Never Give Up

In the “never a dull moment” category of this crazy business we call the writing life, one of the worst moments is having a beloved publisher drop you, or worse yet, go out of business. I had both experiences in the middle of my Monastery Murders series— and just within a few months of each other.

Well, my mother always said, “It isn’t what happens to you, it’s how you respond to it.” And, really, in this business there’s nothing to do but to keep on keeping on. So I dusted myself off and did something I said I’d never do (something else my mother warned me about— that blog here) and published book 5 in the series under my own imprint.

That was a year ago. After that I began working backward through the series, re-editing, refreshing and republishing each book— this time with matching overs that said “series.” After all that poor 5-book series had had 4 publishers. I said, it’s a crazy business.

I am absolutely thrilled to announce that I have now completed the project! As I began writing this article I received word from Amazon that the Kindle version of A Very Private Grave, book 1 in the series, is now live in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. The paperback edition will be available within a day or two.

covers by Ken Raney 

This book is so dear to my heart because I had wanted to tell the story of Saint Cuthbert for years, but I didn’t have the right handle on it until our daughter Elizabeth went off to study theology in a monastery in Yorkshire. It took me only a few visits to that wonderful place, getting to know the monks and sharing Elizabeth’s experiences, until I knew I had my setting. My heroine Felicity was soon launched on her adventures as she and Antony race through an ancient, holy landscape chasing and being chased by murderers.

And the moral of my story? In life, as in fiction— whether struggling to solve a murder without getting thrown from the cliff yourself, or fighting the hazards of deadly technology to publish a book— never give up!

                                              

Donna Fletcher Crow is a lifelong Anglophile and a former English teacher. She is a Companion of the Community of the Resurrection— the model for her fictional monastery.Crow is the author of 50books, mostly novels of British history see them all at www.DonnaFletcherCrow.com