The Stars Align

1. I was bitten by a bug.

One day, on my way into work, I heard a news report about a young woman who had self-published and been one of the lucky few to make it big. I had never even heard of self-publishing. A seed was planted and I started noticing opportunities.


2.   I spiral into madness. 

Every few months I lose it. I lose interest in my job. I lose faith in the system. I lose sight of myself. Whenever this happens, I start looking for new jobs, applying to other positions, and scheming up ways to get out of the rat-race or at least get on a different racetrack.


3. I envied the ninja. 

I watched a friend give up her career and move across the world to do something she loved. Six months later, I watched her do it again. I envied her ability to take the risk of doing something different. I have never been much of a risk taker.


4. I read my first zombie book.

I imagine it would have been my last had it been anything other than World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. For months it had been showing up in my Amazon recommendation list and I had been ignoring it on the basis that zombies are low brow with nothing more to offer than poor writing and blood and guts. WWZ proved me wrong, it hooked me and set me out on a mission to find more like it.


5. I paid $6.99 for the worst book I have ever read. 

While trying to expand my zombie reading list, I stumbled across a truly awful series. I will not mention it by name out of respect for the author, not that I respect him as an author but that I respect him for trying. The first book was a freebie. It was rife with errors, which can be expected from a book that was originally self-published. I can forgive technical problems, particularly now that I have published.

What I could not forgive was the content. It was dull and poorly written. The characters had no depth and were seemingly superheros. Even so, the book was well rated among readers and I had found it on a number of "Top Zombie Book" lists. I forced myself through the first book and then wrote it off as an author's first attempt; surely the sequel would be better. It wasn't. I couldn't even finish it.

I wasn't sure I wanted to continue my search for zombies, if this was the best the genre had to offer.


6. I watched Twilight.

I had read the books. They are terrible and Stephanie Meyers has a love affair with the word incredulous. Bella has no personality and across four books and some 600,000 words she never develops beyond a whiny little girl that (and yes I mean that and not who) sits around waiting to be rescued. Granted they were entertaining, but I have some serious issues with Meyers' portrayal of women. I had never considered myself a feminist in any sense of the word until I read this series.

The movies put me over the edge.


7. I found two fabulous heroines. 

I got hooked on The Hunger Games Trilogy and the Newsflesh Trilogy. Both had strong female protagonists who were deeply flawed and human while still being able to be a role model for young women. I began to search for other such protagonists and came up wanting, particularly in the genres of horror and zombies.

The Stars Align

With these seven ideas, experiences, and frustrations rolling around in my head a crazy thought began to form. Why not me?

All of my excuses were lame and grew from fear of rejection and failure. Five years ago cost was a legitimate excuse but with today's technology, my only limitations were those that I placed on myself.

Why not me?