Not every author begins their journey with a lifelong dream of writing books. For Tricia Copeland, becoming an author was something that developed later in life—and almost by accident.

During her conversation on Project Seed Money, Tricia shared that writing wasn’t something she loved growing up. In fact, throughout high school and college, she didn’t particularly enjoy writing at all. It wasn’t until graduate school that her perspective started to shift.

Even then, publishing books wasn’t part of her plan.

It wasn’t until she reached her thirties that the idea of writing began to take shape. At the time, she found herself reflecting on a difficult period earlier in her life when she struggled with anorexia as a young adult. As she thought back on that experience, she began to feel a desire to tell a story about recovery and hope.

Rather than writing a memoir, she decided to approach the subject through fiction. She created a character whose experiences closely mirrored her own, allowing her to explore the emotional journey without fully exposing her personal story.

At the same time, her life circumstances gave her an unexpected opportunity to begin writing. As a stay-at-home mother with young children, she often found herself looking for something creative to do.

Instead of turning on Netflix, she started writing.

What began as a simple creative outlet soon turned into a much larger project.

Her first manuscript was enormous—around 160,000 words. But while the story poured out, she quickly realized that writing a book required skills she hadn’t yet developed. She described the early draft as reading more like a script than a novel, filled mostly with dialogue and lacking the structure needed for a full narrative.

Fortunately, she had support along the way. Her sister-in-law and best friend encouraged her to keep working on the manuscript, and her friend—who was both an editor and an independently published author—helped guide her through the editing process.

Even with that support, turning the manuscript into published books took time.

In fact, the process of writing, editing, and preparing the first books for publication took about eight years. During that time, the original manuscript was eventually divided into multiple books, becoming a four-book series that followed the character through her college years.

Each book represented a different stage of that journey.

Once the series was ready, Tricia initially pursued traditional publishing. Like many aspiring authors, she believed that landing a deal with a major publisher would be the ideal path.

She spent about six months querying literary agents and publishers, sending out roughly 300 queries during that time. While she did receive some interest—including requests from Harlequin—she also received suggestions that didn’t feel right for the story she had written.

One of the major requests was to condense the entire series into a single book.

For Tricia, that change would have fundamentally altered the story she wanted to tell. After spending so many years developing the series, she decided she wasn’t willing to reshape it in that way.

Instead, she chose to publish independently.

Because she already had connections in the indie publishing world, she was able to assemble the team she needed, including an editor, a cover designer, and a formatter. While she wasn’t particularly technical, she recognized that many of the tools needed for publishing were accessible if authors were willing to learn—or if they chose to hire professionals to help.

Publishing the books, however, came with a new challenge: vulnerability.

Even though the story was fictionalized, it was still deeply rooted in her own experiences. That meant readers—especially people who knew her—might recognize pieces of her life within the story.

That realization made sharing the books with the world feel intimidating at times.

But once she began publishing, something unexpected happened.

She couldn’t stop writing.

Over the years, Tricia continued to publish new stories across multiple genres, eventually building a catalog of more than twenty novels. Along the way, she also learned how to navigate reviews, reader feedback, and the marketing side of publishing.

One strategy that helped her manage the stress of new book releases was developing a launch checklist. By focusing on concrete tasks—such as newsletters, social media scheduling, and connecting with early readers—she was able to stay productive instead of becoming overwhelmed by nerves.

Today, after more than a decade in the publishing world, Tricia continues to write and encourage other authors to do the same.

Her advice to aspiring writers is simple: if you feel passionate about a story, start writing it.

As she shared during the interview, sometimes the most important step is simply beginning.