When I was growing up, my friends decided my theme song was The Beatles’ “Paperback Writer.”*

"The Dove: Book One of the Legend" by Casey Voight and Barbara Wendleton. Cover courtesy of Casey Voight

*Now they would say it’s  The Fifth Dimension’s “Working on a Groovy Thing” because I work for Vox, and there’s nothing groovier than that.

This was because from age 14, when I penned what I was confident was going to be the next great American novel, I knew I wanted to be a writer with a book deal and massive cult following. Like J.K. Rowling, goddess of all writing hopefuls.

I have written five books since freshman year of high school, each one slightly better than the one before it, but none worth publishing. When I do strike writer’s gold, however, I never thought of what I would have to do to move on from the point of it being a Word document saved in the confines of my laptop to it being a buona-fide printed book  on the shelves of the local Barnes & Noble.

Until I helped put together a story on  Columbia authors who have self-published their work. Talking with Columbia authors Mark Bernard Steck, James Downey and Casey Voight, each of whom have gotten their creativity down on paper and taken steps to share it with the world, I realized that I, too, have that ability.

So now that I’ve worked with reporter Caroline Feeney on learning the ins-and-outs of self-publishing, I’m starting to get the bug back for creative writing because I know whatever I come up with doesn’t have to sit collecting proverbial dust on my hard drive. I can make it happen without a publishing house.

And I thank those three authors for teaching me that.

"Communion of Dreams" by James Downey. Cover courtesy of James Downey

Here’s an update on the authors: James Downey is offering his book, Communion of Dreams, as a free download on Monday and Tuesday at the book’s website. Voight has announced the e-book of The Dove will be available this week at her website. Steck’s kickstarter.com page is still raising money for Artless, and will close on Oct. 21.