The Amulets Trilogy
The Amulets
A centuries-old war, a lineage of magic thought long dead, and a girl desperately struggling to find her place.Jordan has a secret; one that’s kept her intentionally antisocial. So, when new girl Georgia moves to town and begins working at the same bookstore, she is naturally apprehensive. Yet, discovering their unanticipated connection makes her question everything she’s ever believed.When they discover unusual happenings linked to the old mill, they along with Sawyer, handsome grandson of the town crank, find themselves forced to investigate a potentially evil source of conflict threatening the safety of their town. Will Jordan and Georgia’s common gifts, along with Sawyer’s courage and charm, be enough to get the answers they need to save the town? Or does letting yourself care just mean you have more to lose?
The Convergence
Filled with grief, guilt, and feelings of abandonment after the events of last winter, Georgia must move forward with plans to prevent an imminent magical war on the horizon. When a fact-gathering mission puts her in contact with Austin, a guy from the wrong side of the tracks but to whom Georgia is unalterably drawn, the group is forced to determine who in town can be trusted with their secrets and who may be able to help further their cause.As recruitment continues on both sides of the war, a striking revelation comes to light that causes Georgia to reconsider her level of involvement in the war. After all, how can you really know who to trust when all you thought you knew is being ripped away?
The Terminus
With war on the horizon, Austin finds himself scrambling to organize the troops while dealing with his own personal demons. Between the tension at home and trepidation regarding missing loved ones, Austin is determined to concentrate his efforts on moving forward. While on a mission, Austin receives valuable information from a most unexpected source. Suddenly, he is forced to understand just how little he knows about his own life and the world in which he was raised. As Austin begins to realize family is not only dictated by birth, but by choices made and relationships nurtured, will he be able to tell who to trust and who to leave behind before he ends up losing everyone?
The Amulets Trilogy Origin Story
The Amulets Trilogy was born from a dream which occurred during a power nap. In February of 2014, exhausted from a full day of errand running, swimming, and playing with her then 5-year-old son, Author J Lawson decided to take a quick nap while her husband took over parenting and prepared supper. Napping was something Lawson normally didn’t care for, but on this particular day, and exception was to be made.
In just 45 minutes of unconsciousness, the spark of the entire trilogy had ignited. After waking, Lawson laid in bed for a while, remembering the pieces of the dream she’d had. The dream had been vivid enough that she wasn’t even annoyed at having succumbed to the nap. Instead, she was intrigued by the interesting nature of the events. She grabbed a notebook and jotted down a few of the important notes of the dream and went about the rest of her day.
That evening, after putting her son to bed and lying down to prepare for her own bedtime, the dream was still flickering in her mind. Lawson picked up her notebook again and wrote a few more details as well as possible ideas for a bit of back story. She was surprised at the ease in which the ideas came to her. Excited, she went to sleep and the next morning sent a text to her best friend, Laura.
Laura and Lawson had been best friends for nearly 20 years and shared a love of reading and literature. During those years, Lawson had written poetry and some short pieces, but any time she had the idea to try a novel-length project, it had always either fizzled out or turned into a short story instead. The closest she’d come to a novel was a humorous memoir based on events of her life and she’d been working on it for four years with no consistency and no end in sight. With this spotty history in mind, Lawson wanted her friend’s opinion on whether the spark from the dream might actually have the potential to be developed into a larger project.
Lawson’s text was met with interest and enthusiasm. The two friends made a plan to discuss the idea at length during their next face-to-face visit in a couple of weeks. During those two weeks, Lawson took many more notes and listed possible scenarios for the story that was rapidly unfolding. Page after page of notes were accumulating and with each new idea, Lawson’s excitement grew.
Upon Laura’s visit, the two sat down at a coffee table which served as the dining area in Lawson’s small apartment. They proceeded to spend a solid four hours creating even more pages of details, back story, character descriptions, and plot points. After a couple of hours, Laura paused the discussion. She reviewed the 9 pages (front and back) of legal pad papers with all of the information, then met Lawson’s eyes. They were both thinking the same thing; not only was this clearly novel-length material, it was far too much for just one book.
Flush with the possibilities, the friends attempted to find a good breaking point in the middle of the timeline of events they had laid out. As they fit key events in order and addressed subplot and backstory ideas, the two soon paused again. Laura laughed as she told Lawson she had a thought but it might not be one she wanted to hear. But Lawson knew what Laura hadn’t yet said; there was still too much in each half. The story would have to be split further.
Finally, after another round of splitting and organizing, the rough outline of three books lay in front of them. The base work was done. The next step would be to actually put pen to paper (or in this digital age, finger to keyboard) and start writing. Lawson asked Laura if she wanted to co-write the series with her. Laura declined, not having the passion for writing that Lawson possessed, but more than making up for that with enthusiasm to help proof/edit/and be a creative collaborator. The partnership was struck.
Though Lawson was excited to start the project, she was also overwhelmed at the thought of the time it would take on top of her parenting duties and her full-time job. Sadly, the idea slid to the back burner and three years passed with the idea of the novel and the stack of papers taunting her at random moments.
Then, while going through her closet one day in search of a new book to read or series to start, Lawson came across the papers once again. She sat down on her bed and read through them. Again, an excitement was ignited in her. With her son now 9 years old, her time was more her own and she thought maybe she could finally attempt to write a book instead of read one. Lawson decided to use National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November of 2017 as an accountability tool. The idea of Nano was to write 50,000 words in the month of November and Lawson knew that many words would be a great start at the first novel.
Lawson had participated in Nano once back in 2013 when she’d worked most steadily on her humor memoir project and, while she had completed Nano, she had not completed the entire project. Determined not to let her creative partner down, Lawson told as many people as she could that she was going to participate in the challenge. She received a plethora of support and what even more encouraged to complete the project. She used the next few weeks to plan out her course so when November came around, she would be ready.
As November approached, Lawson navigated the Nano site more than she had in her past experience and noticed there were a number of local writers who participated. They listed online writing groups as well as in-person write-ins where they would get together and support each other while writing. Lawson had not done this previously, and figured it might be a good way to get some insights into different processes as well as publication information.
On the first day of November, Lawson arrived at a Starbucks where the group was to meet to kick off Nano. Nervously, she sat at a table with four other writers and introduced herself. Immediately, she felt like part of the group. The creative energy was strong, and the kindness and support of the other writers melted her anxiety and she began writing with fervor. Throughout the month, Lawson attended many more virtual and face-to-face write-ins and ended up completing Nano well ahead of schedule.
Determined not to let her momentum die, Lawson kept in touch with her writing friends, specifically Jennifer, Jessica, and Ray. She continued to meet with her friends throughout the following weeks until finally, the first draft of The Amulets was complete in September of 2018. After her own review of the draft, Lawson sent the book off to her beta readers. While the review process commenced, Lawson started preparations for book two; The Convergence, which she began during Nano in November of 2018.
On February 14, 2019, The Amulets was official self-published and available to the masses. Lawson took this time to share with her success with her friends and family. She held launch parties in Peoria, Illinois (her current hometown), Davenport, Iowa (her original hometown and home to much of her family), and Indianapolis, Indiana (the town where her mother and additional family lived). The book was well received and people were soon demanding the next book in the trilogy.
Awash in the success and positive feedback of her first novel, Lawson redoubled her efforts to complete the second book in her trilogy.
The first draft and her initial review of The Convergence was completed in April of 2019. Once again, Lawson sent her draft off to beta readers. While pleased at having completed the second book, the storyline had strayed from the original plan quite heavily. Knowing she had a significant amount of re-writing to do on her plans for the third book, Lawson took a short pause in the trilogy.
It was during this time Lawson turned her focus to an old project; her humor memoir. Having begun in Nano 2013, she had abandoned the project so close to completion that it was now eating away at her. She knew she was capable of writing a novel, and this one deserved a chance at completion. Lawson took to completing the final three chapters of the project and in May of 2019 the first proofed draft of Zippers, Three-Way Kisses, and Other Absurdities: My Life As An Ally was sent to beta readers.
Pleased and relieved with the completion of a project six years in the making, Lawson was ready to re-approach the changes in the trajectory of her trilogy. She reviewed, edited, and sent her concepts to Laura, who provided feedback and gave her support to the changes. This time, however, Lawson could not wait until Nano in November to start her next book. Lawson began writing The Terminus, the final installment of The Amulets Trilogy, in May of 2019, with the intent of having Nano in November of 2019 finish the trilogy completely.
In June of 2019, just four and a half months after the release of her first novel, Lawson took a short break to celebrate the release of The Convergence; book two in The Amulets Trilogy. Within days, however, she was back to writing.
Another break occurred in August of 2019 when Zippers, Three-Way Kisses, and Other Absurdities: My Life As An Ally was published as well. Her head spinning, Lawson continued her work on the third and final book in her trilogy.
When November of 2019 arrived, Lawson began Nano already 20,000 words in to the third book of the trilogy. With the end in sight, Lawson wrote constantly and completed Nano ten days early. But she didn’t stop writing. Lawson completed Nano with a total of 63,000 words; her highest word count yet.
The Terminus, the third and final installment of The Amulets Trilogy, was published on February 15, 2020. The concept was nearly five years in the making, and the writing itself took well over two years, but in just one year and one day, Lawson had successfully published an entire trilogy. Her efforts and the efforts of Laura and her other beta readers had finally come to full fruition.
Lawson took some much needed time off from writing to catch up on almost three years’ worth of reading, but she is now beginning to prepare for Nano 2020. She has a couple of fantasy projects in the preparation stage and has spoken to a fellow writer about the possibility of a collaboration paranormal fantast project in the not too distant future as well.