It's Officially Official! [insert loud cheering and party noises]

Well, folks, today’s the day! My second book Why Rodney Never Should’ve Gone to the NAPIC officially releases today!

I can hardly believe it myself. No way on earth did I ever think this day would come. Never in a million years.

See, Kit Parker came to be because when I was about ten or eleven, Mom said, “Kit Parker. That would make a great name for a character.” And so, Kit was born. I quickly shaped an idea of a girl whose brother was a detective and so she got kidnapped a lot as a result of his work. I never had a story, just that. The girl who got kidnapped a lot.

Fast forward a couple years to me at sixteen. I wrote a dandy little opening scene about Kit getting kidnapped. Like, really dandy. I posted it for critiques on the writing forum I am part of and got a ton of positive feedback. So, I tried writing more, forming a story out of what I had. And, all I hit were dead ends. A lot of them.

So, the story went on hold for a few years. I’d open up the document with the intro every once in a while, thinking maybe I’d work on it some, but always I kept hitting those dead ends. Over and over again.

And, finally, fast forward to November 2^nd, 2013. I had gone to the library the week before and checked out a stack of YA novels. And, on that day in November as I sat reading one of them (I don’t even remember what book…) it hit me. Every good YA character has a voice. They’re a teenage with all the teenage feelings and emotions. Kit Parker had always been nothing more than a cardboard cutout. She was never a real human being.

And so, I put down the book and opened up my laptop. Starting a new Word document, I began to type: One of the downsides of being kidnapped every other weekend is that your teachers never believe you when you say that’s why you didn’t do your homework.

I wrote almost 2,000 words that day, Kit and her personality just pouring through my fingers onto the keys. I had a new story and I was so in love with it and its main character.

It was a hard, bumpy month. I decided participating in NaNoWriMo was the perfect way to see I followed through. Some days were better than others. And, there were times when I would have to give Mom and Dad basic plot points and say, “Okay, now how do they get out of this?” They knew a lot about what happens in this book before they read it. I also had Catsi, a girl from the writing forum who thought my idea was wonderful and asked me to send her what I had written. So, I did. And I continued sending it to her as I wrote. She kept telling me how wonderful it was and I know part of the reason I finished was because I had someone to push me and remind me how good my story was, even when I doubted the truth of that.

And then on November 22^nd- so, just 20 days after I started the thing- I finished it at just over 54,000 words. That’s an average of 2,700 words written a day. My head spins just thinking about it.

But, it resulted in a book I was proud of. I gave it to Mom and Dad to read as well as posted a bit of it on the forum. I got positive feedback on all accounts and then a good friend of mine, Haley Rose, asked me if I wanted her to critique the whole thing for me. I told her she didn’t have to, but I wouldn’t say no to a critique. So, she did. And after she sent me the critique she told me how amazing she thought my story was. And, she has kept telling me these last several months.

So, since everyone seemed to think it was a good idea, I began prepping this book for publishing.

And now, here we are today.

As I started out by saying: Never in a million years did I ever think Kit Parker would be an actual, published book. And, now, it’s turned into a series. I’ve got the second book written and plans for four others. A six book series, all because Mom made one little comment about a name being good for a character.

Which is why I tell young writers not to be discouraged if they have an idea but can’t seem to write it. I tell them about Kit and how hard it was for me to be stuck and not know what to say about her. I wanted to badly to tell her story. But, I realize now that until last November, I wasn’t ready to tell it. And, maybe God give her to me all those years ago to give me a passion for her when I was ready. Maybe having her stew in the back of my mind for so long was what gave me the push to continue even when it was hard. Because, this was Kit and I was actually writing about her. I couldn’t give up on this story.

So, that’s the story of how Kit Parker came to be. I hope you all enjoy her story and I look forward to seeing what all of you think!!

Why Rodney Never Should’ve Gone to the NAPIC is available exclusively through Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Rodney-Never-Shouldve-Gone-NAPIC/dp/1495480992/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399899330&sr=8-1&keywords=why+rodney+never+should%27ve+gone+to+the+napic I’m not going to lie- I hope you all will buy copies and review it. Your support means the world to me!

Thank you!