My Path to Writing

Since most of you probably know my designs first and foremost - and hopefully love them - I’d like to take a moment (short or long) to explain how I came to writing, so you can get to know this other side of me as well.

I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. Or rather, my mum did the writing for me when I was still too young to do it myself, because stories already lived in my head during my earliest years. They rushed through my thoughts like a raging river downhill.There is one story I still remember very clearly. It carried the glorious title “The Ladybug and the Grandfather Clock” and was - who would have guessed - about a ladybug marching through tall grass, breaking into a single-family home and discovering a grandfather clock.

I swear, my stories have improved over time.

But back to the point: stories are my life.

Things continued during my school years. In my small friend group - consisting of me and two other girls—we started writing fictional stories for fun. They were about crushes and everyday school drama, and we’d exchange them to read once someone had finished a chapter.

I have to admit, the stories that came out of that were more than a little cringe-worthy. BUT: they also fueled my creativity. That’s when I started writing my very first fantasy novel - by hand, mind you.It was about a seventeen-year-old student who suffered from nightmares, later discovered that vampires existed, and even developed elemental powers. Yeah. It was pretty wild stuff. :D

I think the manuscript ended up being around 100 handwritten A4 pages. My mum and I typed everything up on the computer afterward and sent it to publishers. We even received a response from a subsidy publisher (please never agree to those). Thankfully, we declined the contract - although we didn’t even know what a vanity press was back then!Another very, very small publisher eventually took on my book and published it (not the best experience either). The printed book contained a typo in the blurb. Nothing was corrected, not even proofread, and yet it still ended up being displayed at the publisher’s booth at the Frankfurt Book Fair (around 2010?). I also got a feature in my hometown’s local newspaper.

About a year later, the publisher vanished completely and was no longer traceable.

At thirteen or fourteen years old, I obviously couldn’t recognize the red flags. On top of that, I was inexperienced in the industry.

Disappointed, I took a break. For several years.

During my studies, I started writing again - once more fantasy with romance. This time, I published the stories directly via Amazon self-publishing, because after my previous experience, I didn’t want to collect another disappointment. My pen name back then was Penelope Rose.If there are any true geeks among you, you might even remember that name—my Instagram account originally had that name as well. The books were meant to become a trilogy, but after two volumes, my motivation faded. When I couldn’t find a story for the third book, I eventually took them offline.

During that time, however, I wasn’t idle. That’s when Ich fliege nicht. Ich falle. was born.

This story completely surprised me and didn’t fit my usual writing genre at all. Still, I told it with great intensity, and it’s the story you can currently purchase from me. I applied for a literary agency project with this manuscript and was accepted. Together with my contact person, we developed the book further. It went through beta readers and was submitted to publishers, many of whom felt the original ending was too sad.Alongside this, I also wrote another fantasy novel (which is finished, by the way - but I want to completely revise it and change the setting).

When I became unhappy with the remaining publisher offers - since everyone wanted to change the ending - I put the project on hold. Once again, for several years. My motivation disappeared entirely. I didn’t write for a long time, and life kept getting in the way.

This year, however, I finally managed to revise the story - and yes, it does have a new ending now. Still, I decided to return to self-publishing. Once again via Amazon (though next time I’ll try traditional submissions or BoD, because I truly dislike Amazon’s print quality).

I’m genuinely happy to have a book back in the public eye, and I’m really looking forward to finally dedicating myself to writing again in the coming year. I want to revise my fantasy project and continue working on a new cozy fantasy story.

I hope you’re just as ready for it as I am!

Lizzy