Embracing the Fiction Author Journey

55. From struggling writer to urban fantasy author w/ Michelle Summers

• Erin P.T. Canning

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In this episode of Parents Who Write, Michelle Summers shares her inspiring journey as an urban fantasy author who brought mythological characters to life through the power of human beliefs.

Listen to her discuss her experience as a mom of three, her background in studio art and martial arts, and how she transformed her writing dreams into a reality.

But here's a delightful twist: Michelle and your host Erin share a long history, going back to their high school days, making this episode a nostalgic journey through decades of friendship.

We're diving into Michelle's journey as a writer, her experiences, and the development of her Guardian series. You'll hear about her early attempts at writing, her struggles with getting started, and the turning point that led her to embrace her passion for storytelling. 

And be ready to discover the touching story behind a significant revision in Michelle's book and how real-life inspiration found its way into her fantastical world.

Michelle's story is filled with determination, resilience, and a touch of humor, making it a must-listen for aspiring writers and parents who share her passion for storytelling.

Get her books:

Connect with Michelle: 

More about Michelle: 

Michelle Summers writes urban fantasy / paranormal romance with strong female main characters who save the day and their love interests. As an author, she finds catharsis in writing the situations that arise when human characters have to handle fantastical elements in their everyday world. Family dynamics and relationships play a big role in Michelle’s stories, as do sarcasm and humor. 

Michelle is a mom of three inspiring (and exhausting) children whom she is raising to be their own superheroes. In addition to having a blue belt in karate, she is PTA president and an avid crocheter, and while technically a stay-at-home mom, she likes to think of herself as a domestic goddess instead.

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Erin:

What happens when a mom with a vivid imagination combines her love for storytelling with the chaos of raising a family? You're about to find out. In today's episode, we unravel the story of a mother of three who has ventured into the realm of urban fantasy writing. Learn about her initial struggles with completing a manuscript to becoming a published author. You'll also discover the inspirations that fuel her writing, the art of finding your voice amidst parenthood, and the intricate process of working closely with a team of editors. So get ready for a delightful and enlightening conversation with Michelle Summers. Welcome to Parents Who Write, the podcast that helps parents pursue their writing dreams. I'm your host, Erin P.T. Canning. I'm a mom of two young boys, a writer, editor, and writing coach. My mission is to help you regularly make time for your writing, find your voice again, and confidently share your stories so that you can own your identity as a writer and be a happier, more patient parent. Hey friend! Thank you for joining me for another episode of Parents Who Write. Today I am joined by Michelle Summers, who writes urban fantasy in which human beliefs bring mythological characters to life. She is a mom of three, all of whom have inherited Michelle's sass. She also has a degree in studio art and a blue belt in martial arts. Michelle, welcome to the show.

Michelle:

Thank you so much for having me.

Erin:

As a fun side note to our friend listening right now, I have known Michelle since seventh grade? No, high school.

Michelle:

high schools when

Erin:

That's right, because we went to different middle schools, so I met you freshman year of high school. So we're going back a few decades. Yes. Okay, fun.

Michelle:

We won't say how many.

Erin:

Not at all. It's all good. So, we are going to get started. I am super excited to have you on the show because...

Michelle:

So excited to be here.

Erin:

Well, I have had the pleasure of watching you bloom as an author.

Michelle:

Thank you. You also watered me.

Erin:

Oh, that's, that's awesome. Thank you. And we're going to continue with this metaphor. I like it. Um. So yeah, I remember you sending me a message on Messenger where you were like, okay, here's something that I've written. And I responded to you like, Holy cow, girl, you can write. Do you remember that?

Michelle:

Yes. It was in response to one of your prompts that you had in your group.

Erin:

yes. You had already joined the Parents Who Write Facebook group at that point.

Michelle:

At that point.

Erin:

That's wonderful. I love that. So, let's jump back just a smidge, and I want to start off by asking, when did you realize you wanted to write a book?

Michelle:

Well, I think my first book I ever started when I was like eight, it was called A Blue Day of Life. I really wanted to be an actress at that time, but I wanted to write this book that I was going to then star in the movie version of with Tom Cruise as my dad and Meg Ryan as my mom. And so this was the book I had started, which did not go very well or didn't go very far. But throughout my life, I kind of started and stopped a bunch of books like that. And then once I became a mom, I was writing all the little stories about them on Facebook, and everyone would say, you need to write a book. You need to write a book. And I'm like, when am I going to write a book? And like, I tried writing blogs and I couldn't even keep up with blogs. But then you actually did a writing workshop, and I decided to do it with you. And the process you went through for us to follow helped so much with how to get my thoughts onto paper, form the story, and it just made it seem much more possible.

Erin:

That just warmed my heart. Aw, you were one of my very first people to attend my Let's Get Started Writing workshop. And I remember watching the lightbulb go off above you, you know, that metaphorical lightbulb. And I was like, ooh, she's excited about this. That's awesome. So you attended my workshop, which was super exciting. But what made the Guardian series different from you? You mentioned how you started and stopped stories throughout your life, which, on a side note, I did the exact same thing. I can't tell you how many short stories I still have sitting on a file on my desktop. And I'm like, okay, Erin, you're like a serious writer now. You should go back and like retackle those. But they're all learning opportunities, which is great.

Michelle:

Of course.

Erin:

Never a word wasted. But what made the Guardian series different?

Michelle:

I think it was just a matter of right time and right place emotionally. I saw a meme somewhere that was said, Why is the chosen one always a kid? Why can't it be a mom? It should be a mom. We know how to get everything done. And I was like, yeah, I'm going to write that. And I had started thinking about it a while ago. And then I was in your group, and you were talking about who's doing NaNoWriMo. And I was like, I'm going to do it. And being around other people who wrote and you with your writing. And it was like, I can do this. And so it worked, and having seen that meme, and then I was doing martial arts, and I was like, I could come at this from a position of understanding how it would be to do the martial arts and be a mom and have all these things going on. And you set up all the writing sprints, and you made it possible for me to sit down and write my book.

Erin:

Thank you. That was a lot of writing sprints.

Michelle:

It was a lot of writing sprints.

Erin:

The panic of NaNoWriMo. I need to get another 2, 300 words in today. Come on, I'm opening a room right now. Hop in. And it was, it was impressive to see the number of people who hopped in for the NaNoWriMo sprints.

Michelle:

Hmm. Although, I will say, after the sprints last weekend, the Reader Magnet Workshop, 9, 000 words in a weekend, you know, that was some intense sprinting right there.

Erin:

That was the most intense sprinting I had had in two days, and that's why I didn't write for a week because I was, I was numb.

Michelle:

Yeah.

Erin:

I was

Michelle:

I couldn't believe my hands felt that night, I was like, what the?

Erin:

I remember, but then I was still up until 11 o'clock even after all of our workshop stuff ended because I was like, I'm still 2000 words behind my goal for today. I have to keep going. So you attended NaNoWriMo. You did those sprints. You achieved NaNoWriMo, congratulations! I remember us both downloading those awards and being like, it happened! So, you finished your first draft, now what?

Michelle:

Well, I have another friend who's an editor, who I went to college with. So I asked her for some advice. I asked you for some advice, and you said, you know, you should really talk to Maria at All Write Well. I think that this might be a really good fit for you. I wanted to hang on to my rights. And I'm also very impatient, and I didn't want to wait to see my book in print. I wanted to be in charge, in control of that. And, Maria has such a great program to help walk you through every step of it, to know, okay, this is what you need to be doing now. This is what you need to be doing now. And it just, it was very... it was kismet. It was perfect timing and perfect everything. And it lined up. So that helped with the marketing piece and the how to publish and the everything, and of course that got me my editors.

Erin:

It did get you your editors. You had your high school friend become your inline editor, but before you had me, you had Maria. So when you entered the coaching program, what was it like passing your manuscript on to both your developmental editor and your inline editor? But let's, let's start with the developmental cause I know that came first. How did that go?

Michelle:

Well, I had never really had anybody read my writing before so it was terrifying Because I was so afraid that she was going to say, not that she would have, but I was afraid she was going to, why are you even doing this? You can't be a writer, you know, and this is no good. In my mind, it was great. Um, but I don't have formal writing training or editing training. I, in college, my English paper was about Pez dispensers. So, like, I don't have that kind of background, and I didn't know what to expect going into my call with Maria.

Erin:

I remember when she took you on as a client, and I was chatting with her and she was like, I'm reading Michelle's manuscript right now. This is good! And I was like, oh, and then I was like, messaged you, and I'm like, Maria loves your manuscript, stop panicking. And so, well, that's one of the things that I also really love about her, is that she helps everybody to shine, and she can see your ideas and help make them clearer, and give you the confidence that you need so that you know, like, yes, I can see this through. We all have stories that deserve to be told. And you did, you saw it through. You made your story. You, you made it happen, man.

Michelle:

Mm hmm.

Erin:

So on that note, when you passed on The Chosen One, My Ass, to Maria, what kind of feedback did you get from a developmental editor?

Michelle:

Well, when she read The Chosen One, My Ass, she came back and said I did a really great job of making a consistent world and explaining things so that there really was no suspension of disbelief. It was just all believable the way I explained it, which meant a lot to me because when I watch things or read things that don't have that, it drives me crazy. Every time I watch TV, my husband's like, you should be a continuity editor, because I will be like, nope, that wasn't there before, and now it's there, and that's not right. That was a huge compliment to me, in addition to the writing. Like the, yes, you're, being so anal works out in your favor in this particular regard. Um,

Erin:

That is amazing. What types of tips did she give you to help make your book even stronger?

Michelle:

I mean, the big one was I had just kind of not included a character who I had started with. It was a creature. It wasn't going to be a character at

Erin:

Mm hmm.

Michelle:

It was talked about as a potential bad guy, and then it just kind of went away. And she was like, what happened to this? Where did this go? She gave me a couple ideas for where she thought it would fit. And I took the where but changed the how and used it. I actually used it to kill two birds with one stone because I also, I had said about like, oh, I needed a reason this car couldn't go up a mountain. And in my, the original version, it just couldn't make it up the mountain. And she was like, yeah, no, I'm a hiker. It would make it up the mountain. Like that's, that's, you need a better reason. And so I combined the two things to give it a reason not to get up the mountain and also bring that character back. So, but she, she was like, this is where you need to mention it again and somehow close this story.

Erin:

I remember reading that when I got to that moment and I was like, oh, I love what you did with that. And as your inline editor, I had no idea that that had been an issue with your developmental edit, which is why I love when I get manuscripts that have gone to developmental editors first so that there are none of those plot hole issues or timeline issues. And so then I can just focus on pretty sentences and continuity. Like you were saying, um, like for example, with book two, that's coming out, it's The Chosen Two?

Michelle:

The Chosen

Erin:

question mark, right? Or like The Chosen dot, dot, dot Two?

Michelle:

Chosen dot dot dot Two. Because I have like crossed out the

Erin:

Oh, right. Very nice. And I remember reading that and then I messaged you and I was like, Okay, wait a minute. You, you, you said that her hair was red and now all of a sudden it's blonde. What, what is the deal here? I need

Michelle:

You're like, okay, this character needs to pick a... And it's funny because I just, I actually got on a coaching call last

Erin:

Mm hmm.

Michelle:

I told my husband, I skipped karate one night and said I'm getting on this call because I had actually never been on a call with Cara

Erin:

Oh.

Michelle:

So I got on a publishing call with Cara. And one of the things she was talking about was collecting all the metadata for your book. And we then got into series Bibles. So I now started my series Bible. Now that I'm finished writing book two, I have to go back through everything and write it all in. And of course I was talking to my husband about it and he was like, that should be like your fourth book should be your illustrated like encyclopedia of all things, the guardian.

Erin:

Yes! Considering you can draw. I love that.

Michelle:

So that's my plan for once I finished the next book, the third book, then I'll make a box set and the fourth book in the box, that's going to be like my illustrated like Bible of my series. I don't even know how I got on that topic, but

Erin:

okay. I can't wait to see your pictures of the imps. I wanna I wanna see those red imps popping up in those pictures. They make me crack up. So, you know what, you reminded me of something. I remember Maria also pointing out another plot hole that you had in your book. And it was that normally the Guardian finds out that they're the Guardian when they're

Michelle:

Mm.

Erin:

And yet Miranda doesn't find out that she's the guardian until she is 40 some odd years and a mother of four children. And so there was really no explanation behind that, right? And Maria said, okay, like, what happened with the gap? And a lot of times, writers ask, where do your ideas come from, right? How do you make a book from nothing? Where do you get your inspiration from? You found a

Michelle:

You're gonna make me

Erin:

I am gonna make we're both gonna cry. You found a very touching way to fill in that hole, so why don't you talk about it, and I'm I'm gonna try to not cry.

Michelle:

Okay, um, I'll do my best to not cry as well. so one of the things Maria said was, I think you need to have there be a guardian, the next guardian down, who dies off page as a teenager, and you and I had a friend in high school who came home for the first football game of the season when you were both freshmen. I was a year behind, so I was a senior. And she had the car accident and, um, she would have been a guardian if she, if they were in a real life, Susie would have been a guardian. She was on the rescue squad in high school. She, I still remember one day we were driving somewhere and there was a car over on the side of the road and she made the person driving pull over so she could jump out and check on the driver to make sure they were okay. Just some random car and she was 16 and she was like, no, I need to go see and make sure they're okay. And that's just, that's who she was. So as soon as Maria said, you know, you need to have someone who somehow tragically dies off page, I was like, it needs to be Susie, because she was the most vibrant person I've still ever met in my life and was taken way too soon from us. And she's another one who just deserves to live on, somehow. And this was too perfect for me to not make her piece of the story.

Erin:

I love when we have fiction and we work real life into it. And it gives us a chance to process stuff in a different way. For our friends to live on, like you said. I remember reading that in the book and I couldn't help but cry.

Michelle:

Mm

Erin:

Especially when you just said the words, Suzanne was special. I just started crying right there. Because it was our first week of college. We were supposed to be immortal at that point. But now she's immortalized in The Chosen One, My Ass. But you know what, I can picture her just like, hooping and hollering and stealing a traffic cone up in heaven, and uh, just going, whoop whoop! As she read that part of the book. Okay, so, people get to hear what it is like for an author and an editor talking to each other. Be brutally honest. I will take no offense whatsoever. What was it like working with your inline editor and getting that manuscript back with a couple marks here.

Michelle:

Think it was ten thousand six hundred. I want to say it was roughly around there, um, the first book.

Erin:

Oh, was it really that many?

Michelle:

I'm pretty sure. But, you know, it was terrifying to open that and see it was the equivalent of getting your paper back in school with the whole thing written up in red. I'm sorry.

Erin:

Can I, can I just preface though real quick? I asked you, do you want me to be gentle? Or do you want me to like, because I never want anybody to open up a document and feel like, Oh my God, I can't write. I should close this and run away. And so I work with people with helping them to grow because you can't learn everything at once. It's impossible to learn everything at once,

Michelle:

And, and, and especially because like I said, I don't have that kind of writing background. I took one English class in college. I don't remember anything about grammar.

Erin:

That's what I'm here for. That's what I'm here for.

Michelle:

I didn't know that OK was supposed to be OKAY. I mean, that was probably a good 500 of the

Erin:

That was a good 500 of the changes,

Michelle:

taking out okay.

Erin:

There were a lot of instances OK, and I was like, we just, we don't need this one here. It's OK, we're just going to remove OK again.

Michelle:

Mm hmm. Or, you know, nope, I'm sorry, italics or exclamation point. You don't get both. Or you get two ellipses a chapter. That's it.

Erin:

I was very strict with the ellipses. They get, they get, they get overused. It's OK, I...

Michelle:

They, yes. But it's okay, because now I'm also learning, oh, this is where I need the ellipses. I didn't actually need it in all those other places.

Erin:

Fun note for our friend who's listening, you don't need an ellipsis when you have a complete thought. Like, I, and I, sometimes I want to do the same thing as a writer where I don't know in my head it feels like even though it's a complete thought it's like there's this I don't know why we do it, but it's like you want it to linger. And so we add the ellipses. But no, it's, it's a complete thought. Just take it away. It's just a distraction. So

Michelle:

Right.

Erin:

So you open the document and there were...

Michelle:

right. So I opened the document and I was like, Oh, I'm definitely not going to make when I already said my book's coming out. But you were so great. You were like, no, the first read through you're just, you're just accepting all of the little changes, all of the extra periods, like the punctuation changes, and the spelling changes, and all that kind of stuff. That's the first thing, And once I got through with that, I was down to like 600 or something. Like, that took away almost all of them.

Erin:

Drastically cuts it down.

Michelle:

Right.

Erin:

So then what do you do for your second go through?

Michelle:

I think I'm doing it differently this time than I did last time. I think last time I went through and looked at the middle range things where I have to actually put some thought into like the sentence structure, or what am I saying here? And then the last thing through was like the big things like throwing in an entire tea party scene where there wasn't one.

Erin:

Yeah.

Michelle:

Um, this time going through, I did all the little stuff and now I'm just like, nope, I want this chapter done. I'm going through and getting it done. And then I'm going on to the next one.

Erin:

I get that, and I'm glad. Part of with writing your first book and your second book is... The first book definitely is 100 percent a learning curve on how you write, how you revise, how you're going to get through that. The second one is also a trial, but now you know more about yourself and you're just kind of really fine tuning who you are as a writer and editor when it comes to your own work at that point. And then third time, you're just like, I know what I'm doing, flying through it. So you had told me that you were also really afraid when it would be sent to me that it wouldn't sound like your voice anymore or that it wouldn't be your book anymore. I mean, if somebody hears 10, 000 edits on a manuscript, they're going to think, like it's not, it's not mine anymore. You've completely changed the story. So can you talk to, can you talk to us about that?

Michelle:

So when I started The Chosen One, My Ass, in my head, it was so irreverent, which it still is. But I was like, why does grammar matter? I mean, the title is The Chosen One, My Ass! Like, is grammar really this big an issue here? And I actually remember on one of the coaching calls talking about dialogue. I think someone said like, oh, but if it's dialogue, does it need to be proper grammar? And, because the whole book is written from Miranda's point of view, and it's all kind of her thinking in my head, I was like, yeah, it doesn't need to be proper. And you were like, no, it still does. It's still like when the person's reading, it needs to be proper grammar. And, and, you're right, basically, but just because it's proper grammar doesn't mean it's not my voice. And that, I think, was something I needed to realize, that it's not that all the sentences sound like someone else's writing just because they're actually written properly.

Erin:

Yes. One of the things that I talk about is it's important to understand the rules of grammar so that when you break it, you're breaking it intentionally. And then the other thing that's important is just because it sounds good to you in your head, we have grammar rules for a reason because other people don't hear the voice in your head, right? Like, I once worked with somebody who said that she always put in commas wherever she paused in her thoughts in her head. And I'm like, that's great for you, but other people don't have those same pauses in their head. That's the reason why we establish where commas should go in the first place. But then if you do want to force that pause, you're doing it intentionally. Because otherwise, without proper grammar, our readers are just tripping over our sentences.

Michelle:

Mm hmm. And then it's, we've all had those moments when we're reading something and we have to go back and reread the paragraph like six times to figure out what they're

Erin:

Yeah. And I

Michelle:

And that's, right, exactly. And that's even sometimes when it is proper grammar, so throw in the extra commas and Mm hmm. I'm just breaking it up differently and then it makes even less

Erin:

Right. So... Let's talk about the ending of your book with, uh, throwing in a fun tea party.

Michelle:

Ha Oh my gosh. Ha

Erin:

want to just talk about that or do you want me to... No, you take it. You take it. This is

Michelle:

Me take, I take it. So at the end of The Chosen One, My Ass, it was a very James Bond villain moment where the bad guy who was actually very different the first time through also, you, you helped me frame who she was and have a viewpoint for her that I don't think I had when I started. You know, she just tells her whole, this is what we're doing, to Miranda, my main character, and it was, you were like, why is she standing here doing this? What reason does she have to talk to her about this right now? And why is Miranda standing there listening to it when her husband is there needing to be rescued? Um, so yeah, so it was your idea to, you know, let's give them something to do. In so many, in all these other big conversation moments of your story, she's drinking her coffee, or they're having a meal or, you know. Let's do something like that here to ground them and give them a reason for having this conversation.

Erin:

I was so excited when I saw the James Bond villain moment, the James Bond monologue. And, well, I wasn't excited when I saw that. I saw that and I went, Oh no! I've got two chapters of nothing happening but dialogue. But your voice is so strong and your characters are so fully developed that by the time I got there, I felt like I knew Miranda so intimately that I could go to you and say, Okay, this is what I'm thinking. Take it or leave it. But I just can, I can see why Miranda would go this route now if this was what was put in front of her. And then I love what you were also saying with the villain, where we were getting the villain monologue. But I remember talking to you about who is this villain and think about the life that they came from. And the types of parents that this villain had and how that changes her perspective of everything that's going on. And the more we were talking about it, you were like, Oh my god, that makes so much sense. And we just left it at that. And then you, you went and you rewrote two chapters.

Michelle:

Mm hmm. Like days before my book was coming out.

Erin:

days before, but you pulled it off because I could see it that you were just like, that is 100 percent a perfect fit. It makes perfect sense with the characters and you could visualize it. You were like, I'm ready to go. Let's do it.

Michelle:

And it wasn't rewriting it. It was putting action to the dialogue that was already

Erin:

true, exactly. And it just framed it.

Michelle:

Right. It was just taking the dialogue and saying, oh, and now she's doing this and that. And it helped with the, it actually helped emphasize the dialogue that was already in existence.

Erin:

Yeah, it was really fun. Okay. So I, I'm going to say. Go read The Chosen One, My Ass, so you can read that ending scene and let us know what you think about when that happens. That was great. Um,

Michelle:

Yes.

Erin:

So, final thoughts about the whole experience from struggling to complete one draft to being a published author?

Michelle:

It feels good to be a published author. It feels like this was always what I was supposed to be doing. And, I mean, I said after last weekend to my husband, if I still want to write after doing 9, 000 words in a weekend, I think I finally found what I'm supposed to be doing.

Erin:

That's a really good point. Yeah. And that 9,000 words in a weekend, that was for your reader magnet. Why don't you tell us about your reader magnet that's going out for free?

Michelle:

For free, yes. It's The Predecessor, because The Chosen One, My Ass is about Miranda as a middle aged mother finding out that she's the chosen one. But it talks about her predecessor who was guardian before her and chosen before her, Joanna. And when I first drafted The Chosen One, My Ass, in my mind, I was basing Joanna on my own karate mentor. Her name was Daisempai Gail. And a couple months after I wrote the book, she was diagnosed with glioblastoma. And she never got to read it. She had surgery in February. Before she went in for surgery, she was like I'm gonna need to lean on you a lot because you've been through surgery because I, had a mastectomy and I have never had cancer. Thank God. But I had a high risk for it. So she said, I'm going to need to lean on you because you've been through stuff for this before and I haven't. And I was like, I am always here for you. And that was actually the last time we spoke because then once she had her surgery, she just was never herself again. And so she, so my book came out at the end of April, she passed in June. And I really wanted to give the character I based on her, her own story for her. And I actually looked up where she graduated from high school and when and based the book on her high school graduation and, it's about her finding out she's the guardian, which was very different because she's a different character, than Miranda, but to try to write it in the same style as The Chosen One, My Ass, while having her be a very different person, was an interesting take for me to do. And just, you know, versus being the mother of three, she's fresh from high school and very different outlook on life. So, hopefully I did her justice and I hope everyone loves it. It's its own little short story, so should be a fun read.

Erin:

At least 9, 000 words, given that's what we had to do in weekend.

Michelle:

Exactly. Roughly. I think it was like 9, 600 by the time I was done. Something like that.

Erin:

Woo! I haven't released mine yet because I, I was burnt out for that week, and then I'm, I'm volunteering all week at my kid's book fair. So,

Michelle:

it's book fair at my, at

Erin:

oh,

Michelle:

school and right. And, and yeah, I took time out to come back home and do this. Cause I, I was like, you guys have coverage today. I'm going to go do this podcast. I'll be back. I'm

Erin:

there all week, just like you. Book fair week.

Michelle:

PTA president. So I'm there all the

Erin:

Yes, you are. So, do you have any final advice for aspiring authors out there?

Michelle:

I'm going to take the one that you say. You can edit bad writing, but you can't edit a blank page. If you want to write, write. You can always go back and edit, and it can still be your story and your voice, and you can still reach people. But you can if you don't put the words on the paper.

Erin:

Yep. Let the crazy man out.

Michelle:

the madman

Erin:

Let the madman out.

Michelle:

The comment you said about the crazy, let the crazy man out reminded me, using that editing software that we were learning about last weekend, I had a line in the story, Am I going crazy? And it was like, this is insensitive. You should consider changing it. So I changed it to, am I hallucinating? And then when my husband read through it, he was, he crossed out hallucinating and wrote going crazy. And I was like, um, the reason I had it as hallucinating was because of this and it being insensitive. And he's like. All right, hold on. You wrote an entire series with the premise of people's religious ideas needing to be like, fought. And like, every other word in your book is a swear, but writing, am I going crazy is where you're drawing the line, really?

Erin:

ha,

Michelle:

I was like, yeah, good point. I'm going to go back to that. I hadn't thought about that. It's not like you're having this prim and proper book and then that line sticks out.

Erin:

ha! Your prim and proper book. The other thing I was gonna say as a final thought that jumped back to me was, uh, Find your tribe! Find your people! Because you said that was one of the biggest differences for you was surrounding yourself with other writers and saying, holy cow I can do this! So, I would encourage everybody to find your tribe. Check us out on the Parents Who Write Facebook Group.

Michelle:

Absolutely. I've directed so many people to that group now because now that I wrote my book and got it out, I've had so many people saying, how did you do that? I've always had this idea for a book, and I've never thought I could do it. So, do it.

Erin:

Do it. All right. Well, thank you again for joining me on the show. I'm so proud of you.

Michelle:

Thank you.

Erin:

uh, I can't wait for The Chosen Two to come out. And then, do you have a title for the third one, or are you holding on to that as a secret?

Michelle:

have one yet. I mean, I know the entire premise, but I need to come up. I don't, I don't know. I have to come up with a title.

Erin:

Mm, Well, okay, so it's The Chosen One, My Ass, and then The Chosen Two. Like, I always want to say it with a 2 just because you got the ellipses in there. That's what happens with

Michelle:

Me and my ellipses.

Erin:

It's okay, it was a good use of them that time. Alright, fun times, where can people find your books?

Michelle:

They are available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited. And then I'll also get you my website where you can go if you want to order a signed copy.

Erin:

Ooh, which is...

Michelle:

My website?

Erin:

Like, tell people your website!

Michelle:

msummerswriter. com.

Erin:

msommerswriter. com, got it. It's in the show notes. Well, thank you so much!

Michelle:

Thank you so much, Erin.

Erin:

You just finished listening to Parents Who Write, a show that's changing the game for writer parents everywhere. If you want to help other parents like you discover this inspirational resource, act now and leave a review. That will also help bring even more incredible guests to the show to help you grow as a writer.

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Erin P.T. Canning

Host