Salmon Arm author and English teacher, Shawn Bird, is flying high.
Her first novel, Grace Awakening Dreams was released in July. According to iTunes Book Charts, from the get-go, it has been among the Top 100 fantasy e-books in Canada.
Based on a poem she wrote the year she turned 12, Bird says the book started as a story about the power of her first crush on a musician
“I think in another life we were lovers and belonged together,” she says. “When you have one of these strong stories, you have to imagine it has been around in the universe before.”
Bird had tried to write that into a story before but she says, it never had “any oomph.”
It was when she named her character Grace and discovered the Three Graces of Greek mythology when she looked up the meaning of the name on the Internet.
Bird’s second book, Grace Awakening Power is due out in a month and work on a third book is underway.
In this book, Grace goes to school at the Sullivan campus.
“I call it Shuswap Lake Secondary, but everyone recognizes the atrium,” Bird laughs.
The first two books in the series are written from Grace’s perspective, and the third and fourth are from the perspective of Grace’s boyfriend Ben.
“I tell myself stories all the time and have won prizes for short stories in my time,” she says, noting the books emerged when dedicated herself to five pages a day, 25 pages a week.
To download Bird’s book at 99 cents, visit www.shawnbird.ca.