The holidays are upon us already. I’ve been busy working on some projects out in the craft room. None of which I can post right now. Shhhh! Christmas presents. I’ll post more about that after Christmas.
That being said, I’d like to share a little story. Ever since I was a teenager I wanted to be a writer. I made several attempts at writing only to hit a road block pretty quick. It’s not an easy task that’s for sure. I tried several different genres, many different plot lines and gave up. Until Tortie.
Tortie is our tortoiseshell cat. We adopted her in 2011. She was at an adoption center inside the Petco in Napa, California where we lived at the time. I was hesitant in adopting a cat after having one that though we loved him immensely, we ended up having to give him up due to behavior issues that we couldn’t resolve. So, along came Tortie. She was sweet, beautiful and we were taken by her almost instantly. She was a year old and had had a litter of kittens. She needed a home and we adopted her. Though I’m sure if you have had a cat before you know they adopt you.
What a joy she is and she is the inspiration for the book I was finally able to write. She’s cute. She’s quirky. And we just love her. One night as I was reading in bed and pondering why I couldn’t make the writing thing happen, Tortie jumped up on my bed. She had cute little habits that had me giggling in spite of myself. As she looked up at me with that little adorable face of hers I asked her, “I wonder what your life was before you were rescued.” And that was it, my muse.
So, I started writing. The work in progress I fondly called “Tortie’s Maybe Story”. I have never been so inspired and dedicated to a task as I did with that book. To make the time to write and write consistently I was up at 5:00am every morning so I could write before I had to go to work. I worked on my lunch breaks as well.
During that time as I was approaching the end of the rough draft I had an appointment with an editor through our local independent bookstore. They had a series of events called “Blind date with and editor”. The appointment was to be a half an hour but we ended up discussing my rough draft for a little over an hour. She was very encouraging and we met a few other times after that. Her life took her to Israel for a couple years so I went at it alone in editing and proofing. Because the book didn’t really fit any mainstream genres (at least in my thinking) I decided to self-publish. Wow! What an experience. I can honestly say it took more time and more work than actually writing the book. After a few little hiccups along the way I am excited to say that my little book is published and ready for distribution.
I’m pretty jazzed about it! I received my author copies yesterday and couldn’t be more thrilled.
Now for even more work. And something I’m not really comfortable with. Promoting the book. Yikes!! That means people might read it!! Yes, these are the thoughts of a very self-conscious writer. So, here goes nothing (or maybe a big something!).
If you are interested in checking out my book you can find it on Amazon at Toffee-An Adoption Story.
Side note: I saw on Facebook this morning that it is Giving Tuesday. This is a day devoted to charitable giving through your time, money, goods or voice. I would like to take part in that by giving $1 from every book sold to Whiskers, Tails, and Ferals in Napa, California. This is where we adopted Tortie from and her sister Candace as well. They do remarkable work in finding forever homes for homeless felines. And we are so happy they helped us get Tortie. This 1$ per book donation/promotion will go on through Christmas.
Check it out! Buy a copy! Support a cause!
And thank you from Tortie and I!
Keep on stitching my friends and writing as well!!!
Tracy (and Tortie)
For more about Tortie, visit her Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/tortlebutt/
And on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/tracywrites/
Happy Holidays!
Tracy's in Stitches 