My name is Nicholas Searcy (I write under N.R. Searcy), and Heartkeeper: Volume One is my first novel. I was born in Mobile, Alabama, and I have lived here most of my life (with brief stints in Texas and New Mexico).
I attended Mary G. Montgomery High School, and graduated from the University of South Alabama with a degree in Political Science. After graduation, I realized that, in terms of getting a job, a Political Science degree is largely useless. So, I did what anyone with a useless degree would do -- I went to the government for employment. Specifically, I went into the U.S. Border Patrol. At the time, I thought that I could just "get used to it," but after about six months, I realized that I absolutely loathed the job. I won't get into specifics because I don't want this to come off negatively, but suffice it to say that it wasn't the career for me. However, the boredom inherent in that type of job did one thing for which I will be eternally grateful. It gave me the time to formulate my first real story.
When I left the Border Patrol, I spent a few months working menial jobs during the day and writing at night. I started out writing screenplays (I've always been a bit of a cinephile). That first screenplay (which I plan to adapt to novel form in the future) was hard work, and I spent nearly a year tweaking it. By the time it was finished, though, I was very, very pleased. I still regard it as my best story (even if the writing is a bit behind what I do now).
I tried to submit it to a few agents, but I had very little luck. This discouraged me from writing, and I shelved my hobby for a while. I still wrote often, but I didn't really attempt to do anything substantial; my work was confined to short stories or simple plot summaries. This was probably the least creative period of my life.
After a few months, however, I began to write Heartkeeper. At the time, I didn't know where it was going to go or how I was going to get to the end. It began as a very simple story. I just wanted to do a character study set in a fantasy world. Quickly, though, I realized that Flikk and Aime were going to take it far, far beyond that. It wasn't long before I knew that their story was an epic, and it would span more than one book.
This book consumed my thoughts like nothing had before. I talked about it constantly. I wanted to tell this story. I could see where it was going, and I wanted to share it. It only took me about three months to get out a first draft. But that's where the real work began.
Reading it over the first time was a little painful. My writing is a bit idiosyncratic in the first place, but with this first draft, it was really noticeable to the point that it was distracting. It took me almost a year to get it right, but, then, I was ready. I decided to submit it to publishers and agents.
The response was underwhelming, to say the least. I had a little interest, but nothing from major publishers. In the end, though, nothing worked out, and I shelved the book for a while.
During that time, I started to focus on my career. I was getting into my late 20s, and I knew that I had to make a choice about where my life was going to go. I knew what I wanted to do, but I didn't know how I was going to make money at doing it. In the end, though, I had to face reality. I needed a career, and writing, then, was not going to be it. I decided to relegate writing to a hobby, and to focus on my job -- selling insurance.
And I'm good at it. I win awards. I make quotas. I help people. But it doesn't make me happy. Going in, I knew that it wouldn't, but I had bills.
Finally, though, I was reading an article (I don't even remember where) about self-published authors. I read about how there were authors out there selling millions of copies of their books, and how they were circumventing the publisher system. Why couldn't I do that? Sure, I don't expect to sell a million copies. I don't expect to sell even a tenth of that. But I know how good my work is. I know that, on quality alone, it should sell.
And so, I decided to self-publish. When I went back into the book, I realized that I needed a good, hard edit. So I had my brother and a friend help out there. I needed a cover, so I made one. I had to learn formatting and such, but I think the book's presentation turned out very, very well.
I published the book on September 12, 2011, but it didn't really go on sale until around September 20, 2011 (formatting problems!).
And that brings us up to speed on my journey. I hope that sheds some light on who I am, and what I want to accomplish.
