From the Beginning

I sat down with the purpose of writing a story for my children.

Thus, Empyrean was born.

Kinda made that last sentence sound epic. Sheesh, writers can be self-important sometimes.

Actually, I don't remember exactly from where the idea came. I think I had the idea of the final battle first, then had to figure out how the characters got to that point. Then it changed and grew, then changed some more. I wanted the main characters to be identifiable to my children. So, there is quite a lot of both my daughters in their Empyrical counterparts. My boys are in there, too.

There I was, finishing the climactic ending. The Fourth Queen was complete. I wanted to write a few pages at the end to give a sense of closure. Suddenly, Zandria heard someone crying. I know it was a little sadistic of me to leave such a cliff-hanger, but maybe that's my darker side trying to push it's ideas on me.

With that ending, a simple journey turned into The Empyrical Tales. As I write this, I know there will be eight stories. I have the titles to prove it. I have basic outlines and a through-story. Then it really will be epic!

My kids loved the story. I loved writing it. I submitted it. And submitted it. And submitted. Then one day, I got a letter from a little publisher in North Carolina. Comfort Publishing said "YES".

So, that's the beginning. Everything else comes next.