After working on my book for such a long time, it was finally happening and everything was coming together so quickly! I remember sitting at my desk at home, working on the final formatting and for the first time, I truly felt like a “real” writer.įiona: What inspired you to write your first book?

I think it was during the final editing phase of The Awakening. Without that experience, I don’t know if I would ever have attempted it.įiona: When did you first consider yourself a writer? College gave me the confidence to know I am “good enough” to do this. After one of my professors told me I should be a writer, I laughed, but after multiple professors told me the same thing, I started listening. I just knew it would be the hardest thing I’d ever attempt, but I fell into the academic world with ease.

I was so intimidated when I went back to college as a twenty-six year old freshman. After much contemplation, I felt The Edge would mean more to the reader as a follow up to book one and a bridge to book two.įiona: When and why did you begin writing? I wrote this part of the story years ago, but it just didn’t fit well within the timeline of book one. The story is told largely from Aidan’s perspective and shows a very different side of him than we got to see in The Awakening. I’m so excited to be releasing my prequel novella, Emerge: The Edge, this September! In The Edge, we get to go back to the beginning, before the events of The Awakening, to learn new things about Allie and Aidan as individuals. You can find me at Tell us your latest news? I finally had the time and resources to actually finish my book! I still work as a part time designer, but I also make my living through writing, editing and providing other services to indie authors. When I suddenly found myself jobless and partnerless, it was a relief. I made partner and spent a long time trying to succeed at a job I found I didn’t love, while still trying to find time to write. I worked my way through an internship to gain experience and went on to work as a freelancer for a few years until I found a permanent position with an architectural firm. That was a time when interior design was not a career you wanted to be in because the housing market was in such bad shape. I didn’t do the college thing until my late twenties but I finally graduated from the University of West Georgia in 2009 with a degree in interior design. Cleveland still feels like home even though I’m back in the ungodly heat of Atlanta again!Ī little about your self `ie your education Family life etc

I grew up in Georgia, but we moved to Cleveland Ohio when I was seventeen and I spent some very important years there.

The Awakening by Melissa A. Craven