By Natalie Bickel
Dear Reader,
Some would say I did this backwards, but I’m glad that it happened that way. Let me explain: I discovered my love of writing when I was child, always creating both made up worlds and descriptive, kind-hearted exposés, which accelerated in college when I wrote features for The Louisville Cardinal. Then, I became a children’s book author with a signed publisher contract. Yet, I had already written a full-length novel before the initial ideas for my two picture books, “The Christmas Clue” and “The Volcano No One Could See” were fully formed.
You see, my creative juices were overflowing once I graduated college. When my first post-graduate job as a sales assistant, while fun at times, didn’t have enough buckets to hold my enthusiastic potential, I began writing on the side. Well, actually, I began writing at work. It had always been a dream of mine to write a full-length fictional book, but I didn’t know when in my life I would attempt to tackle such a feat. Because my resources weren’t being utilized at work, I felt like the story started taking control. The world I was building began pouring out of me, so much so that it became a need rather than a “maybe one day” desire.
My time became filled with webinars and classes on crafting characters, making a plot believable and multifaceted, and the madness that is querying agents. “Dickinson,” an Apple TV show depicting a modern twist on Emily Dickinson has a perfect quote to describe how I approached the process.
“Great writers don’t flinch at the truth even when it’s tragic.”
That’s how I not only approached writing the hard parts of the story, but also how I viewed the journey of trying to get the attention of the traditional publishing world. I queried over 100 agents, many of which had nice things to say, most of which didn’t respond, leaving me trying again and again.
When I seamlessly landed a publisher for my first children’s book, I felt like I finally found a crack, a listening ear, someone who thought my work was worthy of taking a leap. That gave me the courage to write another children’s book, and now to take the reins and publish my passion story, titled “The Catalyst”— a book that begged to be written as fast as I could type.
I hope one day you get to experience the joy of creative ideas coming at you so fast you can’t possibly capture them all; that you dream up a world for readers thirsting for stories just like yours to get lost in. With inspiration from authors like Jennifer Brown, Becca FitzPatrick, Stephenie Meyer, and Nicholas Sparks, “The Catalyst” is meant for readers longing to experience every raw, terrifying emotion that comes with falling in love; and it is yours today.
Sincerely,
Nat Bickel
A synopsis of “The Catalyst”:
Kelynn Sanders has a head full of dreams almost as overwhelming as the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina. She can’t contain it nor control it. The constant swimming of what ifs, wants, aspirations, and the possible failure of it all causes her to black out. She tries her best to push her thoughts into a mystical opal necklace, but it only keeps her episodes temporarily at bay. Her loss of consciousness sometimes lasts for more than eight hours at a time, which only puts her life on hold, until she meets Clayton.
When Clayton Fogerty enters into her world on a bet, he soon becomes the only thing that clears her head. He makes life bearable, her thoughts understandable and realistic, but Clayton has a secret. He has Kelynn’s opal necklace through which he’s able to watch her biggest dreams play out before his eyes like a movie. He uses his access to her thoughts to his advantage, boosting her confidence and creating scenarios that seem like coincidences to really push her into what he thinks she wants out of life.
With Clayton around, Kelynn feels compelled to chase her dreams, but can she ever do it on her own and overcome the all-consuming darkness?
“The Catalyst” is available at all major retailers: Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Amazon, Apple Books, Kindle, and the Libby app.
Nat Bickel’s website: https://www.natmosfear.com
