First year – 2013
I don’t know if I would say I spent a lot of time studying the industry like some people do when they start out. I wrote books that appealed to me. My first one hitting the paranormal genre because of my love of shifters and I’ve always felt like a cat person inside. Yes, that sounds weird but I can’t help but think I was a big cat in a previous life. 😂 (Shhh just go with it.)
Next, I decided to try my hand at contemporary and without thinking about it, the sports romance genre. My hubby was a paratrooper for a lot of his years in the military, so it felt natural. (Wait, military? Why didn’t I write that? That’s a question for a different time.)
My paranormal did better than contemporary and if I’d had taken the time think before hitting publish the second time (that contemporary book), I wonder if I would have realized that I should have stuck with one genre until things started taking off. But I was excited and thrilled to enter the fray.
I was of the “shiny” and “squirrel” mentality at the time. I did what I wanted, when I wanted, and didn’t think of the long term career aspects.
I published 4 books that first year: Craving More (paranormal), Caught in the Moment (contemporary), Claiming More (paranormal), and Dallas & Kacie (paranormal).
I was on a high but struggling to get my thoughts in order. To come up with a schedule or even an inkling of a plan. I let whatever whim took hold me dictate what and when I wrote. Things kind of crumbled after that.