The Tale of the Starbreather’s Realm
The Tale of the Starbreather’s Realm is my first novel and was a long time in the writing. This is mostly because I am fabulous at finding shorter and more immediately gratifying projects, like making my lesson plans or little wooden projects around the house.
I just kept putting it off.
The initial preface was penned in 2015, and then nothing happened for a few years. Then I started writing, just to write and add to it, but I still lacked discipline. I did not write regularly enough, and what I had did not flow properly. The manuscript went untouched for another couple of years.
In 2019, my younger brother and his girlfriend gave me a writing notebook that provided specific prompts. I would give myself 15-20 minutes to write out whatever came to mind that met the notebook’s requirements. It was a thoughtful gift that I had fun with, and it really encouraged me to pick up my messy and scattered manuscript again.
When I looked at where I had left off writing, I couldn’t even remember where I had begun to take the plot. I skimmed it, decided most of it was rubbish, deleted almost everything and pretty much started over.
I’m not much of a New Year’s resolution person but I decided 2020 was going to be the year I set out to complete my novel. Not actually complete it, mind you, but set out to complete it. I just needed to make daily progress until it was finished. To facilitate this, I set my goal at a meager three sentences a day, every day, until the blasted thing was finally written. It is not an exaggeration to say that sometimes it would take me an hour to write three sentences. And sometimes those sentences would be quite short and pathetic. But, as I kept with the discipline, the process began to smooth out, and by March or April of 2020 I was, at last, managing decent output. I finished an extremely rough, rough draft in early December of 2020. My husband took me for ice cream. Despite that I am long grown and can eat whatever I want, whenever I want, our favorite local ice cream shop turned out to be a good motivator. As I met each self-set goal, we celebrated at our local parlor.
2021 was spent editing. I added scenes, rearranged scenes and tried to add clarity where my beta readers said there was ambiguity. I’m not sure how many times I can read the same error and not notice it, but it seems to be about half a dozen. I’m an English teacher sooo…yikes.
But at the start of 2022, my novel was finally completed. Ahhhhhhhhhh the sense of accomplishment and achievement was immense.
I wrote The Tale of the Starbreather’s Realm novel to tell a tale that I liked and that my parents and brother would like. However, I certainly do hope that you, as my reader and supporter, enjoy it as well.
If you have taken the chance on my self-published, indie-adventure YA novel, I appreciate it immensely! Thank you so much for your support! 🙂
If you’re new to my self-published, indie-adventure, then below is the back cover synopsis. My book is available on Amazon via paperback and Kindle.
M.D. Saints
Reading the Rapids
Liberty Dog Writing Co.
The man who takes children.
He lives in a crumbling house at the terminus of a lonely dirt street—or so says the small-town tale that has fixated and frightened children for a very long time. So very long a time, that Harbin immediately dismisses the gossip of his schoolmates and, much to his twin sister Thalia’s consternation, accepts a simple dare to knock upon the old man’s door.
Yet this simple knock alters the trajectory of Harbin’s life. When Thalia and their, very inconvenient, baby half-sister disappear, Harbin suddenly finds himself in the Starbreather’s Realm, a land of dangerous fairy-tale creatures who are eager to give children to their usurper queen.
To Harbin’s ire, he must rely on others to help him find the only sister he wants back: his twin.