Celebrating Six Years in Publishing

True Bird Publishing, LLC Celebrating Six Years in Publishing

Six years ago today, I became a published author with True Bird Publishing’s release of Is This Me? It has truly been a growth journey for me to learn and embrace all that encompasses being an author and publisher.

Begin your journey with me…

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My author story…

I began writing in 2008, by hand in a composition book. Yes, I know computers were invented, but we only had a desktop and I hated sitting at a desk staring at a wall. My wonderful husband bought me a laptop very soon thereafter and writing became my passion. My children occupied my time as a stay-at-home mom from 6AM to 8PM, but after that I wrote. You see, the milestone of my 20th high school reunion and my entry into social media spurred me to think introspectively. So I began to process through writing. At the age of nineteen I became depressed and developed anorexia. My experience with this disease made a huge mark on my life. I wanted, even needed to tell my story, first to raise awareness about eating disorders, second, to offer hope to those struggling, and third, to help loved ones perhaps understand why we turn to such extremes.

The manuscript I began writing read more like a screen play filled with dialogue. I had no formal training in writing. My sum total writing experience had been technical writing, my thesis in grad school, scientific publications, and patents. I wrote the story I saw in my head. A tale of a young girl, excited to spread her wings. This document grew to 180,000 words over the course of four years.

The Is This Me? story…

Is This Me? formed from that 180,000 word manuscript. Amanda captured the hearts of each person I shared the story with and it became obvious I wanted and perhaps needed to publish it. Three years and lots of sweat and tears later, Is This Me? became a book! Is This Me? follows the main character Amanda as she begins her freshman year at college. She meets Doug and Zack, the sexy officers of her father’s fraternity chapter, the very first day on campus. Amanda’s feelings for Doug grow, but he breaks ties with her, leaving her angry and hurt. She’d have nothing to do with him except her best friend dates a guy in his fraternity and she is roped into playing on their volleyball team. A freak accident sends her to the hospital and she’s forced to accept help from none other than the cool Doug. His insistence in coming to her aid leaves her confused. They become close again, but Doug ends the relationship again. Ashamed and hurt, there’s not way she’s admitting any of this to anyone. Enter Zack, the so-called player. He wins Amanda over with his charm. But just as Amanda becomes willing to give her heart, Doug decides to re-enter her life. And after lying to her friends about all of it, she has no one to turn to.

What will Amanda choose? And what consequences will she face?

Can she find a way out of her contrived world? Find out in Is This Me? (And it’s 99 cents in ebook!)

Is This Me? is a clean new adult, coming of age romance that any YA or clean NA fan will love!

Celebrating all the rest, six years of publishing history!

Out of that 180k manuscript grew Is This Me? and the sequel If I Could Fly, published 11/3/2015, that finds Amanda at odds with her parents over her relationship choices. The first two books of the Being Me series were followed by Think You Know Me, where Amanda experiences another tragedy that sends her spiraling into anorexia, and Being Me, that shows how one can overcome trauma, an eating disorder, and flourish.

After publishing the Being Me series, I challenged myself to write in my favorite genre, fantasy. This journey started with Drops of Sunshine, a YA paranormal story set in the forest of Wisconsin. Then I moved onto my true love, vampires! The Kingdom Journals series finds a trinity of witches traversing the globe to break an age-old curse on the witch lines. As not to be overshadowed, my romantic side won me over with Perfect and Perfect Always, new adult clean romances featuring Chloe, a girl dreaming of overseas success whose heart doesn’t know where to settle. Not to ignore another favorite genre, I entered the realm of dystopian fiction with Lovelock Ones and Torch which finds teens Jema and Troy in a battle against her uncle and his regime to deliver a cure for a deadly virus to the world. Because I have a hard time letting go of characters, I wove the Kingdom Journals characters into a new series, the Realm Chronicles, the first of which, To be a Fae Queen, published last month. In To be a Fae Queen, the star of my free short story Titania Rises, struggles to earn her place as rightful ruler of her kingdom and save them all from the creatures of the deep.

And this is why I write my novels…

5* – Jessica Belmont, Goodreads “Tricia Copeland crafted an awesome fantasy novel! I didn’t want to put it down, and I didn’t want it to end. … I love the world building in this book. I was whisked away to a magical land. … To Be A Fae Queen is an excellent novel. I highly recommend giving this a read if you love fantasy!”

Stephanie Schmidt rated it 5* on Amazon “it was amazing” – “Perfect Always is an amazing HEA book. I loved it so much that I couldn’t put it down once I started. The Chloe, Adam and Isaac triangle is fun. Watching Chloe grow up so much was the highlight of the book. If you read Perfect then you need to read Perfect Always.”

With gratitude for the wonderful people publishing has brought into my life! Tricia

Sign up for these free short stories PLUS enter my giveaway for a chance at 1 of 3 signed Original Cover Out of Print Signed Paperbacks of Is This Me? (US 48 states)

Begin your journey with me… whether ebook, audio, or paperback