A free book? That must mean I finally did it! I’ve achieved something that many other writers never have or will! I have waited far too long to set the most elementary processes in place for my website, brand and readership! Hooray for me! I’m a world-class numpty.

But there’s no cause to linger on my seat-of-the-pants approach to publishing. The truth is that I’m learning as I go and that will inevitably bring some bumpy spots in the road. For the people that have persevered with me this far, a hearty thank you, you encourage me more than you’ll ever know.

The good news is I’ve organized my newsletter and I have a free novella that I really want to share! Blood and Money is a prequel to the Maiden Harlow Mysteries. It takes place just before the events in book 1 – Murder Checks Inn.

As you may or may not know, I’m a long-time writer of a few different genres. Cozy mysteries are a sentimental favorite and the Maiden Harlow series (my first effort in the publishing arena) holds a special place in my heart. How did I get here?

A bad situation

My brother had just died, far too young, from complications related to brain cancer. He died badly and with a heartbreaking amount of pain and indignity. It was a horrific time for the family and my husband and I were heading back to America to try and pick up some of the pieces.

The goal was to clean out my big brother’s room so that my mother, his primary caregiver and chief target of his tirades as the disease took over, wouldn’t have to. It was awful. There was crying, digging through old toys and coloring books I remembered from when we were kids and, chillingly, my brother’s ashes in a box tucked in his closet.

I knew before we left Australia that we were going to be in for a massive struggle. I needed some way to keep myself sane during the 30+ hour journey to get there. What would I do to get through? I’d read books, of course. Books are made for transporting us away from the crappiest intrusions of reality.

I have always loved cozy mysteries. I grew up on Murder She Wrote and many shows and books of the same ilk. So, I loaded up my tablet with a selection of stories I’d never heard of, I wanted maximum distraction and that meant that the unfamiliar was the order of the day. It got me through the flight, the layovers, the physical and emotional exhaustion that was so bad I wanted to vomit.

One of the few bright spots of the trip were the books. It wasn’t that the stories were so fantastically unbelievably good, but they were fun and they were a harmless escape when I desperately needed it. More than that though, they were an inspiration.

Books to the rescue!

I started thinking and plotting my own stories from the moods that had been evoked by those types of books.

In my mind and heart I started writing about Maiden before we’d landed in America. I didn’t have a name for her yet but I knew a bit about her. I knew that she’d been bullied, she sometimes got lonely and she’d been kicked around a lot.

From there I designed the inn, and then her family. The dynamic with her older sister is a mix of myself and my siblings, but it all comes back to love and loyalty. Learning to trust and knowing that there are people who might accidentally kick you while you’re down, but who’ll never turn on you and never leave you. Obviously, those sorts of feelings were very much on my mind at the time.

But I’m not someone that dwells on the bad and miserable things for too long. Mentally and emotionally, I’m an escape artist. So, family kookiness, friendship and love flooded in to lighten things up.

Writing helped me through that intensely difficult time. It wasn’t the only thing, of course it wasn’t, but what a beautiful addition to my suit of armor! By the time we flew home, I knew who Maiden Harlow was, I loved her as a part of myself and I’d at least partially mapped out her first three adventures.

A late arrival, but I still got here

So, here I am now. Bass-ackwards perhaps, but here all the same. I’ve published very nearly five books in this ten-book series and I’m only now getting around to the prequal that I arguably should have put out alongside the first book.

Why did it come out this way? That is a long and arduous tale and this post is long enough already. I might delve into it someday but suffice to say it’s a hell of a thing to try and be an expat, dual-citizen, indie author fresh out of a pandemic in a semi-rural town where no one can answer the simplest of publishing questions. I could have given up a few dozen times and it saddens me to think how many others probably have. At one point I was actually asked “Why even bother?”

Because I wanted this badly enough, that’s why.

The launching of a newsletter is never going to be as big of a deal to the reader as it is to the sender, that’s fair to say. But I’m the sender in this case and, trust me, it’s a big deal. It’s taken a ridiculous amount of effort to get to this point and I am still glad I did it. So, please, if it’s not too much bother, subscribe to my silly newsletter, download my free book. Please read and enjoy it.

Since I’ve embarked on publishing my books, I’ve become much more aware of how fragile we all are. It’s amazing the boost you get from fellow authors, appreciative readers, unappreciative readers who hate some things but still acknowledge that you can weave a good mystery. These are the things that resonate with fellow humans, because that’s what we’re all dealing with, and it’s incredibly powerful.