From the Author: MRS. LIEUTENANT

While updating information about my novel MRS. LIEUTENANT via my Amazon author page, I had the opportunity to write a "From the Author" introduction. After adding this introduction on Amazon I'm also sharing it here:

The novel MRS. LIEUTENANT took 38 years to be published.

The novel’s saga started when I was a new Mrs. Lieutenant in May 1970 during the Vietnam War and right after the Kent State shootings. The experience introduced me to the world of army wives that I would never have otherwise known.

About 20 years later and after I had started the Los Angeles Chapter of the national organization Sisters in Crime, I told the story of my military spouse experience to two female movie producers. They were intrigued and optioned the story for a movie.

They eventually told me that Hollywood people did not “get” the movie concept and that I would have to first write a book. By the time I wrote the first draft of the novel the producers had moved on.

For another 20 years or so I wrote and rewrote the novel. (It had to be a novel rather than a nonfiction book to protect the people whose stories I wanted to tell.) I created fictional characters and some fictional events for a more compelling story.

Many agents and publishers over the years turned the novel down. But I felt strongly that there was a place for a novel about this slice of women’s social history at the beginning of the women’s movement in the United States.

When POD (print on demand) self-publishing became an option, I decided to self-publish MRS. LIEUTENANT. At the same time I entered it in the 2008 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition. When the book was named a semifinalist of this competition, I felt vindicated for my 38-year belief in sharing this story.

At the same time I stumbled into blogging and social media for book marketing. From that point on I dove into learning as much as possible about this brave new online world, and I co-founded an online marketing company with my younger daughter Yael K. Miller.

Now ebooks have opened up the self-publishing world even more – and I’m engaged in resurrecting some of my favorite unpublished stories to give them a life on the Internet.

You can see my current available books and ebooks at http://budurl.com/PZMbooks
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the eBook technothriller LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS. Phyllis is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company Miller Mosaic LLC, which works with clients to attract more business. Read her posts at the company's social media marketing blog.