Sunday, August 7, 2011

First Blog ( aka- Breaking the Ice)

So this is a first for me… seriously. You would think that after writing the actual book, getting all the hard work done in publishing & promoting it, things like this would be easy for me. Yeah, right! I don’t normally write about myself so bear with me,please. I suppose I should start off with something about me so…. let’s dive into the scary mind of… ME.

I have always loved to write, ever since I was little. I would write scary stories, mystery stories, even romance stories (not that I knew what it really was~ my happiest moment was making them hold hands!). I didn’t get serious about writing though until my 7th grade English teacher had the entire class write a poem. Since poetry is actually something I really enjoy doing, I dove right in and didn’t think twice about turning it in. She loved it. In fact, she stayed on my case until I finally gave in, showing her some of my stories and other poetry. She ended up talking me into writing for the school newspaper~ just to write short stories or poetry to fill in space. It probably sounded silly to most of the kids, but, hey, I was hooked.

Life tends to get in the way of dreams though and mine did. I met my husband who has given me 3 beautiful girls and they kept me busy for the past 10 years. My kids loved the little stories I wrote them (this is how they learned to read as well as they do, lol) and would ask me why I didn’t write my very own book. Even my husband would ask why I didn’t start. I played with the idea, even wrote a few beginnings until, finally, I decided to finish one. That was the hardest part… or so I thought! It’s not, of course. I researched the traditional ways of publishing through houses and I was disappointed to see what royalties an author got… if they were lucky enough to get accepted. That’s when I decided to self-publish. Granted, it’s much harder to do but I worked at it, finding someone (Tristan Duplichain who is the BEST in the world) for my cover art, for editing (Mrs. Galloway~ you rock the house) and lots of nightmares of hitting the final button. The PUBLISH NOW? button. THAT, my friends, is the hardest thing you will ever do. EVER. SERIOUSLY…. The terror of hitting that button, of people having the actual ability to say whether or not my book was good, bad, or should be burnt and never seen by human eyes again? OMG I thought I would have nightmares forever.

So now it’s been out a few weeks. A FIRE WITHIN has sold better than I first thought it would (not that I don't think it's good... but let's face it- a self-publishing author with no experience?  lol) and I even have great (5 star) reviews. I’m still in shock over that part. I keep waiting for the other shoe to fall but when it does, I will know two things. First, my family loves me, appreciates me & stands by my side in support… second, no matter how much people may love or hate my book? I finished it. I published it. I sweated over it. I am proud of my first book and already am writing the sequel to it. So my advice to you? Don’t throw away your dreams. Plan it, research it, do it & never give up on it. Because no matter what anyone else says, you are the only one who can make it happen.

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