Happy Birthday, America! I hope you are having a wonderful time celebrating Independence Day with your friends and loved ones. In case you haven't been on social media recently, today I'm celebrating three birthdays: America's, my book's, and BREATHE's main character Virginia's. This book took fifteen years (15!!!) to get from idea nugget to finished book. There were times that I wanted to quit. There were people who told me that YA historical fiction doesn't sell, so why bother writing it? There were all kinds of technology hurdles that I--as someone who has a love-hate relationship with technology--had to get over. But I did it, and I am now happy to share BREATHE with the bigger world. Have you read Elizabeth Gilbert's BIG MAGIC: CREATIVE LIVING BEYOND FEAR? I found it incredibly inspiring. If you are having a hard time birthing your book (song, play, painting, or whatever creative endeavor you feel called to create), I'll leave you with my favorite quote from BIG MAGIC.
Weird deadly diseases created a revolution in my heart. Whether BREATHE sells 10 or 10 million copies, I claimed my bit of Big Magic and created the piece of art that no one else could make. What's your piece of Big Magic? Even if your idea has been rumbling around in your brain for fifteen (15!!!) years or more, stop procrastinating and making excuses. Go out and bring your light into the world today in the way that only you can do.