Meet

R.L. Atkinson

Hi my amazing reader! It’s R.L. here! I know this isn’t as professional as most author bio’s, but one thing I want is to make sure that you feel apart of this community. That you get to know me, not just some random stranger behind a computer who loves to write. And yes, I LOVE TO WRITE! So, let’s dive into what I know y’all are really here for!

Years ago, before life likes to swallow your dreams and tell you no after no after no, a young girl wanted nothing more than to turn all of the exciting and daring romantic adventures she created in her head into stories for everyone to enjoy and read. But then, the “no’s” started happening…

I still remember my creative writing teacher in high school grading my portion of this collaborated story several of us wrote together lower than everyone else’s with a comment that maybe I should pick something else to do in the future. So I stopped writing.

It wasn’t until years and years later, after a graduation from Utah State University, marriage to my best friend, and birthing a daughter, did I pick up my pen again. All because my husband and amazing therapist encouraged me to turn that pesky maladaptive daydreaming into something more.

I was terrified. Okay, that is the understatement of a lifetime—I was more than terrified. But, I sat down, opened up a blank document and started writing. And writing. And writing. I wrote for over two years before I toyed with the idea of publishing. Now, here we are, and I couldn’t be more…bewildered and grateful!!

How It All Began

I have a horse, a dog, and two bunnies at the moment!:)

Peach loves her belly scratches!

Fun Fact: My family helps run the Cache Valley Cruise-In every Fourth of July! Utah’s largest three-day car show that attracts more than 1,000 vehicles every year!

I have a bachelors degree in Animal, Dairy, and Veterinarian Sciences with an emphasis in Equine Science and Management.

Fun fact: I was pregnant my entire final semester of college!

My husband and daughter!:) I’ve been married for seven, almost eight years and our daughter is six!

He’s so goofy! And my biggest inspiration and supporter!

I have two sisters, while my husband has two sisters and two brothers. But he grew up in a home with another entire family, so he essentially has four parents, and nine siblings!

My family

My in-laws

Fun fact: at 5’ 6” I’m still the shortest in my husband’s family. Even my bro-in-law’s wife is taller than me!!!

Why the indie author route instead of traditionally published?

This also does NOT include my amazing audiobook traditional publisher. That’s a separate world, something I didn’t explore until after I’d already self-published a couple novels. I’m so grateful to have Podium by my side for my audiobooks!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are several reasons I ultimately chose to self-publish my novels. That DOESN’T mean that the quality of the work is any less, as I do pay for a professional editor, go through several other rounds of editing myself as well as having others go through editing the manuscript before it ever hits readers.

1) It’s number one not just because it’s the first reason I considered when choosing between self-publishing or querying for an agent but because it’s also my biggest reason in that ultimate decision—DIET SPICE! The term all over my novels, right? In the trad-pub world, agents need to make sure that the book will sale before they’ll even consider it. Because I write in this strange not entirely closed door but also not explicit realm, it made things very difficult. As I toyed with getting an agent, I couldn’t find one accepting that “in between” spice.

2) Similar to number one, but creative control. I get control over every aspect of my novels (which can be overwhelming for sure). I get to choose my covers, I get to decide if a scene stays or goes, how a scene changes or not. I get to choose who edits my manuscripts, and yes: the level of spice. Because some are clean, some are diet spice! I get to have full control how dark or not my books are:) I get to give you the story that’s in my head, the one I obsess about and love! Something I want you to experience as well!

3) The “no’s”. Anyone who has considered trad-publishing goes in knowing there will be WAY more rejections than acceptances. There will be TONS of “no’s” before you ever get the first yes from an agent. After everyone who said no to begin with, I knew I couldn’t take another one.

4) Time. Traditional publishers are typically very slow. I not only write really fast, but I had a lot of already written manuscripts ready to go before ever publishing my debut novel, so I wanted these books to be with readers faster than a traditional publisher would normally do it.

All of this doesn’t mean I would say no to an agent or publisher if they wanted to pick up my novels in the future, but I always want to be transparent about what I do and why I do it as an author! Who knows what the future holds:)