My favorite question during book interviews is: How did you get started? The short answer is that my mother died. Some people dream of being authors; my writing began as what could be described as a nightmare! HOWEVER- as she died, mom’s experiences ran the gamut from going through all the grieving steps a terminal soul follows to having what would be called a Christian NDE- if she had lived. I was in the room most of the times that she visited with God, Jesus, or multitudes of angels and souls. Believing everything she said even during what others called babbling, I became her translator. When most of her messages from God panned out, people in Orlando buzzed with the story of my parent’s death or Cindy’s tale. My grief counselor listened to my version of the events requiring I write my first book: Mom’s on the Roof and I can’t Get Her Down. That covers 1991-1994 or until interest in my saga died.
Years later, to my surprise- people from all over the USA suddenly called asking for copies. I had no paperbacks of my first book left even though 1,000 had been in print. Meanwhile, computers changed so drastically that my backup disk was useless. So, I input one chapter at a time FREELY e-mailing my new fans the story that way. The demand became too great, and my e-mail provider balked or locked me out. Soon, I found a POD and distributed through them. At about the same time or starting in 2000, mom or God’s prophecies found in my first book began to materialize. My story-copyrighted in 1994- was proving itself as the truth! It felt miraculous- even for me!
Much later, I produced more books including chronicling my niece’s merge into my family (Stacey’s Song). Another short paperback (The Evans Terrace Girls) was about small miracles as my neighborhood grieved seven parents’ deaths within about two years. Right after that hard time, I met Wavie Green. After a car accident, while pregnant, she outlived a 14 day coma. The lady claims that she talked with God during her unconscious state; according to her story, she still communicates with HIM even while wide-awake. After reading my three works, Wavie asked me to write her sage (Through the Storms He Performs). That was my first book outside of my personal realm. Most of my first nonfiction books were about faith, God, hope, faith healings, angels and miraculous interventions.
Changes were coming! Due to a genealogy study, after meeting with some cousins at a local grave yard, I wrote my first novel. Talk about relatives coming out of the woodwork when they think you are famous. I am jesting- of course! My relatives handed me some incredible family secrets asking me to compile a book. I agreed but only if it could be a novel. Their notes became my very first attempt at writing fiction; I came up with a pen name of Sydney S. Song to differentiate between my true stories and my novels based on truths or half-truths (Surreal- The Hell in the Family). Soon, some of my other readers with secrets wanted stories told anonymously and autonomously. Thus, I released more books based on true lives of normal people!
Then, the really fun writing started. While working for FREE at my daughter and her husband’s Christmas tree lot, I blogged my experiences. This effort became It’s a Celebration, a limited edition non-fiction book that you can only get the paperback version from me- as a gift or as an eBook free at Smashwords.com.
My experiences that holiday, also, led to my first children’s books (Frasier the Fir is Forever Green). After completing that story including the illustrations, I only gave copies to my children and grandchildren. For obvious reasons, I kept my real name on those books. The youngsters asked for more books. Quickly, I wrote An Easter Tale and a book about accepting your ‘Lot in Life’ entitled Just ME.
Three is a charm!
And, my writing? To be continued…
You can find my body of work through AMAZON as paperbacks and for Kindle readers @ http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=mchanson714 as well as other e-book formats thru http://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=mchanson714. Some books including ePUB I-Books & hardcover ones are- only- @ http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/mchanson714
Years later, to my surprise- people from all over the USA suddenly called asking for copies. I had no paperbacks of my first book left even though 1,000 had been in print. Meanwhile, computers changed so drastically that my backup disk was useless. So, I input one chapter at a time FREELY e-mailing my new fans the story that way. The demand became too great, and my e-mail provider balked or locked me out. Soon, I found a POD and distributed through them. At about the same time or starting in 2000, mom or God’s prophecies found in my first book began to materialize. My story-copyrighted in 1994- was proving itself as the truth! It felt miraculous- even for me!
Much later, I produced more books including chronicling my niece’s merge into my family (Stacey’s Song). Another short paperback (The Evans Terrace Girls) was about small miracles as my neighborhood grieved seven parents’ deaths within about two years. Right after that hard time, I met Wavie Green. After a car accident, while pregnant, she outlived a 14 day coma. The lady claims that she talked with God during her unconscious state; according to her story, she still communicates with HIM even while wide-awake. After reading my three works, Wavie asked me to write her sage (Through the Storms He Performs). That was my first book outside of my personal realm. Most of my first nonfiction books were about faith, God, hope, faith healings, angels and miraculous interventions.
Changes were coming! Due to a genealogy study, after meeting with some cousins at a local grave yard, I wrote my first novel. Talk about relatives coming out of the woodwork when they think you are famous. I am jesting- of course! My relatives handed me some incredible family secrets asking me to compile a book. I agreed but only if it could be a novel. Their notes became my very first attempt at writing fiction; I came up with a pen name of Sydney S. Song to differentiate between my true stories and my novels based on truths or half-truths (Surreal- The Hell in the Family). Soon, some of my other readers with secrets wanted stories told anonymously and autonomously. Thus, I released more books based on true lives of normal people!
Then, the really fun writing started. While working for FREE at my daughter and her husband’s Christmas tree lot, I blogged my experiences. This effort became It’s a Celebration, a limited edition non-fiction book that you can only get the paperback version from me- as a gift or as an eBook free at Smashwords.com.
My experiences that holiday, also, led to my first children’s books (Frasier the Fir is Forever Green). After completing that story including the illustrations, I only gave copies to my children and grandchildren. For obvious reasons, I kept my real name on those books. The youngsters asked for more books. Quickly, I wrote An Easter Tale and a book about accepting your ‘Lot in Life’ entitled Just ME.
Three is a charm!
And, my writing? To be continued…
You can find my body of work through AMAZON as paperbacks and for Kindle readers @ http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=mchanson714 as well as other e-book formats thru http://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=mchanson714. Some books including ePUB I-Books & hardcover ones are- only- @ http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/mchanson714
