I AM AN AUTHOR!
That’s All I Got
Thrival: A Widow’s Journey After Suicide
by Karen E Voss
After many hours, weeks, and months of writing, editing, and revising, the day has arrived where I can hold the finished book in my hands. I received the first copy gift wrapped, it’s a present after all, a dream that has come true.
Published Author
First Copy
The day has arrived for my books to arrive! Earlier today I received an email saying that they have arrived. I knew it would be today at some point, but I didn’t know what time of day. While I’m unable to actually touch them until Friday morning at 9am due to scheduling, I’m psyched!
When I read the email, my eyes began to water before a few tears shed. The tears represented happiness, accomplishment, and achieving a dream. I am an author!
I’m published for Kindle!
I didn’t think this occurred until the paperback became available. Not true since it showed up last night. I knew yesterday afternoon that it had been making its journey to Amazon. I looked for it last night and saw it, but I didn’t choose to share it until this morning when more people would see my posting on Facebook.
It’s exciting that’s for sure. I’m full of energy and in a very good mood. I can only imagine what I’ll be like when I’m holding the paperback copy in my hands.
The past week brought about lots of activity.
Lots of emails exchanged between reviewers, my publisher, and myself.
Lots of hours logged at my laptop–reading the entire book, responding, and some typing.
The final stages of getting That’s All I Got published have drawn closer. It’s one of speedy progression. No wonder I’ve been having odd dreams and restless sleep hours.
Progress at its best included:
*Receiving, prepping, and submitting reviews
*Receiving, posting, and sharing the pre-orders link
*Approving book marketing post-cards
*Rejecting and after changes approving the full book cover
*Receiving round 3 of proofs, editing, and submitting corrections…does this ever cease?
Someone told me that corrections never cease. I pray that they do.
In September 2010, I began to write a story that documented the journey I started after losing my husband to suicide on December 14, 2008. I believe the idea came to me after I wrote a “Mission Moment” for the South Shore YMCA here in Milwaukee, WI and seeing the effects it had on people. I had also seen an article in Self magazine that shared the editors story. It didn’t take long for me to stop writing the story. May it was writers block or a fear to write it, but I couldn’t tell it.
Late November rolled around and I started in the Higher Brain Living program. As I moved forward, the story lingered in my brain, pretty much like grief symptoms that over stayed. In March 2011 and attending my first Authentic Self~Kosmic Consciousness retreat and I discovered my passion for writing. I tremendously progressed in my grieving while on retreat and my brain informed me that I had to finish the story. Finished it I did, but couldn’t get in published in a few magazines or so I thought. My second cousins wife, an author, edited the story and highly suggested I sign up for a certain creative writing class. I did. On the night of the first class, I shared the story I wrote. My instructor told me that it’s a book in two pages with each paragraph a new chapter. Speechlessness consumed me as well as dumbfounded. A book? Yeah, right.
Spring 2012 had me at the annual Dare to Be Aware Fair and people I know from Higher Brain Living directed me to the Henschel Haus Publishing table to talk to Kira Henschel, the CEO of the company. I walked over and introduced myself and then she knew about the book possibility and asked me about its progress every time we ran into each other at events. It took me until May 2012 to finally sit down for three hours to develop the book outline. Not only did I have a book coach, but now I had a publisher. This began another section of my journey I never knew existed.
I may have had a plan, but it would take until the winter of 2012 to really start writing it. It took until October of 2013 to complete the manuscript. Since then it’s been a busy time seeing the manuscript start becoming a book. A book that’s going to help others who have worked through a suicide or any tragedy. 2014 brings great things.
That's All I Got! 