Talia Haze’s love for writing began at the age of 13, when she had just finished reading Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted. She loved getting lost in the tale and thought how wonderful it would be for Levine to write a book about a poem she wrote about magical pipes.
Talia was diligent in her pursuit. In order for Levine to write the story correctly, she needed specific details. She wrote several drafts of a letter, detailing what the pipes represent. She described in vivid detail about the trials the characters should face. It wasn’t until she had several pages of an outline that the wisdom of a 14-year-old struck.
“Why can’t I write this?”
She would. She did. In her spare time, underneath her class notes, on boring car trips. She wrote and wrote.
And when Talia turned 16, her story was published.
Talia’s next book was rejected by several publishers several times. She knew that rejection is just a part of the game, but the 17-year old couldn’t emotionally handle it. Still, she wrote. More books, more stories, more snippets, more excerpts. Anytime her high school held a writing contest, she took first. Encouraged, she attempted publishing yet again. After another slew of rejections, she stopped submitting work all together.
But she didn’t stop writing. Years past. As she grew older, Talia traveled more often and wrote with more variety. Once, she met a friend halfway across the world, on a completely different trip, which made her think, “everyone has a story.” What is it? What happened before the characters met? Why did that random stranger help them? Who hurt the villain so many years ago that all he can think of is hurting others?
As she scrolled through her old books, she found so many connections between them…of course they needed polishing, but they were there. It was beautiful, it was exciting and
it needed to be shared.
So, Talia got started. Because of her many interests, she had many the skills needed to get started. For the skills she didn’t have, she learned. She began to tinker in Photoshop, she found an editor, she researched new marketing techniques and learned the lingo. Certainly, the process was difficult at times, but she pushed on. After months of studying and planning, her 2nd novel has a target launch date of August 2019.
Everyone has a story.
Let this one begin.