Bestselling author Ann Charles joins the Project Seed Money Podcast, and her story is anything but linear. She didn’t grow up dreaming of becoming a writer. In fact, she imagined herself as everything from a camel jockey to an archaeologist before writing ever became part of her plan.

Ann always loved reading, especially romance and horror, but never imagined herself writing books. It wasn’t until college — after attending multiple universities and repeatedly being required to retake English 101 — that she finally leaned into writing. Frustrated by endings that didn’t satisfy her, Ann decided to write her own romance novel, entirely by hand.

That manuscript was rejected by Harlequin, but with encouragement to keep trying. She did.

While working as a technical writer, raising children, and participating in critique groups, Ann continued writing. She eventually landed an agent and pursued traditional publishing, but her mixed-genre stories didn’t fit industry expectations. Publishers wanted clean genre lines — something Ann wasn’t willing to sacrifice.

After months of working with editors, one project was ultimately rejected by marketing. The reason? The story was set in the Midwest, and publishers didn’t believe it would sell. The rejection was devastating.

But timing changed everything.

In 2011, as Kindle Unlimited was launching, Ann self-published Nearly Departed, the first book in what would become her Deadwood Mystery series. The book gained traction quickly, and the series now spans 14 novels. That success allowed her to quit her day job by 2013 and write full-time.

Ann briefly created a small publishing imprint, but eventually realized she had to choose between being a publisher and being an author. Writing won. She walked away from the press — with her rights intact — and focused fully on her own work.

Even after publishing 39 books, self-doubt hasn’t disappeared.

Before every new project, Ann rereads her previous books and wonders how she’ll ever do it again. She calls it trudging through the “swamp of doubt.” The only way out, she says, is to start writing — even when it feels messy — and trust the process.

What keeps her going is her connection to readers. Private emails from fans who read her books during hard moments remind her why she writes. Those relationships fuel her perseverance more than praise or reviews ever could.

Ann’s advice to writers is simple but powerful: keep going. Find what works for you. Write at your pace. Set boundaries. This isn’t a get-rich-quick career, but it can be deeply rewarding if you commit to the long game.

Her journey proves that success doesn’t come from fitting into a mold — it comes from persistence, curiosity, and honoring what matters most.