9 Years, 10 Surgeries, 3 Books

We are coming up on the release of my third book, Web of Gold. Once that one is out (on August 16th, 2025), I will have published my entire debut trilogy... It's a little weird, not gonna lie. These books have been taking up space in my brain for almost a decade. They've been my driving force for the last 4 years.

Technically Not Dead was technically birthed in 2015, when I was 13 years old. I had a bunch of friends at church starting a writing group for fun, and since I wanted to hang out, I said, "What the heck?" and I joined, too.

It took... maybe a month (?) for me to have a new hobby/obsession.

It has always been hard for me to call myself a creative. I have always considered myself one of the least creative people on this planet. And yet, there was something about writing that made me desire more. I needed to write the story. I wanted to read it. In a sense, that drive forced me to become a creative person.

I am so grateful for that makeshift writing group that lasted two months.

That's right. The group fizzled, their stories died. I am, to this day, the only one of that group to publish anything. But, without that group, I never would have, I'm sure of it.

Fast forward a few years, when I lightly touched the novel idea every now and again, and you find the crossroads I was faced with.

The nerves in my arms are too short. When I bend my arms, the nerves clamp like a hose, and my hands fall asleep. I randomly drop things. I have to wait 10-15 minutes after waking up to be able to brush my teeth.

At least, that's what would happen before I endured 4 different surgery days and 10 operations. Oh, and 6 years of physical therapy.

I won't bore you with those details. Just know, I could choose to quit writing and playing music (I play piano and cello), or I could figure out a fix. The latter was the obvious choice.

Still, it slowed me down a lot.

I self-published TND in 2023, two months after my last surgery date. When I tell you that it was brutal... I mean it.

When I say that it was worth it, I mean it.

Fast forward to today, and I wouldn't change a thing. I'm so grateful for my family and friends who supported me throughout those years. Without them, I wouldn't have been able to make it happen. Without my Savior, Jesus Christ, I would have given up a long time ago.

Now, you know a little bit of what went into The Basilisk Trilogy. You have a glimpse of what it means to me to be here, publishing the third and final book in my debut trilogy. I have literally paid blood, sweat, and tears to get where I am.

The crazy thing about a debut is that it will never be an author's best work. Technically Not Dead will always be my least impressive novel in terms of style, ability, and story. However, it will also always be the book that made me a published author, and that means, to me, it's worth talking about.

That's all I wanted to say for now. Thank you for reading!

~ Leah Jubilee

P.S. If you want to learn more about TND, check out the video below! It's entirely objective. ;)