A Bunch of Gratitudes

Where do I even begin?

I started writing Whisper three years ago. It was during November’s annual National Novel Writing Month and I wanted to try my hand at that mountain of a challenge. I made a decent dent in the story but eventually life’s daily happenings caught up with me and I sat it aside for the time being.  This was also around the time I had been working on Here’s the Thing so I was also getting that ready for release the following year.

Fast forward to sometime last year and I picked the manuscript back up. I don’t know why or how, but I was motivated to knock this project out. The story came to me pretty naturally. Some details changed from my original idea (we will save that for another time) but the core remained intact. The beginning of May, I was finished with the manuscript but still had a decent way to go before I was ready to release it. That’s where the gratitude comes in.

I want to thank my fiancee, Anna, and a good friend of mine, Ken (also known as Ace Meda4) for taking time to read over and edit the story. Ace teaches English to those looking to learn so I knew he could find grammatical errors as well as find opportunities for helping characters tone. I don’t know anyone who reads more than Anna so if the story was awful, she’d let me know. Fortunately, both thought the book was good, which was a sigh of relief on my end.

Next, I needed a cover. My last two books, I had used photography as my method but it was time for a change. I want to thank my (future) sister-in-law Stephanie for designing the cover. An Art teacher, I knew that once I gave her the description of what I was looking for, she would knock it out the park but even I stop to stare at it in awe of how perfectly she understood my vision.

HUGE EDIT (charge it to the mind, not my heart): One of my goals with this release is that I wanted to do a book trailer. I had a bunch of ideas and then I thought to myself: can you do it yourself? So I scrambled together a video (what a process) and got some epic music to put behind it. But I knew I still needed to have some narration. So thank you to Cassie, Nicole and Jamie for all pitching in and putting their spin on the trailer. All three were amazing and I appreciate each of you.

As I have many unfinished books lying around (yea, the whole “leave a manuscript” thing is common for me), it’s not commonly known that I often use personal friends and real life events as inspirations for my books. So thank you to everyone who became part of the book. I wonder if my friends will find them? We’ll save those for another day as well. 😉

When it came time for the dedication page, I knew who I wanted to dedicate this story. The idea of Whisper actually originates in a high school French class with an old friend. The original idea had ninjas, swords, and all types of Mortal Kombat-esque fatalities. But it’s a memory with that friend that I kept with me and without him, maybe I don’t make Whisper. So I thank Dwayne for befriending me in elementary school and inspiring this book. I was and still am one of the biggest nerds I know (though it’s cool now apparently) and Dwayne was the coolest guy to me. You know how school is–kids can be mean and he had no reason to want to be my friend but he was. Whether basketball or writing, he always hyped me up and I’ve always appreciated that. I’m glad that I could finally put our idea into the universe.

Oops! Actually one more thank you. Thank you to everyone who has bought a copy, posted the picture on your social media, shared a post, told friends about it–anything to help spread the word about this book. I appreciate it all and it doesn’t go unnoticed. Please continue to support in any way you can as I want to take this as far as I can. As you guys finish up Whisper, please be sure to go to Amazon or Goodreads and leave a review. The more reviews I receive, the more likely Amazon will suggest the book and someone new buys a copy. You know, algorithms and such.

One last time: THANK YOU ALL!