Finally, after many months of waiting, planning, and waiting some more, my debut novel, Klara’s Truth, will launch next week, on Tuesday, June 11th, and expectant readers should receive their pre-order copy on that day. It has certainly been a long journey with an ever-growing learning curve—first learning how to write and edit a novel, then learning how difficult it is to get published, then finding a wonderful hybrid publisher in She Writes Press, and then learning about the process of publicizing and promoting one’s book. My understanding is that now days, even authors of traditionally published books typically need to work on their book’s publicity and promotion.

What now? I have a podcast on Tuesday, morning on Joy on Paper which will be listed once it airs, and then I have a bunch of book events starting first in Cambridge, Massachusetts at the Harvard Book Store on Wednesday, June 12th. This will be my first book event, and then I’ll be back in New York for the following ones in Westchester and New York City. As Boston is where I went to graduate school at Boston University School of Social Work and Public Health and worked back in my twenties before returning to New York, it feels like a full circle.

Back then, I would never have thought I would be returning for a book event in Cambridge for my debut novel, as I was not a writer at that time. I began actively writing in my forties.

Life truly is a journey. We need to plan for the future, but we certainly cannot always or even often know what that future will bring. This is true of so many aspects of our lives. For me, I remember that creative writing was one of the best parts of elementary school, a time we are taught to be creative, but then that fell by the wayside as I entered junior high and high school. I did not pursue creative writing again until many years later when I began actively journaling on my own in my forties. It was through this journaling process that I began to write short stories, and then pursued writing what became the novel Klara’s Truth as an outgrowth of one of these stories.

Thank you to all those who have continued to support me along the way! I hope Klara’s Truth resonates with, supports, and informs people in addition to being an enjoyable read.