The Sound of Raven's Birth

15 years ago, when I started writing Raven's Birth, it was mostly a way to process trauma. In all honesty, it was never even meant to be a book. I would lie awake in bed at night, unable to sleep, thinking about Lidia, James, Mark, and Cameron, their stories helping me fall asleep. They grew into something more as months went by and eventually took on a life of their own.

I can't remember at what point I decided to break out my laptop and start recording the previous night's adventures. When I did, the story really took off. Lidia wasn't just a woman living in my head anymore. She was having her own adventure unfold on the screen in front of me. The characters around her became their own people and went in directions I never expected.

All of it was for me, though. I just kept writing because it was me in those words. My pain took shape in the form of Lidia's “glow worm.” My hopes and dreams were laid before me in the shape of James and Mark. The ugliness I had come to expect and accept also bled through.

One day, I started talking to a co-worker about the world I was building in the privacy of my head. They found it intriguing, so I printed a few pages of what was being written. The enthusiasm they showed led me to keep writing, and a dream of a book started to form in my head.

Fast forward, I don't know how many years, and I'm sitting there reading the words I had committed to the page, and I hated every bit of it. I deleted the entire manuscript and had no intention of looking back. In my head, I believed I had no business trying to be a writer. That was the trauma speaking, and it very nearly won. Lidia wouldn't let it.

She was still there in my head. She wanted her story finished, and she wouldn't take no for an answer. Fast forward, 3 years, and I started writing it all down again, and I started letting someone read it again. They too loved what they were reading and wanted more. Every time I brought them more, it wasn't enough, so I kept writing. I would go back and read what I had written and hate all of it. I pushed through and kept writing.

This time, instead of deleting the whole damn thing, I just let it sit there, taunting me as the failure I had once been told I was. Lidia and crew sat abandoned for another 11 years. It wasn't until I met someone that saw in me something I had never seen in myself. I met my “James.” Through him, I learned that I wasn't actually a failure. I was strong, and I was capable. I could heal, and I could finish Raven's Birth.

So I did.

Then I edited it. I made changes where they were needed, and then I built up enough courage to publish my book myself. If anyone had told me 15 years ago, I would become a published author, I would have first laughed in their face. There was an actual physical book in my hand, proving I had done it. I then dreamed of turning Raven's Birth into an audiobook.

Lacy Dunn helped that dream become a reality. Hearing my own words read back to me by a stranger has been surreal. Lidia's story - my story - has been brought to life, and I'm still in awe that it's actually happening.

I hope you're ready for the adventure. Before August 2026 is over, you too, will be able to experience Lidia's journey in audio. I'm so excited to share this with you.

~J