The Beginning of a New Chapter

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" I remember being asked this question time and time again. And I remember time and time again, my answer would change. When I was ten, I wanted to be an adventurer, like Lara Croft. I wanted to discover the undiscovered and travel the world.

When I was fifteen, I wanted to be a dolphin. I would practice holding my breath in the pool and flop around. Not really swimming, just causing a disturbance, trying and succeeding to irritate my mum. 

When I turned seventeen, I was told that I had to pick something soon since we were all about to leave the academy (high school) and venture into the big world of university. I wanted to be a writer. English was something I excelled at in school and loved to learn, thanks to Mr Keery, my English teacher. I looked into journalism and English literary studies, but by then, my young self had become interested in crime, punishment and, most of all, psychology.

I studied psychology and criminology for four wonderful years, and once I graduated, I found myself asking the question again: what did I want to do? Was I already grown up, by definition, or was there still time to figure it all out?

I booked a flight, as we all do when we want a break from our life obligations, and at the age of twenty-one, I landed in the Caribbean, unsure of what to do next. Three months in Honduras quickly turned into six years. These years have been the best of my life. Not only did I become a combination of a dolphin and an adventurer (a scuba diving instructor), but I also got to see some of the most beautiful places on earth. I got to travel, drink from waterfalls, drive across countries, walk on glaciers, dive with sharks and whales and eat way too much rice.

My love of reading never faded, but I wrote only for work. For websites and blogs. Not the stuff I would have written if I were choosing. I’ve always loved books and have been an avid reader since I could hold a book with my own two hands. My mum can attest to the ungodly amount that littered my room throughout the years.

I had grown to love psychological thrillers (a John Marrs, Freida McFadden, Stephen King, Daniel Hurst, and B. A. Paris loyalist). I would always try to guess the ending and ask myself, if I were the writer, where I would take these characters. At the age of twenty-seven, I made the decision. A lightbulb moment went off in my head. I wiped the whiteboard clean and opened my laptop. 

The day I decided to break ground and begin writing my first book – was life-changing. I sat down at my laptop, and my fingers ran their own marathon. I knew what story I wanted to tell, but the characters had their own way of taking over the page. As the book came to life, I started investigating the process of getting published. Wow, did I know absolutely nothing!

I joined Skype sessions and online seminars with successful published authors like John Bassoff and James Wade, and literary agents from Stonesong. I quickly learned that an incredible amount of work comes after you write the book. Once I finished editing my 80,000-word novel, I sent it to my beta readers (hired professionals who critique your work). The day I received my first-ever feedback was the day it finally felt real. The process started a while ago, but it really feels like now, today, it has only just begun.