Back in 2012, I worked as a special education aide at Martinsville High School in Indiana. I started my third year in an English classroom assisting an English teacher who taught seniors.
Her first assignment each year was to write an About Me paper told in a creative way. I love a challenge, and while the students worked on the assignment during class time, I did, too. The English teacher loved that I participated so that made it even better.
That year I decided to write something different than I had done the previous two years. For the record, the part about landing on the best seller list isn’t true, but I sure wish it was.
The best seller
Michele Mathews landed her second book, The Words (now called Be Strong), in the Top 5 of the New York Times Best Seller list for the week of August 25, 2013.
“I am so surprised about this,” the author said. “I was told it was hard to break through as a self-publisher. I have worked hard for the last eight years. I’m so glad my hard work paid off.”
Back in the sixth grade, Mathews’s writing career began. Every day she wrote in her diary, which she kept for several years. In high school she wrote her first short story and was a staff member for both the yearbook and newspaper.
After graduating from Indiana University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice and Journalism, Mathews earned her teaching license in English and Journalism. She worked as a journalist at The Reporter in Martinsville, Ind., for a few months and covered the Martinsville Marching Artesians during their fall season.
“I missed working with students so I got a job as a remediation aide for a few years while my daughter was very young,” Mathews said, “but once my son was born almost four years later, I became a stay-at-home mom.”
During her two years at home, Mathews freelanced for The Herald-Times in Bloomington, Ind. She started her first book, Living, Sleeping, and Eating Band and taught at Owen Valley High School in Spencer, Ind., for two years.
The book
In March 2005, Mathews discovered PublishAmerica (now called America Star Books), a print-on-demand publishing company, by accident through an article in The Reporter.
“My goal was to publish the book, and I achieved that in September 2005. This book was all about my experiences with marching band as a member and a marching instructor,” Mathews said. “I just wanted to share my memories of what marching band meant to me.”
As soon as the first book was published, Mathews began her second book. Her lengthy divorce inspired the idea for it.
In January 2008, Mathews joined Helium and Associated Content (now Yahoo! Voices). Both are online writing sites. (They no longer exist.)
“I haven’t gotten rich from them, but they give me an outlet for my writing,” Mathews said. “Even when I’m not working on a book, I can be writing something. These two sites help me reach my goal of writing every day.”
Mathews has already begun work on her third book, a sequel to The Words, and has an idea for a fourth book.
“Real life events and people motivate me to write. I love writing about true-to-life moments, and I don’t think that will ever change.”