My Time Travel & Psychic Mysteries Journey [Sharon Ledwith]

The journey to publication wasn’t easy for me. In fact, it took me a great deal of time and effort to get to where I am now. So, let’s go back to 1995 when I got bitten by the writing bug during a Planning Your Novel college workshop I attended just for fun. One of the exercises I volunteered for still sticks in my mind. The teacher handed me three pennies, and I had to throw them into a waste basket one at a time. I managed to get all three coins in, shooting at different angles and distances. My teacher, Tom Arnett—a NYT bestselling author—was surprised at my luck because the norm was usually two pennies in. He explained that getting all the pennies in would suggest your (writing) goals would be too easy because the person threw them from a close distance. On the flipside, one penny in (throwing too far away) suggested having unrealistic expectations/goals about a career in writing.
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You could say that this penny exercise set the bar for me, and gave me some hope in a field I knew absolutely nothing about. I ended up taking Tom’s night course, Starting your Novel, and from there the writing games began. 

Trying to get published looked something like this:

• Write a book (a shapeshifter paranormal romance) which took about 2 years, including research and learning the basics. Lots of sweat equity!
• Attended a workshop where I met an agent, and handed her a query and outline, which piqued her interest. Our relationship vacillated for four years until we decided to go our separate ways.
• Around 1998, I had a dream about seven Mayan-like arches. I saw five kids and two adults with crystals in their hands, walking toward these arches. It definitely had an Indiana Jones feel. So, I thought I’d challenge myself to write a young adult time travel series based on that dream, and called it The Last Timekeepers.
• Had some luck with The Last Timekeepers when an agency and publishers showed interest. However, their interest was short-lived. Rejection, rejection, and more rejection.
• In 2003, we sold our graphic trade business and house, and moved to our renovated cottage. There, I started a teen psychic mystery series entitled, Mysterious Tales from Fairy Falls.
• I decided to try my hand as a participant in the 2007 Muskoka Novel Marathon. The idea is to write a novella or novel in three days, and the winner gets a chance at publication. During the course of the marathon, our dog died suddenly and I left, only to return the next day determined to finish writing my manuscript in time to submit. It was truly a bitter-sweet experience.
• I needed a break from writing, so as a distraction, I worked as an animal care attendant at the local Animal Shelter for the next fourteen months. I wrote a whole book out of my animal shelter experience, and geared it for my teen psychic mystery series. To this day, I still have an emotional connection to this book because I based my animal characters on many of the real shelter animals I cared for.
• In 2011, I decided to investigate eBooks and how to go about publishing them. I learned that many authors were being forced to wear two hats in these changing times; one for business, and one for writing. I started a blog in May 2011 to create an on-line presence.
• Then, I entered the 2011 Muskoka Novel Marathon and met two writers who’d just signed publishing contracts. Their good fortune fed the fire within me.
• This is where hard work and opportunity collide. One of those writers shared a link on Facebook, which I thought was her publishing company. But it wasn’t. It was the link to a new epublishing company calling for submissions. I sent out my query and got a reply within seven days—Musa Publishing wanted to see my manuscript. Excited, yet not getting my hopes up, I sent my young adult time travel manuscript in. They loved it, but wanted major revisions. I agreed, and they offered me a five book deal. Wow!
• I signed the contract September 13th, 2011, with a release date of May 18th, 2012. Plenty of time for rewrites, and plenty of time to learn what’s expected of an author in this new paradigm of publishing.
• Time travel to 2015 when Musa Publishing closed their doors permanently. That’s when Mirror World Publishing appeared out of the blue, and opened their doors to me. Not only did they take on The Last Timekeepers series, but in 2017 added Mysterious Tales from Fairy Falls to their expanding roster of young adult books. Woohoo!

Update to 2023: I’m happily juggling both series, while balancing my author life with all the promoting and marketing required to succeed in today’s publishing world. I’m truly living the dream! Thanks to Sassy Scribblers for allowing me to share my writing journey with your followers!

Here’s a glimpse of the premises of both my young adult series:

The Last Timekeepers Time Travel Adventures…
Chosen by an Atlantean Magus to be Timekeepers—legendary time travelers sworn to keep history safe from the evil Belial—five classmates are sent into the past to restore balance, and bring order back into the world, one mission at a time.
Children are the keys to our future. And now, children are the only hope for our past.

Mysterious Tales from Fairy Falls Teen Psychic Mysteries…
Imagine a teenager possessing a psychic ability and struggling to cope with its freakish power. There’s no hope for a normal life, and no one who understands. Now, imagine being uprooted and forced to live in a small tourist town where nothing much ever happens. It’s bores-ville from the get-go. Until mysterious things start to happen.
Welcome to Fairy Falls. Expect the unexpected.

Sharon's novels are available here: MIRROR WORLD PUBLISHING ׀ AMAZON ׀ BARNES & NOBLE

Sharon Ledwith is the author of the middle-grade/young adult time travel adventure series, THE LAST TIMEKEEPERS, and the award-winning teen psychic mystery series, MYSTERIOUS TALES FROM FAIRY FALLS. When not writing, reading, researching, or revising, she enjoys anything arcane, ancient mysteries, and single malt scotch. Sharon lives a serene, yet busy life in a southern tourist region of Ontario, Canada, with her spoiled hubby, and a moody calico cat.

SPECIAL BONUS!  Download the free PDF short story The Terrible, Mighty Crystal ​HERE