The following little story of events is what we used to call "Full and Transparent Disclosure" in the auditing world.

THE PAST

In 2009, I published my first book, Longbourn's Unexpected Matchmaker, a clean and wholesome Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice variation. Writing under the pen name Emma Hox, I chose a shorter name for cover design purposes and to maintain anonymity while still working in my government career. To my amazement, the book sold exceptionally well—beyond my wildest dreams. This success marked the beginning of my journey as an author.

I owe much of this success to being one of the original Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice Variation writers. Nowadays the genre is FULL of authors and harder to be found than it used to be.

I became more involved in the book industry in various capacities, but then, as life often does, it took an unexpected turn. I found myself in need of fast cash as my husband wanted to expand his consulting career right as I was leaving my twelve year accounting and auditing career to be a stay-at-home mom and homeschool our boys who were 4 and 6 at the time. It was here that we left on a decade of travels as my husband chased job contracts all around the USA and the world.

Writing romance novels seemed like the most viable option for income for me since Longbourn's Unexpected Matchmaker was still selling well considering it had already been published for 3 years. This was right when self-publishing was really taking off and the Jane Austen Adaptations category was full of voracious readers. Since my first book sales were decent, and I didn’t want to risk damaging my established author name with romance.

As the saying goes, "sex sells," so I began writing romance novels under the pseudonym Ayr Bray. Once again, I found great success in this genre; Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice Variations with some spice. You know, heaving bosoms and ripped bodices.

I'm kidding a little.

I must point out, my novels were mostly clean until the last chapter, where there was a warning page and then an after the wedding scene. We're not talking gratuitous and throughout the complete novel, just at the end.

The stories that were spicy were my little 30-minute lunch reads that people could read on break at work. Those were my big sellers, and they were more scandalous. There were nine of these short stories and they are no longer for sale.

However, as my children grew older, I became increasingly uncomfortable with my writing identity. I hesitated to share my pen name with others, and those who discovered it had to figure it out on their own—which many did. Eventually, as often happens, my secret was revealed. Although my books continued to sell well, I decided to take a drastic step in 2017: I unpublished everything I had ever written. I no longer wanted to write historical romance, nor did I want my romance books associated with my real name.

Essentially, I cut off every cent of my established income in one fell swoop.

For a few years, I let my work sit untouched. Then, in 2020, I decided to revise and republish eight of my seventeen novels and novellas under my real name. The other nine I permanently discontinued and did my best to erase all traces of them from off the internet. That's impossible, but I made a HUGE DENT. However, this process was anything but simple. Amazon required proof that I wasn’t stealing my own books, and duplicate versions of my work surfaced online (pirated copies, even on Amazon), leading to a frustrating and complex re-release process.

In addition to these challenges, I reedited my books into mostly clean stories while maintaining their original essence. Amazon said that the books that had been taken by others (pirated in my years away) had to be loaded over the top of the original books so the originals that readers bought were automatically updated to the new versions as soon as they updated their devices or opened the stories to read them again. That's when the hate mail started. My long-time readers were not happy about this.

You can imagine what people said when they contacted me about their stories that they bought because of the heavy spice and now it was all missing.

A word of caution to readers: while my older novels now adhere to cleaner content standards, they still contain plenty of kissing and innuendo leading up to a closed-door scenario. Whereas, my new books are clean and wholesome, with nothing but sweet and tender kisses.

THE PRESENT

Now, in 2024, I have written my first Christian fiction novel. Left Behind is an unforgettable journey of love, sacrifice, and resilience. Through Noah’s eyes, readers will discover that miracles sometimes emerge in life’s darkest moments, transforming heartache into hope and loss into unshakable faith. Left Behind is a heartfelt exploration of how faith can guide us through even the darkest moments.

Many have asked whether I plan to discontinue my older works now that I am writing Christian fiction. Some have claimed I shouldn't write them under the same name. Others say I shouldn't sell them on the same website. One person was so bold as to claim I couldn't be a good Christian writer if I wrote romance "like that" in the past. My books would be tainted. Yada-yada, I totally ignored that crazy lady.

You get the picture, everyone has an opinion. And here's mine.

Every good Christian has heard of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and that's what I am exercising. I choose to change the course of my future writing career, but I can't undo the past. All I can do is to explain and apologize.

I have revised the books and have no intention of discontinuing them again. These books are part of my journey, and I embrace them as a reflection of my past. Think of me and my website as any other online retailer. Christian Fiction sells alongside Historical Romance all the time.

I have clearly marked the genre of my novels (even if kissing couples on the front don't give them away), and am confident that my awesome readers will be able to tell which books they want to read and which they don't.

THE FUTURE

Looking ahead, my goal is for most, if not all, of my future books to be in the Christian fiction genre. I am excited for this new chapter and look forward to continuing my writing career with renewed purpose and direction.

I hope you now understand the path my writing journey has taken the last 15 years.

Sometimes I wonder where I would be if I had never permanently discontinued half of my backlist, if I had never unpublished the other half for seven years, and if I had never stepped away from writing for a decade. But I know that God's hand is in all things, and every step—whether forward, backward, or paused—has led me to where I am today. I have faith that I am on the right path now, moving forward with purpose, and trusting that His timing is always perfect.