Happy Birthday Lilliah

Alright, today isn’t really Lilliah’s birthday.  The character’s birthday is in October, (although today is the wedding anniversary of our friends Debbie and Gary after whom Lilliah’s parents are named), but today is really the day Lilliah’s story gets shared with the larger public.  The book has been available on the Create Space e-Store and on Amazon for about a week, but today Jennifer is doing a local book signing and selling copies to friends and family in the area who were supportive enough to pre-order copies sight unseen.

The book went on sale online on December 8th, and it was December 8th four years ago that Jennifer wrote the first words.  It has been a long journey from that day.  There have been lots of Saturday writing days and late night edits.  Some highs and plenty of lows.  After each rejection or critical comment, Jennifer was sure she was done.  But in the process, I learned something fantastic about my wife…She doesn’t give up.  She felt like pursuing this book was the right thing to do, so she kept with it. 

After the tears were dried, she would get back to work and make the story better.  It was amazing how well she took the criticism.  Some people would quit, and some would blind themselves to it, but Jennifer was driven to make this story the very best that it could be.  She painstakingly researched, cut scenes, rewrote, changed phrases, and became obsessive about commas.  She read her own work and others’ too so she could know the best way to say what she wanted to say.  So after four years of downs and ups, here is Lilliah; but really, here is Jennifer.  Jen, I love you.  I’m proud of you.  Thanks for letting me come along for the ride, and thanks for letting me guest blog without knowing what I would say. 

We hope that the readers of The Scent of a Soul enjoy the story.  Have a very Merry Christmas, a happy holiday season, and a fantastic New Year.

Travis