For CC Robinson, a pastor and writer from Cincinnati, the story that became her YA dystopian series Divided didn’t start as a writing project — it began as a dream.

“In 2012, after Trayvon Martin was killed, I had a vivid dream where our nation had descended into a civil war over racial issues,” she recalls. “It felt so real. When I woke up, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”

In that dream, decades had passed and society was divided into isolated communities separated by walls — not because of choice, but by force. Inside this fractured world, a group of teens worked underground to resist the system. “When I woke up, I knew their names — Marcos, Rose, Harriet, and Jason — and I knew they wanted their story told.”

From Pastor to Author

Though she’d always loved storytelling, CC had never written fiction before. “I started from scratch,” she laughs. She enrolled in online courses through Gotham Writers and the Iowa Writers Workshop, read shelves of craft books, and learned by doing. “My bookshelf is ridiculous,” she jokes. “If a book on writing exists, it’s probably in my house.”

Choosing the Indie Path

Initially, CC pursued traditional publishing, but after seeing many traditionally published authors struggle with marketing, she reconsidered. “I realized I already had business experience from starting a church and nonprofit work,” she says. “Why give away 85% of my royalties for something I could learn myself?”

With encouragement from her mentor, Alexa Bigwarfe, and the Women in Publishing Summit community, CC launched her series independently — combining creativity with strategy. “I treated it like a business from day one,” she says.

Courage and Community

Despite her confidence, vulnerability crept in around launch week. “I don’t get nervous easily,” she admits. “But publishing my first book was terrifying. I realized I was placing my self-worth in the hands of readers, which isn’t fair — to me or them.”

Now, when she launches a book, she starts writing the next one immediately. “It keeps me focused on the work, not the outcome,” she says.

Her Advice for New Writers

“Just write something,” CC urges. “Your first draft will be awful — that’s what editors and beta readers are for. But that first draft is for you, the storyteller. You’re learning your world and your characters. You can fix it later — just start.”