and spirit — the essence — of both the story and the author. This is for you, with all of my love.

The Finish Line

I am incredibly happy to share that I have crossed the finish line of my first marathon in the book publishing journey! Wow. What a process it has been. Even as I write these words, there’s such a mixed bag of emotions flowing through me — relief, joy, trepidation, pride, fear.

It’s almost like this spasmatic torrent of:

I’m holding a book I wrote in my hands… for real! Incredible! A dream come true.
But what if people hate it? What if they harp on those incessant typos that made it through three sets of eyes ten times over? Wait, is there a typo???
Oh… I love the cover. I can’t believe the story is alive – it’s ready!
But I could have written this section better, or said this a different way, or written more description here…
Will anyone enjoy this story and read through to the end?

I close my eyes and take a deep, deep breath… then slowly exhale.

Emotions can be very deceptive, however real they feel. My anchor point is purpose and knowing that writing is a journey.

Like running, or any race really… I’ve been trying out some triathlons recently… you only get better through practice and diligence. And you don’t win every race. But through training, through participating in races, through experience, and through a community, you get better. And you most certainly celebrate every finish line.

That is what I’m choosing to do with my debut novel: celebrate!

But before I get to that exciting cover reveal and tell you about the book, I think it’s worthwhile to look back at some lessons learned during this last phase of the journey.

Lesson #1 Slooooooow down!

When the finish line is in sight, there’s a massive pull and temptation to just sprint and cross that line. Let the pain and struggle be done, get that proverbial monkey off your back, rest, and then move on to the next one.

In the writing world though, this can be disastrous. Case in point, I’ll take you through my last set of revisions:

Following beta reader feedback, I did another revision with some major content changes. After rewriting and revising what was needed, I did at least another two read-throughs and revisions including Gordon doing a final developmental edit before sending it off to the professional editor I had hired. I initially aimed for the end of June, but wrote the last chapter at LEAST twenty times, so it got off to the editor July 4th weekend.
Over the next few weeks, the editor and I would go through and mark up the entire novel, making both grammar and stylistic choices. This was a massive amount of nitty-gritty work. But we reached a place of agreement that everything was good! Woo-hoo!
Initially, I was aiming for the book cover to be ready by that first week in July so that I could start promoting and offer pre-orders. However, despite best efforts, and due to what I believe was divine intervention, that did not happen. Because I did not have that pre-order date looming, I decided to print the entire manuscript, bind it myself, and read through (aloud) with a red pen to catch what I thought may be a few typos.
O.M.G. … I *cannot* imagine having gone to print without doing this step. I had SO MUCH markup and changes to make. I’ll include a picture just to give you a taste!
So back to tracking changes and having conversations on choices with the editor. Huge thank you to Sara Coombes for making this a collaborative process and sticking with me to the very end! This was another nit-picky, devil-in-the-details process. For those who know me, this does not come naturally! I’m about momentum, moving forward, big picture. This part of the journey was incredibly hard. But it has also produced one of the most rewarding aspects for me as a professional — teaching me to pay attention to details!
To recap: I’ve now done the initial “final” edit with the editor, round two of the “final” edit by reading a physical print out aloud, and round three of the “final” by going back and forth with the editor again on changes.
Now it was on to formatting. (And at this point, the cover design was getting very close to being finalized). Like most things, I thought formatting would be a cinch. The program I bought was easy to use and it was exciting to see what the book would look like in print.
But herein came the “final” edit round four! Using the formatting tool through the browser, my Grammarly subscription kicked in and it was like a new set of eyes looking at the text. A few punctuation errors, and to my horror some typos. For example, I had one chapter full of “soliders” instead of “soldiers”. Unbelievable! So I went through again, page by page to try and catch everything.
At this point, I’m downright paranoid about errors. So even though I uploaded the paperback version to Amazon and IngramSpark (the platform that distributes to book stores and libraries), I have ordered proof copies to look through another “final” time!

And this is where we are… with me holding my beautiful book in my shaking hands.

Perhaps you can understand my doubts, fears, and worries a little more after reading this sloooooow down lesson, though. It is absolutely nerve-wracking. And at the end of the day, I know what I’m holding is still imperfect… despite all these efforts. Eek!

Lesson #2 Make the investment.

Publishing a book is not cheap. I read somewhere that the average cost to self-publish a book is between $2,000 – 5,000 USD. I’ll come in a little bit under that because Gordon served as my developmental editor and I was able to make my own website. But if an author sells 500 copies (a fairly ambitious target for a debut), they’ll make roughly $1,500-$2,000.

The hope of sustainable income comes in when an author has a body of work to sell (not just one book), but the challenge is making it through those first couple of books to get there.

I’ll make a plug here to *be kind* to other authors. Whether you love or hate a book, know that it has taken blood, sweat, and tears (many, many tears), to get that story into your hands. Just like how becoming a parent is a humbling experience, so is becoming an author. I am by far less judge-y than I was when I was a reader only.

Lesson #3 Be flexible… in everything.

I can’t name one thing in this author journey that has gone according to plan, taken the time I thought it would, or been simple. Even coming down to the end, as I started to think about marketing and distribution, I was like, “I got this!” I mean, marketing has been core to my career, so surely I can do this part, right? You’ve probably guessed the answer by now. A resounding no!

The reality is, you don’t know what you don’t know and some things (most things, in this case) only get learned through experience. So I’ve shelved all my grand plans for a launch party, pre-orders to help rankings, ARC teams (advance readers who will help provide reviews) and the like.

I’ll rely on word-of-mouth promotion and some social media for this book, and sell as many copies as I can to help offset some of the cash outlay. But my core effort is going into book two in the series. And when I have at least those two books to offer, then I’ll make a better marketing investment. At least that’s the plan… 🙂

So without further ado, please allow me to introduce you to FIGHT WE MUST!