Jena Baxter

I was planning for Nanowrimo, where authors write a novel in a month, and studying the Little Match Girl story by Hans Christian Anderson, learning as much as I could about the era he lived in. I've always loved the Regency, and the Victorian Era's.

One of the topics I studied was the grieving process. There were three things done immediately when someone died: They stopped the clocks, opened the windows, and covered the mirrors so the spirit of the deceased wouldn't get trapped inside it.

The 'what if' game went crazy in my mind. I called a friend, told her my thoughts, and we plotted the entire story out together. Of course it changed a little in the writing process.

You spend so much time writing, and rewriting a story to get everything perfect. I had sent out a few agent queries, and while the rejections were discouraging, they were positive responses. I attended a writers conference, and one of the topics was self-publishing and how it no longer has the stigma of not being as good as a traditional publishing house. I went home and immediately started planning. Many great writers fell through the cracks before modern technology. It's great that we have more than one path to choose from these days.