For years, I practiced law with a quiet, persistent secret.
I wanted to write.
That desire had been with me since childhood. Long before clients, and case files, there were stories. Characters. Legal dilemmas imagined long before I ever graduated from Texas Law.
But life has a way of pushing creative dreams to the margins. Career. Responsibility. Reality. One day, I realized something simple and unsettling: if I didn’t take the chance to write a novel, it would become one of those deathbed regrets. One of those I wish I had tried.
So, ten years ago, I tried.
On February 18, 2016, I published Dollar Signs, the first in the Merit Bridges Legal Thriller Series. That book has now lived two lives involving a second cover that reflects how far the series has come.
What started as a leap of faith has grown into something I could never have fully imagined. Twenty-two novels and short stories later, I still find deep satisfaction in weaving my way through a complicated plot, stepping into the courtroom with familiar characters, and a closing argument or plot twist landing exactly where it should.
Sometimes I’m surprised to see myself still writing. I’m currently writing the next, Alive By Proxy, coming out this Spring.
Taking that chance ten years ago changed everything. Thank you for your support and for being part of the journey, from that first leap with Dollar Signs to the twenty-one stories that followed.
Happy Reading,
Manning
