About me, Susan Quilty
One of my earliest memories is of tracing refrigerator magnets onto folded pieces of paper, then spelling out words to go with the pictures. The magnets were shaped like people, trees, flowers, and animals. I was about four years old and that was my first "book."
My stacks of unpublished (and often unfinished) fiction grew, including floppy disks with files in bygone word processing formats like AmiPro, Pocket Writer, and Word Perfect.
But writing fiction and having the confidence to share it can be two very different things.
While I've always loved writing, my journey from that magnet-traced book to my first published novel was not a direct flight. There have been many detours and extended layovers. Yet now, with each new book, I learn more about navigating my own path.
If you're reading this, thank you for being part of my writing journey. Whenever you read and review my books, follow me on social media, or tell your friends about my writing, you're helping me live my dream. Your support means the world to me!
Early Writing Career
Though my love of writing never faded, my young adulthood was focused on working with computers, raising my children, and straightening out the twists of my life. My (often unfinished) fiction stayed largely out of public sight, but I eventually joined an online writing group and began picking up freelance writing assignments.
For many years, I wrote a wide variety of content for both print and online publications. There were a lot of odd jobs as well, including writing copy for online catalogs, trivia questions for a search engine, and advertorials for magazines.
I still wanted to write novels, so I devised a new plan.
In 2015, I completed yoga teacher training, traded most of my freelance clients for yoga teaching jobs, and spent my writing time developing my own stories. The teaching time was a great way to break up my long days in front of the computer while facing rooms full of students challenged—and boosted—my confidence.
Writing my first novel was a wonderful accomplishment. However, the gauntlet of traditional publishing showed me just how hard it would be to get my book into the hands of readers.
Nothing else about my life has been "traditional," so why let that limit my writing? Enter self-publishing and my continuing journey as an independent author.
Fiction for Adults
Published in 2017, my first novel, The Insistence of Memory, gently bends reality as it explores the truth of our memories. It features a machine that can record memories and play them back in another person's mind, a life-long friendship between two women, and a past that would be better left forgotten. Read more about the story here or purchase The Insistence of Memory on Amazon.
Published in 2018, my second novel, To the Left of Death, follows an elementary school teacher as she stumbles through the trauma of being present for someone's murder. Her rediscovered love of art could be the key to healing or a path back to the pain of that fateful day. Read more about the story here or purchase To the Left of Death on Amazon.
Both books are available in paperback and Kindle editions.
Fiction for Young Adults
Available in mid-April 2019, Healers and Thieves is the first book in The Psychic Traveler Society series, which is an adventure series for young adult readers, aged 13 and up. Read more about the story here and check back for updates on the release.
