One day, thirteen years ago, art teacher, Cristina Arthur, began brainstorming an idea for her book. She put her thoughts and ideas aside when life with a toddler and infant began to catch up to her. Since then, she forgot about her unfinished book, until recently. In the summer of 2019, she picked it up again while bedridden due to surgery. She finished writing her book, and now is in the process of publishing her book. 

“My book, Horseflies, in a nutshell, is a young adult fantasy about a high school girl and her horse, and the unexpected journey they take together,” Arthur said.

Throughout her whole life, Arthur toyed around with writing her as well as spending time with her horses. She took her experience with horses and writing and wrote about what she knew. In doing so, she finished her story within three months, start to finish, but not without difficulty.

“My biggest challenge writing was forcing myself to finish it,” Arthur said. 

In her case, she became stuck and discouraged in not finishing her book. To counteract that, Arthur challenged herself to write just a little bit every day, no matter what, in order to see herself complete it. After finishing, she submitted it to her first publishing company who in turn rejected it. Instead of giving up, she worked hard to analyze and rework each and every chapter, ultimately making her book more fluid and complete. 

“When I resubmitted, this time to three different publishers, all of them offered me a contract!” Arthur said. “That was a great feeling.”

Through her dedication, not only did she accomplish finishing her book, but took it a step further in making it better for the world to read it. She gained a sense of self confidence that she now plans on using to write sequels to her book. With all of these story lines running through her head, she plans on dedicating the summers to write them. Arthur faced discouragement and rejection, but in the end, she created something that people all over get to read when her publisher prints the book. 

“I was surprised the most when I received the first offer letter to publish and realised my book was going to be published – it still feels surreal,” Arthur said. “I may not believe it until I see it in print.”