The inhabitants of the new world desperately need Jacob's help in recovering a magical key that was stolen by the Lorkon and is somehow linked to him. If he helps them, his life will be at risk. But if he chooses not to help them, both our world and theirs will be in danger. The Lorkon will stop at nothing to unleash the power of the key--and Jacob's special abilities.

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The Key of Kilenya's Story (How I Wrote This Book)

Short version:

I wrote a book, and it's was published on June 28, 2011. :-)

Long version:

The Key of Kilenya started as a daydream to which I escaped as a child. I loved anything to do with magic, and somehow got my hands on an old skeleton key, which I'd play with for hours, pretending it had special abilities and could open any door anywhere.

When I was nineteen I toyed with the idea of writing a story based on this key, but never got around to it, instead deciding to focus on a book called The Adventures of Tommy which told short stories about a boy named--see if you can guess--Tommy, describing his--again, see if you can guess--adventures. :-) The story evolved until Tommy became a teenager and was too old for the quests I, as the writer, was giving to him.

Around this time I left to serve a mission for my church in Toronto, Canada. When I returned I was dismayed to find that my forty or so pages of writing had somehow been deleted from the computer.

It took three years, but I finally decided I wanted to write the story again, this time doing it not for myself, but for my younger brother, Joshua. I sat down and incorporated Tommy's story into the fairytale, changing his name to Jacob, and the book to The Adventures of Jacob. Yes, it was a very original title. :-) Still, I hesitated with the actual writing. I'd complete a chapter or a page here and there, but wasn't serious about it. I still hadn't even told my family I was writing a book, Josh being the exception.

Another year passed, and after much coaxing and encouragement from two friends, Brianna Parker (Bills) and Jared Dickson (the only people who knew the story and that I'd been wanting to write it for a long time), I decided to take myself seriously and finish the book. This was close to the summer of 2008. I was taking the maximum amount of credits allowed per semester at Brigham Young University and was working full-time. Given the circumstances (and the classes I was taking, one of which was an advanced writing class that was three hours long and met twice a week) you would've thought I'd have no energy to write. But, the opposite was true. This book was all I could think about all day, every day. I couldn't even read other books because as soon as I'd start reading them I'd have to put them aside to make room in my head for all of the sudden bursts of ideas and inspiration for my own book. To say I was obsessed would be an understatement. (And you can ask my BYU NOC coworkers at the time. :-)) However, writing this book was the reason I didn't die in what could have been one of my most difficult university semesters.

Six weeks after deciding to write the book, I finished it. The most exciting thing I'd ever experienced up until that point was holding that first copy of the manuscript and realizing that I, Andrea Pearson, had written a book from start to finish. It was exhilarating and terrifying at once. Even more terrifying was handing it off to people to read and critique. My Mom, Jared Dickson, my sister Lisa, and of course Joshua were among those early readers. This was also the first time I realized how much pain writing a book, and consequently, reading others' opinions on that book could be.

At one very discouraging point I almost gave up--deciding that I'd never be able to get it published. However (and I blame this on divine intervention), I was inspired to read the book out loud to my Dad. My opinionated, picky, well-read, and educated Dad. Can I just say now how scary it was to do this? I half expected him to hate it, but wanted his opinion nevertheless. To my astonishment and excitement, He LOVED it. (Thanks, Dad. :-) He wanted to read it himself as soon as I finished the next major edit, and again when I finished the following edit. I think he's now read it at least five times, or more. :-) His edits were always comical and uplifting, and I looked forward to reading them. If it hadn't been for his encouragement, combined with my Mom's, I would've given up and put the book away permanently.

After a couple of years of going back and forth between publishers, agents, and getting advice from other writers, I finally decided to pursue self-publication. The Key of Kilenya will be released first as an eBook, and later in print.

While difficult, I've enjoyed the process of getting my book published. I look forward to hearing what you think of it! Please visit me at my blog, on Twitter, Facebook, or send me an email. You can find information on how to do all of that in the link above titled "Contact."