The Heart of the Story

The Long December began in 2010 as a 50,000-word NaNoWriMo challenge. After the marathon of writing, the manuscript was printed, tucked away, and largely forgotten for over a decade. It wasn’t until the summer of 2024 that I rediscovered those pages in a drawer. Reading it again sparked a new flame; I knew these characters—and the town of Springfield—deserved to finally have their story told. What followed was a season of “editing hell,” retyping every word, and a steep learning curve in self-publishing, but bringing this debut to life has been the ultimate labor of love.