Starry Night Sky with Bow

A Dozen Years Later

About ten years of part-time and two years of full-time writing are done. Dawn of Wonder, book 1 of the series The Wakening, is ready to see the light – at last! Over the years, the entire plot and most of the characters were discarded and reinvented numerous times, but with every reinvention the landscapes and cultures grew a little broader. About two years ago I left my teaching job and started everything from scratch. After completing the rough draft, I did six or seven revisions, as well as a rough for the second book and some ideas for the third.

The artwork was a project on its own. I had specific ideas for the cover, map, chapter headings and internal sketches.

As an artist, I’m somewhere between not-much-use and appalling, so it took a good long time to hack together the map and chapter headings (leaning very heavily on photoshop and corel), but when it came to the internal sketches and cover, help was needed. Richard Allen spent months putting up with my exceptional fussiness, and delivered artwork that has impressed everyone who has seen it.

I think Dawn of Wonder has been groomed about as much as any book can ask for, and I’m very excited to open the door and let it out.

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7 thoughts on “A Dozen Years Later

  1. Mateo

    I have read a lot of great books. That said, no book has captivated me like Dawn of Wonder. I stayed up all night reading it, ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner with it, and spent all my free time reading it. It is a truly amazing book, and I cannot wait for the second one. SO PLEASE FINISH IT I AM DYING HERE MUST HAVE IT!

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  2. Anca Heyd

    I finished the book some days ago and it`s still in my mind. I simply loved it, it is so much more than a good story.

    I wonder… what`s going to happen next, how the characters will develop, how you could get the depth in your characters, how you are able to write these fantastic descriptions…

    I really look forward to read your next books, as many as you are going to write, hopefully the second book in the series very soon:)

    Somebody told once that if we read books we are able to live more than one life. In this case it is true, I both lived one more life together with Aedan and Kalry and my own life got richer. So thank you very much for this experience and this wonderful piece of literature.

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  3. Anne Glee

    I have never written in praise of a book before. Found Dawn of Wonder by accident, persuaded to purchase by other reviewers, downloaded and devoured it in a couple of marathon reading sessions. Unfortunately am now addicted.

    So well done and well worth the 10 year simmer.

    Absolutely on fire for the next book.

    Thank you in roiling anticipation!

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  4. Sharon

    I happened across you by mistake and am so glad that I did. It’s been a very long time since I’ve bumbled upon a good read, you wrote with such detail and expression I found myself immediately immersed in the world you had created and didn’t put my kindle down for three days straight. Since I’m a ridiculously fast reader I am rarely satisfied by the time I put down whatever book I’ve finished, your lengthy but never boring story had me totally satiated however…except for when I realized the series was brand new and it may be an extremely long time before I got my hands on the next in the series. Ugh. So thanks so much for giving your story to the world and please, get your rump moving on busting out that second book already!! Ha. Hopefully be reading from you soon!! Good luck and take care out there.xx

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  5. Nathan armstrong

    Hurry up! Nothing I hate more than reading an wonderful book and it being over. The only thing I do is realising the next book isn’t out yet! I’m just kidding. Lol they were great books and I’m itching for the next. Thank you and God bless.

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