Books are strange magic.
One person sits alone with a thought, a story, a heartbreak, or an idea… and somehow it ends up changing the life of someone they may never meet.
As both an author and someone who works with writers, I’ve learned the hardest part usually isn’t writing the book.
It’s believing your voice matters enough to finish it.
But the stories that stay with us most are rarely perfect. They’re honest.
What’s one book that changed your life — or one you still dream of writing?
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The one that changed my life was the one that started this whole journey for me. 'The Lolly Shop' is my family bedtime tale that my boys and I wrote, illustrated and self-published. This book sold internationally and I couldn't stop storytelling from that moment on. I've written about my hubby's heart attack and how that's changed our family. I've also written about my family.... it seems like I must tell all my stories now - regardless who sees them! Great post Kat Spencer
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Love that Lauren Hackney! How wonderful to share something so magical with your children.
The two books I've been wanting to write are written. The first one is a memoir of my 12th-grade year of high school back in 1994. And the second one is a book of short stories inspired by my love of comics, anime, and role-playing games. And with honest writing, the stories flow out of your mind and onto the page, so that the reader can sense that you are pouring your heart into it. I'm sending both books to contests, festivals, and publishers to see what I can do there first before I decide to self-publish.
I still desperately want to get back to writing Seed, because not only is it unique in that it's my first proper action novel (yay for shinobi, yakuza, mafia and mafiya!), but the protagonist Mishin is highly relatable in my view; born into a traditional Buddhist family she nonetheless becomes a shinobi alongside her twin brother to survive, and all the while she wishes she was just a normal girl. Mapping out the story beats I was and still am absolutely devastated by a certain development. It's the only entry in the Petal series I'd be willing to see get a live action adaptation; it's lightest on surrealism but highest on action, and I need to complete it before I work on Iron Rain (which has its own spinoffs).
lBecause it stems from human emotions and carries something of that in its words, it is a communication with the self first and foremost, before it is a communication with others. We can say, "I write, therefore I am."
Hi nice to connect with you. I’m an illustrator, and I really enjoy turning written stories into visuals. Just curious have you ever thought about developing your story visually through illustrations or animation concepts?