About M.M. Marsden
When I was eleven years old, I asked my father to have my ceiling painted like the sky. Sure enough, he hired an artist who masterfully painted a brilliant blue sky with soft white clouds across my bedroom ceiling.
There was only one problem.
I had also requested (well, demanded) that when the lights were turned off, hundreds of stars would glow in their place.
Luckily, the painter was incredibly talented.
Thus began many nights of staring at those glowing splatters of paint, dreaming of another world. As I drifted off to sleep, I imagined waking up in a beautiful red ball gown, only to discover that I was the princess of a distant alien planet (in this fantasy, I naturally had tiny green servants).
As I grew older and my interests blossomed, I began adding an element of danger to my long-held fantasy: an unwanted betrothal to a prince. My teenage self couldn’t bear the thought.
I had always loved creating stories of my own: music videos, short films, and short stories. but in the summer of 2024, something changed. My best friend told me she was working on her own novel. I laughed and said, “That’s funny, because I’ve always had this crazy idea in the back of my head.”
Being the supportive and loving friend that she is, she simply replied, “Well… write it down.”
Not long after, I sat in my bed with my iPad in my lap and wrote Chapter Two of Smoke & Stars. At the time, the thought of completing a novel seemed completely ludicrous. But I kept writing. And writing. And writing. Slowly, the story began to fall into place.
When I finally finished that first early manuscript, I wasn’t sure what to think. My sister, however, lit a fire in my soul.
“Well? What happens next?” she demanded. “You’re going to tell me, right? You’re not going to make me wait until Book Two is out?”
In that moment, my heart felt whole. Her excitement gave me the confidence to keep pursuing my dream of publishing.
After many… many… many drafts, I finally finished my manuscript and began working with professionals to help polish it.
Of course, life had other plans.
During my first major edit, my husband and I began worrying about the development of our then 20-month-old daughter. From that moment on, writing took a back seat. My focus became getting her the diagnosis and support she needed.
Still, Jane and Glade never truly left me. I missed them.
I always imagined Jane as a braver version of myself—someone unafraid to speak her mind, something I’ve always struggled with. Glade’s cockiness, on the other hand, is a playful exaggeration of my husband and his effortless confidence.
One day not too long ago, my brother-in-law casually asked, “Hey… whatever happened to your book?”
My heart sank.
As someone who is neurodivergent, I’ve spent much of my life feeling ashamed for not finishing things I started. But I couldn’t bear the thought of letting the hundreds of hours I’d poured into this story disappear.
I knew that if I didn’t finish—no matter how terrifying it felt to release it into the world—I would regret it for the rest of my life.
Smoke & Stars has never been about money for me.
It’s about proving to myself that I am capable of pouring my heart and soul into something and seeing it through to the end. It’s about sharing a story that has lived in my imagination for years (honestly, I see it like a movie in my head). Most of all, it’s about creating something fun for readers.
Because at its core, The Source of Light is meant to be an adventure.
But above all else, I wanted to show my three children—especially my daughter, who is neurodivergent like me—that no matter how big the challenge, no matter what obstacles stand in your way, you are capable.
You are capable of choosing something and finishing it.
I spent much of my life hearing:
“You never finish things.”
But this time…
I did.
M.M. Marsden 