If I had a fairy godmother who said I could choose any profession I desired and it would be mine, I'd have chosen author. I used to dream of writing story after wonderful story from some run down villa that sat next to a vineyard in the European countryside. I must not be alone because I'm certain I've seen a movie or two like that. I never shared these dreams with others because I truly didn't believe it was attainable for many reasons that I won't go into here.

So, needless to say, that dream was still floating around my mind in November of 2014 when my oldest daughter mentioned Wattpad.com to me. She was reading story after story and loving the access to free stories. She Knew I loved to read and said I should check it out and I did. But it wasn't to read stories. That old desire to write a novel that I didn't really believe I could write was still lurking in the dusty corners of my mind.

November 20th, 2014 (at the young age of forty-nine) I sat down to begin a story without an outline or any idea how it would end. Rather quickly I had a first chapter and I liked it. What I did was simply take a couple of characters and place them in an exciting situation. The ideas simply flowed from there.

I wasn't even certain that I could come up with a story that anyone else would want to read. My grammar was and is (by some standards) atrocious. To press that button that would put my words, bad grammar and all, out for anyone on Wattpad to read was one of the scariest things I've ever done.

After that I checked to see if anyone read or, heaven forbid, voted for my story. It felt so liberating to get the chapter down. Writing fueled my creative side like nothing else I'd ever tried and by the third chapter I was addicted to writing.

I was extremely fortunate to have picked up LeilaAdams as a reader and eventually a friend. Her support was crucial in helping me forward. She actually gave me gentle tips on improving my writing that I will be forever grateful for. Leila told me I was a quick learner and that she genuinely enjoyed following my story. Once I read her story I was amazed that someone who's skill at crafting a well written story would like anything that I wrote. She inspired me then and still does.

The thrill I felt as people began to read my story, vote and comment pushed me forward. I owe so much to my readers because without them, I'd still write but it wouldn't be nearly as fulfilling and satisfying. Their incredible support has brought me to where I am today and will help my reach new milestones in my writing journey.

I finished the 83,000-word manuscript (MS) for Red Night three months later. I was gaining readers then but nothing compared to being Featured by Wattpad on June 1st of 2015. That was the next shocker for me. That a Wattpad team of employees felt it was good enough to be Featured by WP, was a little high that I didn't come down from for months. Readers and followers began to flow after that. It eventually became difficult to keep up with all of the comment but I tried and still do.

I think the highest rank RN received was #13 in Vampire. Before it was pulled back to a sample, because of publishing, over 15,000 people had read the entire story (going by stats on the last two chapters). It's had over 518K reads. That right there still blows my mind and gives me hope for a career in writing. It's satisfying enough that people read and enjoy my work-the rest is just cake.

It may have been a Limitless Twitter Pitch in September of the same year that I offered up a couple 142-character Twitter pitch for Red Night. I had participated in other Twitter pitches so I really was just trying to practice. When your tweet is Liked by a publisher, agent or editor it's like a one-time ticket to have your MS submitted and placed at the top of the pile for publishing consideration. It doesn't mean they will bite but you can wait months and months to have your manuscript read-more times than not, rejected.

Limitless Publishing Liked my tweet so I scrambled to have several terrific Wattpad authors help me to a quick and dirty edit of the first four chapters per the LP submission guidelines. I figured this would be good practice and friends laughed that I needed a few rejection letters to be a real author.

I was rather shocked two weeks later when LP responded that they would like to move forward with a full manuscript submission. To say I was shocked is a gross understatement. This was towards the end of October and I was leaving for a week long holiday and my MS had not had much if any editing beyond the quick job on the first four chapters.

Luckily, I'd already been in discussion with a professional editor that I wanted to work with named Ed Hacket. In a panic I called Ed and asked if he could do a quick and dirty edit of the entire manuscript in a very short amount of time. This is not the way he likes to work but he said he would and I left for vacation.

When I returned from D.C. I sent in the MS and still didn't really expect anything to come of it. Surely my story wouldn't grab them enough to want to publish, was my thinking but I needed this process under my belt so I waited.

I'll never forget the day I received an email from Limitless Publishing offering me a contract to publish my entire Vampire Files Trilogy. It's a bit surreal and a little magical. Before LP I figured the only way I could be published was to self-publish. I still plan to do that for another series which will make me a hybrid author having one foot in the traditional and non-traditional publishing worlds. Self-publishing leaves you in the driver's seat and while that may come with a larger amount of work, the payoff is that much better for your efforts.

Since signing at the end of December with LP it's been a whirlwind sort of affair. Things move rather quickly in some regards and slowly in others. Red Night was published on May 10th, 2016 and is doing well for a new author-standalone novel. It should do even better as I publish the rest of the trilogy. I have my fingers crossed that the second book, Red Moon, will be published in December but that is still to be determined. I'm starting book three now.

I'm learning a great deal about the craft of writing, publishing and marketing. There is so much to do and learn, so I'll just keep growing.

RK Close