The Legend of The Coileáin Chronicles

I am fully aware that this is a long post that you may not have the time and/or interest in reading, so, for your convenience, here’s the TL;DR version: A million years ago, I had an idea for a book. Ten years ago this month, I published that book. The Kindle edition of that book and its sequel is now on sale. Thanks for stopping by! It’s much appreciated!

Here is my villain origin story:

When I was twelve years old, my school did one of the two biggest favors it would ever do for me: It ran an experimental program.

Meaning, we had an entire class period devoted to reading any book at all that we wanted to read. We had a second period devoted to writing anything at all that we wanted to write. This was terrific news for me, as that’s all I wanted to do anyway. And it was during this year that I wrote my first two novels, one of which was fantasy. (The other would likely have been deemed YA horror, if you’re curious.)

And I never looked back.

After four years of writing mostly equestrian-themed stories, I started another fantasy novel. I was sixteen and a sophomore in high school and set out to tell the tale of a teenage girl from the modern world who somehow ended up in a medieval-esque fantasy world. I say ‘somehow’ because I honestly don’t remember how she ended up there. A portal in her closet, maybe? I don’t know, but however it happened, she ended up there and joined up with a group of rebels battling against an evil tyrant. You know, as one does.

And I was…hooked, I guess, is the right word. Because between my sophomore year of high school and my sophomore year of college, I wrote eight novels in this series (Books three and five were my favorites). And the eighth book was really the end. There was just nowhere else for that story to go.

But I wasn’t done. I couldn’t explain it, but the summer before my junior year of college, I found myself really wanting to go back to that series. I just felt such a strong pull, this real urge to continue writing this world and these characters. As there was no way forward, I decided to go back and write a prequel.

I intended to tell the story of a noblewoman who plays a behind-the-scenes role in supporting and launching the rebellion being fought against her evil tyrant husband. The idea was that she would have no actual interaction with the rebellion, except for one brief moment where she and the rebel leader make eye contact across a room. I had planned to kill the noblewoman at the end of the book because…well, because I do really seem to love tragic endings, and also this character wasn’t in the other eight books, so I figured she had to go.

But, as many writers can attest, what we plan and what actually comes out on the page aren’t always the same thing. In my case, it feels like it’s just about never the same thing. This prequel was no different. It didn’t take long before I realized that I wasn’t writing a prequel at all, but rather the first installment of a brand-new fantasy series.

It took a while—a very long while—for me to figure out how to reconcile the not-a-prequel with the original eight-book series and, yeah, the vast majority of that eight-book series went to live at that farm upstate where I hear they’re now living very happy and full lives, frolicking around the fields and whatever.

And a lot of what did end up staying evolved greatly over the many, many years during which the series took shape. The noblewoman became Haleine Coileáin, Effigy‘s main character. She became queen and does a lot more than make eye contact with the rebel leader. She gained two sisters. She doesn’t die at the end of the book (spoiler alert, I guess?). There were a couple of other characters who were originally supposed to die in that same book, or the original eight stories, who instead received a new lease on life (Creating, I’m afraid, a terrible precedent…). And while flipping through old notebooks looking for potential social media fodder, I came across a note for a (thankfully) abandoned (not to mention completely forgotten) storyline that made me go

and then

Seriously. It’s been days now since I saw that note, and I’m still horrified by its mere existence. I realize it was proposed long before the story became what it is today, but…No. I just can’t. You have no idea.

Anyway…where was I before I was once again traumatized by the workings of my own mind?

Right.

So the series evolved a lot (for the better), and with the help of many writing friends and a number of devoted beta readers who suffered through multiple drafts of absolute dreck (I honestly don’t know why any of them still talk to me), Effigy was born and became the first installment of The Coileáin Chronicles. It was set loose upon the world in July 2014, making this month the ten-year anniversary of my publishing debut.

Here’s some of what this not-so-little book has done in those ten years:

• Inspired someone not related to me to stay up all night to read it
• Caused someone (also not related to me) to burn their dinner because they were so engrossed in reading they forgot they had something on the stove
• Became a contested item in a couple’s divorce
• Was included on someone’s list of their All-Time Favorite Books
• Received what is possibly the funniest one-star review ever (it’s on the ‘Zon, if you want to go read it. There may be lots of one-star reviews now—I don’t know; I don’t look at reviews anymore—but I’m guessing you’ll still know which one I mean.)

Book Two of the series, Second Nature, was set loose upon the world in 2018. I had hoped the third book (Full Circle) would be out by now, but the characters had other plans, so it’s still a work-in-progress. Perhaps this year will be the year I figure it out. (I mean, it probably won’t be, but a girl can dream…)

Here’s what I hope to accomplish with this series in the next ten years:

• Finish Full Circle
• Finish Adventures In Babysitting (AKA, the companion novella, or Book 3.5)
• Commit to writing Book Four and then, you know, write it

We’ll see how it goes.

So, to wrap up this insanely long post, I just want to say…

Thank you to everyone who has supported me and this quest in any way over the years. I have absolutely not made it easy, and I truly appreciate you all hanging in there. Thank you for coming along on this weird and painfully awkward journey. Your kind words, wisdom, and support mean the world to me.

Here’s to ten more wildly weird years of me being an author.

Oh, and yeah, one more thing. To celebrate this occasion, the Kindle editions of the first two books in the Coileáin Chronicles are currently on sale.

Be safe and well, all.