So, I've written a novel. What now?

I’ve never been one for journals. I always want to go back and edit what I wrote. And I think that sort of defeats the purpose of keeping a journal. Right? Take this very post, for example. I'm still not sure it says what I want it to say. But at some point, we have to let things go, I suppose.

In the fall of 2008 I had a bit of an epiphany. As background to this epiphany, I should tell you that I am a work-from-home mother. Or a stay-at-home worker. Or both. I am married and have three children, and I am also a freelance writer, working out of my home. Don’t worry: The IRS knows and is singularly unimpressed. This is quite a balancing act, working from home with a toddler, a tween and a teenager. I started getting a little nutty.

And then I read an article in the newspaper about the financial collapse and how it was all Enron’s fault.

“Have we failed to learn the lesson of Enron?” This is what the article asked. I struggled to remember exactly what lesson we had been taught. All I recalled the news media and the Justice Department and Congress reporting was that corporate leaders=evil and everybody else=lemmings. And honestly, isn't that a bit oversimplified? I mean, I'm no lemming.

This, then, was my epiphany: Surely people are more complex than simply good or evil. Surely there is more to it than simply black or white.

After the epiphany, I ranted around my house for a few days, starting and scrapping various op-eds that I knew would never be printed. And then it crystallized: Why not take my angst and frustration and make a story out of it? Why not explore my epiphany and see what comes of it?

And so was born What Happened on Smith Street by Erin K. Rice. (Available August 2009.)

I hope you’ll continue to read about my experiences as an author. And I hope you'll spread the word among your friends who enjoy reading, too.