It’s been a long time coming…
The day is here! Swede On You releases today, and Lee and Emma’s story is finally out in the world! It’s been an incredibly long journey—both in terms of writing this story and the things that kept me from writing it well for two years.
So much happened between Lee and Emma that didn’t make it in this book. I could only bring so much from the first two iterations, but I will say that I’m much happier with how Lee takes action in this version. You get to see so much more of his heart. In the other versions, Emma’s struggle was different. I had to alter it to fit into what was happening with Ferrett, and it was probably the hardest part for me to get right!
Getting things right has been the lesson for me this go-around. I tried and tried and tried to get the previous idea I had to work and no matter how many rewrites, it just wasn’t working. A year and a half of work went down the drain when I decided to completely start over with a brand new idea. But as soon as I embraced the new idea, this story—the right one—flew out of me in six and a half weeks. The quickest I’d written a manuscript before this was about four months! So yes…I definitely learned something about getting things right and the depths of my own stubbornness.
In the middle of all of that, I was also dealing with a lot of health issues that I didn’t see coming. I’ve always been a loud advocate of mental health because I’ve had my own struggles in the past, but this was uncharted territory for me because this time…I was struggling with my mental health while also being a mom and caregiver. I found myself needing to taper off a medication I had been on for twelve years and even though I did it as slowly as I possibly could, it still was agony. And then I got down to the root of the problem, which is a long list of food allergies. It’s been a year and a half since I’ve eaten my favorite foods (bread, cheese, pizza, etc) but the difference has been night and day.
I was finally feeling better, but then in December, a lot of doors closed for me. A handful of the shops my books were in closed suddenly, and all these books came back to me when I had hoped they’d go home with readers. I inquired about getting my books in new places and was unsuccessful. I was stuck trying to make the original idea for Lee and Emma work, feeling like a failure, like I might not publish a book for yet another year, and…I wanted to quit. I almost did.
But in March, I got a new idea and put a new timeline together—if I wanted to publish it in the fall, I needed to write it quickly and all the other dominos had to fall in place. The entire way through I wasn’t sure if I would make my deadline—literally until last week I didn’t know if I things would come together at the right time. But…they did.
I kind of can’t believe I did it. I wrote and published a book in six and a half months, after almost quitting completely. After two years of upheaval in my personal life and perceived failure in my writing career, this book is being released exactly when I planned. And the best part of it all is that I really like how it came out!
It’s surreal to say the least, but I am so excited for you to read Swede On You, and wanted to say a huge thank you for not forgetting about me these last two years! Life happens, but I don’t plan on making y’all wait another two years for the next book! Lars and Svea’s book is next, and I might start as soon as next week…
All the best,
