Oh my goodness, I am completely blown away! I just sent out my last batch of preorder goodies for my book that released three days ago, and that’s it. It’s gone.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
I have to tell you, when Kirk DouPonce of DogEared Design agreed to create the cover, then author and artist Rebecca P. Minor agreed to create the illustrations for the inside, and then photographer, actor, and artist Alena Van Arendonk agreed to set up a socially distant and perfectly safe photo shoot so that my kids could be on the cover, I was completely blown away.
(Yes, those are my kids on the cover. Eek! They were so excited, let me tell you.)
I cannot emphasize how important it is to surround yourself with people who are good at their craft and love what they do. My book would not be this amazing without them.
Thank you Kirk, Becky, and Alena for making my book so stunningly gorgeous!
A huge thank you to everyone who edited, critiqued, and beta read this book to perfection. (Okay, at least to make it way better than it was!) I am so grateful for each one of you!
And I cannot thank you enough, dear reader, for purchasing my book and supporting my craft so I can write more books. I appreciate you more than you could possibly know!
Speaking of more books, would you like a sneak peek of some of the illustrations Rebecca P. Minor designed for the following books in the series?
Of course you do! :D
These are not all of them, and the others are just as gorgeous. I can’t wait to show them to you as well!
The entire series is plotted out, and my kids and I are in the process of writing/figuring out the next book, Diamond Unicorn Kingdom.
(Our process is this: I tell them a story at bedtime, a rough idea of where I think the story will go, they throw their wild ideas at me of how to make it even more exciting, then the moment they go to bed, I rush out to my writerly hidey-hole and type madly to get everything down before it flies away into the ether. Whew! I feel like I need to write just thinking about it!)
Right now, though, I’m using National Novel Writing Month to draft and complete a novel in another series.
Once NaNo is over, I’ll be back to the Tales of the Cousin Kingdoms—and Quell the Nightingale, book three in the Beast Hunter Series.
There are so many wonderful books to write and stories I am aching to tell!
Although it only took me nine days to write this book, it took a full year after that to get everything in place for a completed story I could bear to show anyone.
Writing is so wonderful, but at the same time, exhausting.
Often it feels like there is little return for pouring my heart and soul onto the page for days and weeks and months and years at a time.
You know what makes it worth it? The days on end of typing, staring at a computer screen until it feels like my eyes are bleeding? Looking for plot holes, searching for just the right phrasing to make the story leap off the page?
You.
I write for you.
For you to escape. For you to appreciate the world around you more. For you to have a delightful adventure in the pages of my books.
Thank YOU for making it all worth it. I treasure each one of you.
In Him,
Michele
P.S. If you enjoyed the book, would you kindly give me the best present in the world and leave a review? I’ll take it on Amazon, Goodreads, B&N—anywhere you like to leave reviews is just fine with me!
P.S.S. If you’d like to order signed copies for Christmas, I have just ten (10) left, and you can order them via the secure Square link below. I can ship them until December 1st!
P.S.S.S (I’m feeling like I’m getting P.S. happy here . . .) Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Ruby Dragon Kingdom
Ruby Dragon Kingdom is now available!
Finalist in the 2021 Realm Awards from Realm Makers, Fantasy Category
Finalist in the 2021 Realm Awards from Realm Makers, Middle Grade Category
