How a flying pig keeps me accountable

The cast iron pig from my office sits on a moss-lined rock.

I knew little about Waco when we wandered into the small Texas town during a hot July road trip. Still, I insisted we stop, if only to see Magnolia, the retail empire of Chip and Joanna Gaines of HGTV’s Fixer Upper fame. Perusing nooks of modern farmhouse chic in the store didn’t take long, so we meandered around Waco, exploring antique and thrift stores along the way. 

That’s where I found it. A cast-iron pig with wings poised for flight. A flying pig. A symbol of all things impossible.

I couldn’t pass it up. I bought the small pig statue to serve as a reminder and a challenge. Today, it sits on my writing desk to remind me that I can do what has often felt impossible: publish a novel. 

Like many novelists, becoming a published author has been a lifelong dream. Like many, I’ve been practicing for that dream for years. I wrote short stories and poems in high school, college and early in my career. But it wasn’t until I was a mother working full-time, with babies under foot, that I finished my first novel, a horrific piece of fantasy chock full of tropes: dragons, shapeshifters, a stolen princess and the reluctant prince she falls for. Trust me when I tell you it was truly awful, but I’d stayed up many late nights when my babies were asleep and finished it. 

I went on to write two romantic suspense novels, tried my hand at querying agents, and gave up. For a while. But writing wouldn’t let me be. Ideas continued to come to me, and I latched onto the idea for my current novel after watching a movie that involved a quest to find the Fountain of Youth. It hit me that I couldn’t think of one novel that explored what the world might look like if the Fountain of Youth were real and existed in modern times (not counting Tuck Everlasting). How would it be used or abused? Who would control it?

What took place next was a decade of writing, revising, querying, learning from failure and growing with new writer friends. I wrote both books of the Fount duology to make sure I had the wherewithal to finish a series. I could have published a book years ago, but I’ve never been one for attention and promoting myself. A tendency that meant the only person stopping me from fulfilling my dreams was me. Until now.

Now, I’m ready to move beyond doubt, delays, and closed doors to see my book in print and in your hands. I’m finally ready to hop off my fear throne, kick it to the ground and trample it to splinters. I’m ready to make pigs fly. I hope to see you in the skies.