www.masbakersfield.com

I was an avid reader as a child. If I ever did anything wrong, I'd be grounded from my books. By the age of 11 I was writing stories, mostly to escape into a fantasy world whenever my parents were fighting. No, I'm not inviting everyone to a "pity me party". I'm just explaining how and why I started writing. I'm not going to delve on my childhood, or on failed romances, or on failed anythings. Everything I have gone through has only served to make me stronger. I won't say smarter, because hijole, sometimes I make myself wonder WHAT WAS I THINKING! But I survived what life has thrown at me. I have persevered, with God's grace, and He has blessed me with everything I need. I still have a few WANTS, pero I'm sure He's got something better planned for me.

The Isle of Cipit is the first book I've had published. It has taken me ten years to let it go. I've been editing it on and off for about five years. I have about 300 other stories in different stages. There are about 6 more that are getting close to publishable. One of the things I liked about having my book published through iUniverse, was that I got to edit it myself. The book is ALL ME. I had my friends read it first, of course, but there was no professional editing involved. Now, I don't know if that's good or bad, but (knock on wood) I haven't heard any complaints. Everytime I read it, I think of how it could have been just a little better, but that might be the perfectionist in me (the one the procrastinator in me is trying to kill off).

I've made about a thousand dollars off of the book so far - books that we have sold ourselves around work. It's been reinvested into more books. I make a lot more by selling them myself. I still don't know how much I've sold though Amazon or Barnes and Noble, but that statement will get here sometime in April. The money is good, more will be better, but I LOVE to hear people talk about my characters as if they were real. That is the greatest joy of being published. Almost everyone I know who has read it, is harrassing me for a sequel. There has been one person who didn't seem to like it, but he received it as a gift from his wife, and she explained that he is into different styles. That's okay. My book is not for everyone. My main intention was to entertain people. The extra stuff people are finding is great, but the main objective was to escape into my world for a few hours. I have succeeded so far. I am happy.

What is the book about?

In a nutshell: It's about an anthropology student named Maggie who is researching legends in El Salvador for a class project. She is swept up into a whirlwind of events that will test her entire being. It's an adventure, filled with action, romance and lots of legends.