Officially Published: Fostering Love by Suzanne Hines

You may have already seen my announcement on my Facebook page, but I am slowly rolling it out across my various platforms. My blog is up next, and I wanted to share something very important and significant with you all!

*Deep breathe*

Well, friends…I finally did it.

It took me FOUR years, but I did it. I submitted my manuscript for self-publication and it is now officially a BOOK sold on Amazon. I guess this means I’m officially a published author.

To be honest, I struggled to share this link/information with the general public. Not because I am ashamed or afraid, but because it feels kind of like trying to throw a surprise birthday party for myself. AND, to be perfectly honest…I’m a little terrified of having my work and my words out in public to be criticized and possibly picked apart.

Part of that fear for me is the content of the book. I actually wrote this book three years ago when we still had foster children in our home. It was a compilation of my thoughts and feelings and what I wish I could tell the rest of the world about foster care. In June of 2018, we disrupted our last foster placement and a few months later we closed our home to foster children. This decision did not come easily and I never received any outward criticism for it. But over the last 3 years, I have criticized myself over and over again for feeling like a failure in the world of foster care. Once we closed our home, I could not even bear to open the word document containing the manuscript of my book. I told myself that absolutely no one would want to read the words of a failure and a quitter. I worry every day that we made the wrong choice in disrupting our placement, and yet I know every day that we made the right choice.

Plus, I am fully aware that the world does not really need any more voices of the foster/adoptive parents. So often that is the loudest voice in the triad and I know that this book will contribute to it. I encourage everyone to read not only the perspective of the foster/adoptive parents, but also the voices of adoptees, former foster youth, and the birth parents.

This weekend Theo took all three kids to his parents house and I stayed home. The goal was for me to rest and sit around in silence, but instead I pulled up the old manuscript and finished off the final edits. I submitted it for publication and this morning it became available to purchase in paperback and in an ebook.

So I guess this is partly me throwing a surprise book party for myself- and you were all unknowingly invited!

You can order the book on Amazon- either paperback or ebook. Buying a pity copy might boost my ego, but there are so many other ways to support my work besides just buying a copy! Please feel free to buy a copy to share this book with anyone who may be involved in the world of foster care. Please feel free to share on your social media, because I am sure that someone on your news feed is either in the trenches, thinking about jumping into the trenches or may know and come alongside someone who is in the trenches of foster care.

And to all the people who have cheered me on during this incredibly long journey to get this book published- THANK YOU.