Guest post: "Publish a Book and Ye Will Be Famous," by Beverly McClure, author of 'A Pirate, a Blockade Runner, and a Cat'

Once upon a time, a girl had a dream. 

Publish a book and she would be famous. So, she worked real hard, writing, editing, submitting and finally her dream came true. Her book was published. Then another book was published, and another. She blogged to tell people about her books. She gave books away and readers wrote wonderful reviews. Everyone said “Enter contests and people will hear about your books.” She entered contests. Some of her books won awards. She wrote more books and tweeted about them.

She waited for fame and fortune. She waited for Hollywood to call. She picked out the actors and actresses perfect to play her characters. Still, no one, except her writer friends who she adores, knew her name.  

And then one day, a child gave her the magic words, the words that made her remember why she wrote. “I love your book. It has a special place on my bookshelf.”

She knew then that she did not pen her stories for fortune or fame or Hollywood. She wrote her stories for the children and teens that wanted to escape from their everyday lives, to another world, a fantasy world where life was beautiful or fun or exciting, if only for a while. For the children that wanted to meet characters like themselves, characters that made them laugh and cry. Characters that were not perfect, but human, like them.

She writes for you, dear readers. In case you don’t know her name, she’s Beverly Stowe McClure. She thanks each of you who have enjoyed her books.

Find out more about A Pirate, a Blockade Runner, and a Cat on Amazon

////////////////////

When Beverly Stowe McClure was in eighth grade, her teacher sent her poem “Stars” to the National High School Poetry Association, and she was soon a published writer in Young America Sings, an anthology of Texas high school poetry. Today, Beverly is a cum laude graduate of Midwestern State University with a BSEd degree. For twenty-two years, she taught children to read and write. They taught her patience. She is affectionately known as the “Bug Lady” because she rescues butterflies, moths, walking sticks, and praying mantis from her cats.

Most of the time, you’ll find Beverly in front of her computer, writing the stories little voices in her head tell her. When she’s not writing, she takes long walks and snaps photos of clouds, wild flowers, birds and deer. She also enjoys visiting with her family and teaching a women’s Sunday school class at her church. Her articles have been published in leading children’s magazines. Two of her stories are in CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL ANTHOLOGIES, and she has nine novels published, two of them award winning novels at Children’s Literary Classics and other competitions.

Connect with Beverly on the net:

http://beverlystowemcclure.wordpress.com

http://beverlystowemcclure.blogspot.com

https://www.facebook.com/beverlysmcclure

https://twitter.com/beverlymcclure