Katherine Marie Blogs

It happened so slowly. Until it happened fast.

But it happened. 

Let me explain.

I started writing in 2020 shortly after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Evelyn was the third story I'd written. The first, an epic-length period piece, and the second, a novel-length contemporary piece, were similar versions of the same story. Or so I thought.

But Evelyn was an identity piece—a book that many could identify with. It was also the one that I felt God preferred because it was the one that finished quickly and easily, and needed little rewriting.

Doors were opening. I was on a bullet train. The editing was completed, and the perfect photo for the cover was found. I was learning about self-publishing at the speed of light.

And then, nothing.

At the end of 2022, with the book edited and the cover design still progressing, I shut down. My professional life as an accountant was in a peculiar place, and the psychological effect was taking a toll on me. Depression is real.

I left my job to take advantage of an opportunity to utilize my degree. The people I worked with left me in a much altered place as far as my personality was concerned. I learned, but at an extreme cost to my outgoing nature.

At the beginning of 2024, however, I changed employers again. This time, I found myself at an excellent company, full of learning opportunities, using my degree while surrounded by caring, nurturing Christian people. We even have devotional lunches a couple of times a month!

Yet, I struggled with getting Evelyn out there. I didn't know what to do next. The year flew by, and 2025 lurked on the horizon. I prayed. I was so sure that I had upset God in some way. I just knew that He had abandoned the project. I was convinced I had hesitated and He'd removed my blessing and given it to someone else.

God and His mysterious ways, though!

It turns out, I didn't know enough about the self-publishing business. He was trying to communicate that to me, but I wasn't listening. When I went back to praying about Evelyn, God went back to talking to me about Evelyn. And boy, did He have a lot to say.

I needed to learn about the legal aspect of self-publishing, but I also needed to learn about the format I was choosing: Amazon KDP. A few books later, I read through Evelyn one more time, set everything up, and worked on formatting.

Then I hit the button. 

The "publish" button.

A day or two later, Evelyn went live in digital format.

Just like that.

It was so easy that I couldn't understand why it had taken nearly two and a half years to get there. 

Then I remembered: because God.

Around the time I first believed Evelyn was ready to publish (late 2022 to early 2023), Generative AI was released to the public. The self-publishing landscape began to change. For indie authors, it was not a favorable change. 

From late 2022 to earlier this year, the self-publishing market became saturated with poor, low-quality books generated by Generative AI, effectively squeezing human-created literature out of the already challenging self-publishing market. 

I didn't see it at first, but I now believe God had a hand in blocking me from publishing. Over the last nearly two and a half years, a battle has been brewing, with field leaders, like Amazon, posing progressively stricter regulations for the use of Generative AI in literary works. 

Just as these rules took effect, God opened the door for me once more. Within days, I completed the books I'd been reading to learn the legal and how-to sides of self-publishing. Evelyn was prepped and formatted. The button was pushed, and I became a published author.

Because God.

Yesterday, my coworker and I marked the middle of the year. I'm amazed by how quickly the year has passed. I've tried to fill every day with something remarkable, but instead, every day has been remarkable, no matter what I've done.

In May and June, I sold a few books. Most of them were to friends, family, or coworkers, but still. I have no complaints. I spent the month of May learning new things and having fun. If writing ever becomes work, I'll likely lose interest. 

A remarkable thing did happen yesterday. God planted a seed in me to do something with my imprint. He tasked me with fully developing it as a business and has now shown me how he wants to utilize that business in His work. And that sounds like a lot of fun!

 I'm looking forward to July. I'd like things to slow down a little. Life is happening too fast. I want to savor it. I want it to linger. I want there to be enough of it so that I can do all the things God wants me to do.