I got into writing on an accident/dare. Some friends formed a critique group and invited me to join in 2009. I’d never had aspirations to be a writer, but went to the first meeting with an idea and agreed to write a first chapter with the caveat that if I wasn’t any good, then they let me know and I’d leave them to write in peace without me. I didn’t want to waste their time or mine. The word came back that the writing was good, and they encouraged me to continue. The rest is history.
The decision to go Indie came several years and conferences later. I’d watched author friends on both sides of the publishing world, traditional and Indie. I listened to Regina Sirois’s keynote address at SWIAH Midwest conference and with three completed manuscripts waiting to be published, decided that if I was going to do the same amount of marketing work either way, then I’d rather go Indie and have more control over my work. Pretty simple really. It’s now 9 years and 6 books later since I started my writing journey and I’m so happy with my decisions to write and go Indie.