Lighting Candles in the Dark...

While I have the chance to say it...

Thank you. Thank you to every single one of you. Because of you, my books have had a second and third chance at being shared in the world. 

When I published my first book, I was just diagnosed with late stage Lyme disease and didn’t know if I had a future. Gold in the Days of Summer was a dream come true for me, and at a time when I was sick and struggling, it was also something of myself to leave behind.

As I strived to get better, I would write little by little about my experiences with chronic illness. I battled brain fog and fatigue, sometimes writing only a sentence a day. I poured everything I was feeling for hope and healing into The Last Letter. I published this book amidst a relapse. It's this book that has constantly gotten new life, and I can't begin to express what that means.

A literary agent who I had been friendly with and who was a champion for writers once helped me decide whether I should self-publish The Last Letter or go the traditional route. This book was my story as much as it was my character, Lia's, story--as much as it was the story of the hundreds of thousands of Lyme patients who are diagnosed each year, and I was telling it in the best way I knew how.

I knew I didn't want to wait, I didn't want to change the way I wrote it, didn't want to change what I included in it, but I wanted the reach. I wanted it to be read. I wanted chronic illness and Lyme disease, specifically, to be better understood.

This agent, this friend, said something to me I'll never forget.

She said, "Susan, people will wake up in the middle of the night in pain, not knowing what they’re searching for. They’ll find your book. You’ll be lighting candles in the dark.”

That's exactly what has happened in the nearly ten years since. 

That agent passed away last year. She is dearly remembered and sorely missed.

A year after publishing The Last Letter, in three weeks of clarity and reprieve from brain fog, I wrote Lilac in Winter. It felt like it was channeled, pouring into me and out of me. Writing itself is an act of healing for the writer, and I had more to say and more to explore. I published it in 2019.

East of Everywhere was finally the book I always wanted to write, not necessarily the book I needed to write. It was a book that I connected with emotionally but that I got to explore in my creativity and imagination because for the first time, Janie's story is so far from my own. It’s a bunch of inspiration (Annie, The Secret Garden, Jane Eyre, The Boxcar Children) all fused together into a book. This book challenged me to dive deeper, to stretch my capacity as a writer.

Because of that, it's one I'm proud of.

I feel blessed for the opportunities I've had with these books, but still, I didn’t have the energy or resources to market them the way I would have liked--to give them the chance they deserved.

It’s only now, twelve years after diagnosis that I’m healthy and functioning and on my way to thriving that I can give them more. Social media, especially, has given these books a second—third, and sometimes even fourth chance to be seen, read, cherished. I feel so utterly grateful.

My novels are standalones that span the decades and connect through the fictional town of Montours City. (An actual sequel is in the works for one of them!) I’ll continue to be on social media, my website, and newsletter.

But while I have the chance to say it…  

THANK YOU.

Thank you for letting a little light shine on these stories that have meant so much to me. I truly hope they mean as much to you.

And for you writers out there, don't forget:

You're lighting candles in the dark. Those who need your books will find them.