In October of 2014, I did something I’d been dreaming about for years. Here’s a little background about me first. When I returned to school in 1997 to earn my BA at the College of New Rochelle, I learned to use a computer for the first time to write my assignments, reports and papers. By 2001, I had graduated from Baruch College with a Master’s degree. I was an expert at using my laptop to do research then write about what I learned.
During the same timeframe I was writing my papers for college, I was also playing around with writing romantic and erotic short stories. While most of my short stories never became novels, several did. One of them “Sweet Sarah’s Bluez” became an unpublished novel after I saw the movie “The Education of Rita.” The movie was a British hairdresser who wanted a higher education because she saw it as a pathway to leave behind a broken marriage and a low-wage job and attain success.
I caught the writing bug but I needed to find my voice. I needed to write better since I kept getting pesky rejection letters from publishers I admired. I had shoe boxes filled with them. I did what most writers do. I went back to school. I enrolled in courses at the New School, the 92nd Street Y and Gotham Writer’s Workshop. I joined several writing groups as well. By then I had quite a portfolio of short stories, novels, novellas and even a workplace memoir.
When my first publishing deal didn’t work out, it took me eight years to finally decide maybe I could become my own publisher. By then there were all kinds of helpful free publishing services such as Amazon’s Kindle Direct and Createspace, Nook, Kobo and Apple’s IBooks. I decided to self-publish at a perfect time. I was leaving my job of 40 years in July of 2014. I couldn’t sit at home all day twiddling my thumbs all day. I needed to do something to fill my time. I tried volunteering and I did it for six or seven months but I need something more to fill my heart and my soul.
I decided to publish my portfolio of books. I published three books on Halloween of 2014. “Old Man Peterson” is a mystery about how 60-years of a Black family’s secrets destroyed one family. The second book “I’m Your Baby Tonight,” is a romantic comedy about two women who can’t stay away from each other. Their scandalous but sexy activity at a Halloween party proves it. The third book, “Safe Haven” is romantic suspense tale of survival and love after domestic abuse.
To date, I have published 28 novels in the two years I started my own little company. While I may never be the best-selling author I sometimes dream about, I’m doing what I love. That’s enough for me.
Happy 2nd Anniversary Patchwork Bluez Press
Thanks for reading my post
BL Wilson
