Beginnings

I am a writer and self published novelist chronicling my journey to publishing. That is to say, it’s what I started out to do. Since then my blog has evolved to cover a variety of different subjects. In a sense, it has become a chronicle of my life.

Getting back to the start, it was 2002 when I set out to write my first novel. I was living in Reseda, California, sharing a house with my youngest sister. We were not getting along. I quickly came to realize that two strong and independent women should never live under one roof. Had I realized this sooner, it would have saved us a lot of grief. On the other hand, had it not been for the turmoil, I would never have begun my manuscript for it was my distress that drove me to write.

However writing time was hard to find particularly after moving back into an apartment of my own. My manuscript became a topic for conversation while no actual progress was being made.

Not until years later, nearly eight to be exact, did I finally find my motivation to complete it. The catalyst was the loss of my full-time job. I had been demoted to a two-day work week. I was freaking out. I had to do something. I returned to my unfinished manuscript.

Day and night I wrote, like a person obsessed, sending out each completed chapter to a few supportive friends for critique. Within three months I had completed the first draft of The Pirate’s Daughter And A King’s Ransom, and had landed another part-time job.

Those three months were not easy and it was just before I finished that manuscript that I lost my biggest supporter to a heart attack. It was a brutal blow. I had relied on this friend’s driving encouragement to push me along.

But, for he that was taken, others did come. Their names would clutter this page, but there is one I must give. Christian has rallied to my support more times than I can count. I am fortunate that this journey has led me to him and those I place in his company.

When I sent out my first WordPress post, I believed my novel was ready to publish and that millions would flock to buy it. I was naive, uneducated and truly clueless as to the truth in publishing. Not only that, but my manuscript though complete, was far from ready for public consumption. It needed serious editing and I lacked the skills to do it properly.

That was 2010.

Looking back now from 2016 I can see all that I did wrong. I have truly made every mistake an author could make. I will in all likelihood make many more. Yet, in the last six years I have grown as a writer, editor and publisher, learning and relearning what I had forgotten. And though there is much I still don’t know or understand, I am actively working, striving to fulfill my dreams.

I still believe they can one day be achieved.

Write on, my friend!

– K.L. Parry

 This page is dedicated to Andy Smith, friend and mentor.

 May he rest in peace.