Booky Ramblings of a Neurotic Mom: A.T. Douglas: Christmas For Authors

A blank page. There is nothing more simple and exciting than that blinding white space of nothingness just waiting to be filled. It can become anything. Fold it a few times and you have a paper airplane. Splash paint on it or scribble across it and you have artwork. Write a music staff and notes on it and you have a melody. Type words of descriptions and dialogue on it and you have a story.

A story.  Everyone has a story or can conjure up characters, places, and events to develop a story, but until recently getting one’s story out into the world in a widely accessible format was difficult.  I’ll venture to say that most people have at one point or another in their lives thought, “Hey, I’d like to write a book someday.”  In the past I would say 99% of those people were probably dreaming, that they’d never take the time to write a book and even if they did their chances of becoming traditionally published were slim.

Enter self-publishing.  It’s easy.  It’s free.  It’s available to anyone who has a story to tell or a topic to write about.  Aspiring authors no longer need to bang their heads against the wall sending manuscripts out to publishers only to get rejection letters thrown back in their faces.  There’s no longer an almost guaranteed big fat “NO” waiting for them upon submission of their work.  With the click of a button their book can be available electronically and even in paperback throughout the world.

In December 2012 I became addicted to reading again.  A lot of people can surely relate.  It’s usually a specific book, series, or author that causes it, as it was for me.  In the months that followed I was so inspired by the authors and books I was reading that by April 2013 I decided that I had a story to tell.  I had to get involved.  I found Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing online and realized that self-publishing was a real possibility, and it didn’t cost a penny.

I spent the next four months writing, editing, and perfecting my story, and in August 2013 I hit the publish button on my début novel, Someone to Listen.  My hands were literally shaking as I did it, and when I saw my hard work available for consumption by the world the next morning I was in absolute shock and on the verge of tears.  It was one of the most incredible feelings I’ve ever experienced.

You can experience it, too.

In the author notes at the end of Someone to Listen I call out for others to break the silence and get their stories out into the world.  Let us hear your voices and your thoughts.  Let us live your stories.  Show the world your dreams and passions and inspirations and ingenuity.  Fill that blank page and make it your own.

With a blank page, anything is possible.

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Synopsis:

Abby wanted a fresh start, a new life thousands of miles away from her four difficult years of high school and the rumors that followed her.  As she begins her college experience in Boston, she finds friendship and love she didn’t expect, people who show her that she doesn’t have to be alone.

She is torn between two paths, inexplicably drawn to two completely different guys.  One understands her and reminds her of who she used to be, the broken shadow of a person wandering through life but not truly living.  The other is the key to her future, the guiding hand that she waited for years to pull her out of the darkness and into the light.

When Abby’s newfound happiness and renewed existence are threatened, everything changes.  She can fall back to that dark place within her or fight to save her future.

She faces the same struggle she has all along: getting someone to hear her, finding someone to believe her.

All she ever needed was someone to listen.