Lissa Carlino

Hey-o!

Well, my debut novel, WOMAN ENOUGH, is out there in the world as an eBook. The paperbacks are soon to follow and then I’ll really have a fine freak-out moment. But for now, if you’re interested, you can download it for $2.99USD through Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Apple iBook, Kobo, Overdrive (libraries), and other places I don’t even know what they are. Are you on Goodreads? I’d love to connect with you there! I have a couple of 5-star reviews already, which is totally weird! And great!

Here’s a universal link to buy my eBook:

https://www.books2read.com/u/me2W2V

You better believe I’ve been taking screenshots. It’s super crazy that my dream is coming true. Growing up, I always wanted to be an author. I would sit in my room and write in my diaries, the first one I received at age eight. I have every single one of my journals, too. I remember in sixth grade, I wrote a short-story on a yellow legal pad and gave it to a classmate to read during our mandatory school reading time. The teacher tapped her on the shoulder and told her she had to read a book instead. My friend said, “It is a book! It’s hers! She wrote it!”. The teacher picked it up and started reading and said it looked good. Ha!

Writing was my secret. Even now, writing about writing, I feel queasy. I’m so protective of it that I don’t dare want to share how much I love making up stories. I’m afraid someone will take it away from me. I’ve truly survived life by writing. I was supposed to be an actress. And I was, for much of my childhood. I loved the thrill of acting and singing, too, but at night, when I would say my prayers, I would imagine a Heaven that involved me sitting at a desk writing my candlelight. It was a fantasy, not reality.

As I got older, people would ask if I could have any job in the world, what would it be? I’d hesitate before revealing my true self. I loved acting and singing, and I loved working as an advocate for sexual assault survivors, or working with those who are developmentally disabled. I was extremely passionate about my job as an addictions treatment counselor. Those were all things I was born to do. I wouldn’t have it any other way; I’m drawn to that field.

But what brings me the most joy? What is something I have to do that if I don’t do it, I will lose my shit and go insane?

I write.

A common question I get is how do I find the time to write when I have two young children? The answer is complex because I don’t know. For one, I have a really awesome partner who understands this is my calling, and who has spent ten years moving around tubs of journals from house to house and eventually, overseas. The other thing is that it’s easy. It’s second-nature for me to write. I write whenever I can. Even if it’s ten minutes, like now, I just do it. I put my hunger aside, I let the laundry pile up, I silence my phone, and I just do it. Revising is a different story.

Editing takes the longest amount of time. I need a good two-hour stretch to accomplish anything and sometimes I have to check into a local hotel for a night so I can stay up writing and wow, I effing love that. But that’s why it’s taken me three years to get WOMAN ENOUGH published.

So here it is.

Three years of hard work is now living outside of my head and into yours.

I’ll do a proper book launch when the paperbacks are completed (within the next three weeks, I imagine?). But for now, I’m happy to share this story with you. There’s a story about how this story unfolded that I’ll share with you later.

Just know that I never, in my wildest dreams, thought I would be a published author.

Thank you!