In 1963, Midwood with Tower Publications, published the book Diane by Max Collier.

My dad was 9 years old at the time, most likely oblivious to the fact that his dad was writing and publishing books under a pseudonym, let alone fifty cent brown bag stories that were very racy for that time.

Flash forward 40ish years, and I am hearing the stories about a grandpa I barely know, who was a published author, just like I wanted to be. I decided that it was time to start collecting his published books, even if I never read them.

Why am I telling you this?

I equate my love of writing and the desire to become a published author to a family history in writing. Finding out my grandpa was a published author, coming across long lost stories my dad wrote as a child, and my mom marrying my step-dad (who is a writer), all shaped and encouraged me to do what I loved most, whenever I got the chance. WRITE!

Seriously, you ask, why are you telling me this?

I debated for months, and then a year, the best way to tell the story of how I published my second book and no one really knew.

A couple years ago, I got this crazy idea and asked myself – what would it take to recreate my grandpa’s long lost books, to rewrite them, modernize them, and re-publish them for a whole new generation to enjoy?

Introducing Chloe.

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In February 2019, I finalized all the steps and published the very first re-telling of a Max Collier book, written under the name W.B. Ford. Diane became Chloe. California became Idaho. The 60s became the 2000s.

I wanted to try something new and different. I wanted to bring to life the stories my grandpa told and share them with others. It might be a risky move, but the beginning of this project was so much fun and with a list of at least 10 Max Collier titles, there will be more.

Chloe would not be here without the help and encouragement of so many people – my parents, family and friends, my editor, graphic designer, Amazon, and first readers.

Now that’s she out in the open, I look forward to sharing more of the journey. W.B. Ford. Book #2 is already in the works.

Chloe is available NOW on Amazon in Kindle and print.

<3,
Lauren

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Also published on Medium.