This page is normally your one stop shop for hot men, funny pictures, and my books. So…what I’m about to do is new for me. I’ve never offered my two cents on some of the things that happen in the reading world. Hell, I haven’t said a whole lot about my personal life period. But the time has come to do a little sharing, so buckle up and read the rest of this post because it’s pretty damn important with all the negativity going around lately. It’s a wholehearted thank you to a community that has rocked my world and changed my life completely. I’m so grateful to the blogging community. I’ve said it plenty of times, but I never feel like it’s enough. The time and dedication you put into your blogs leaves me in awe. You are my rockstars. I think you’re all super heroes! I can’t do what I love to do without the support you give me. On top of full time jobs and your lives, you find time to read books, write reviews, and share your thoughts with the reading world. You field hundreds of requests from authors, sign up for tours, do spotlights, and so many other awesome things that the list is probably never-ending. What you do for us is invaluable. A simple thank isn’t enough for all the hard work you do. Some of the biggest authors out there right now catapulted to the top because of bloggers that took a chance on them. You read their books and you shouted to the rooftops about why every person needs to drop everything and buy them right now. I’m not just a writer. I’m also an avid reader when I have time. I’ve found so many wonderful authors because of bloggers. This is where I will share a little bit about me and how I fell into this awesome reading community. Truth be told, I stumbled into the blogging world in a random google search after reading this series I’m sure you have heard of - 50 Shades of Grey. I found out that there were lots of awesome women out there that gushed about books. I started reading with some of my besties and we couldn’t seem to read books fast enough. We devoured them like candy and were greedy for more. My friends leaned on me for recommendations so I kept going back to the blogging community and I found more blogs and more authors that I fell in love with every time. Before I knew it, we had read so many books that we had a road map of authors, books, and characters so we could keep it all straight. At the time, I wasn’t in the best place personally. I was working 60 to 75 hours in a grueling industry that sort of sucks your soul away. Every week I put in those hours and still wasn’t making enough to pay the bills. Reading became my coping mechanism. It took me to a world that wasn’t my own and it lifted my spirits. I got lost in stories and characters for days at a time - and I loved every second. It gave me that boost I needed to get up and go to work the next day. But most importantly, reading made the side of me that I had suppressed since high school/college come back to life. After a lot of tragedy back then, I just didn’t have it in me to write anymore. I’m not going into those details because that is far too much to share, but let’s just say enough bad things happened that it zapped every ounce of creativity that I had inside of me. But man when it came back - it came back with a vengeance. My mind drifted to this untold story that had been in my head for years. I’m a writer. I’ve always been a writer. But I’m also human and full of self-doubt and that prevented me from chasing my dream. I was on the phone one night with my best friend - and let me tell you this much, this series, and who I am as a person, I owe to that girl. She had enough faith in me for the both of us and still does. She said, “Stop talking about writing a book and just write the damn book!!” After my stubbornness subsided, I heard what she had quietly been telling me for longer than I care to admit and I sat down to give writing a shot again. I went back to this poor girl that had been patiently waiting for me to just tell her story and I had ignored her for long enough. As the months went by, Mia’s voice became stronger. I told a few people that I was writing a book. My close girlfriends were excited for me and asked repeatedly if they could read something. I kept telling them no - that it wasn’t ready - and truthfully, I didn’t know if I was going to let anyone read it. I didn’t have that confidence. For the time being, it was mine, and I was in love with just writing again. I didn’t care if anyone ever saw it. I had reclaimed a piece of me that had been gone for far too long. After one of my girlfriends moved away, she reached out and had asked for the hundredth time if she could read what I had so far. I caved and I sent her about 15 chapters. Bless her heart for taking this series in its rawest form – and I mean raw – it was horrible! It had been over 7 years since I finished college and even longer since I had an English refresher on tenses, grammar, punctuation, etc., but she read it. She very politely pointed out that I needed to find a tense and stick with it, but then she shocked the hell out of me by saying it was good. She actually liked the story - my story – and she wanted more. I was quick to correct A LOT of the mistakes I was making and then I continued to write. Two of my other girlfriends kept asking, “Can we please just read something?” And these two girls are the same girls I read with so I knew how passionate they were about books, especially books that sucked, so I knew they would give it to me straight if it was pure horse shit. I gave them both a chapter and they loved it and wanted to know what was going to happen next. Again, I was blown away. I have so many people in my life that have believed in me and supported me on this journey. It’s their kind words that fuel the fire inside of me to keep telling my stories. They squash my fears on the days that it feels like I might get consumed from them. They deal with the worst version of me more than I’d like to admit. They are the ones that tell me, “hun, don’t write today. You’ll kill all of your characters, and I really like them, so don’t write”. They talk me off the ledge on the days that I’m positive I can’t work two full time jobs and be a decent person to my loved ones. And they are also the ones that gave me the strength and courage to publish in the first place. I slowly started believing I could actually publish my stories on my own. I’ve stumbled along the way and made a ton of mistakes, but they were mine to make, and I didn’t care. I was finally chasing my dream. I’ve put every extra dime I could find into getting Conflicted to the edition and cover you see today and the same goes for Complicated. After I hit publish for Conflicted, I puked my guts out, and I repeated the same process for Complicated. I’ll probably do that with every book I write and publish. Sharing my stories with the world has and ALWAYS will be terrifying for me. By doing it, I’ve opened myself up for a world of criticism. I knew that there were going to be plenty of people that wouldn’t connect with Mia. She’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Hell, she’s in my head, and sometimes I don’t even understand her motives, but I go where she takes me. There have been plenty of people that have hated Conflicted. I knew that would happen. I knew there were probably going to be more people that hate the story then like it. My style of writing is different. I’ve been told that on more than one occasion. It’s unique and it’s not for everyone, but it’s mine. I take every negative review or comment with just as much pride as I do with the positive ones. I try to learn something that I can improve on because there is always something I can do better. And that brings me to my point in this long-winded post. There has been a lot of negativity going on in the reading community in the last year or so. There has been a lot of bullying and downright inacceptable behavior. I’ve rarely offered my opinion on it because I despise drama. I shy away from it. There’s enough stupidity and negativity in this world, and I don’t need to add any unnecessary bullshit from people that aren’t using their heads to my already chaotic life. I also don’t believe in letting anyone who doesn’t have enough love for themselves affect how I live my life. One stupid person shouldn’t stop you from doing what you’re meant to do - whether it’s writing or blogging. I’ve seen people post this week about giving up on writing or blogging because of how bad things have become in the reading community. Well, we need to take the good with the bad. Things are always evolving and changing – that’s life. With those changes, there will be times that are shittier than others, but letting the idiots out there win with their stupid behavior isn’t good for anyone. It’s because of bloggers that my FB page has a following that’s over 2000. This page was at 50 less than 6 months ago. The blogging community took a chance on my series and promoted it. Many of you have signed up for multiple tours and shouted your love for the series to anyone that would listen. Again, thank you for doing what you do for the reading community and indie authors like me. I am where I am at because of you. I could care less if I ever hit a bestseller list, sell 100 books in a day, or get a publishing deal. If I was in it for that reason, I would’ve quit a long time ago. Would it be great if that happened, of course! They are always goals to strive for, but that’s my expectation. I remember telling my best friend that if I could buy a case of beer with the money I make on book sales then I’ll be happy. In the past few months, it’s because of bloggers that my books have gotten out to more and more people and those sales are slowly climbing. You did that for me and a simple thank you is not enough to express how much it means at the end of the day. I will be 100% clear in saying that I didn’t start writing books for the money. I write because it’s who I am. It’s my passion. It’s how I function. It brings me more joy than I could possibly express in words. I write because I need to. If I’m ever blessed enough to make it a career, then I’ll be the luckiest girl in the world. Right now, I’m living my dream. Being able to make a living out of it would just be icing on the cake! Don’t stop chasing your dreams. Don’t stop sharing your thoughts on things that you’re passionate about. You never know who’s life you might be changing because of it. If it wasn’t for a bunch of bloggers, several awesome authors, and one feisty best friend, I would’ve never written Conflicted! MMK P.S. The pics are my proof that I wasnt spewing a load of bullshit. That was on roadmap on a whiteboard at work until we got tired of explaining it to coworkers. It then became the list you see written out. #thankyou #bloggersrule #chasingthedream #livelovelaugh
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 23:42:35 +0000
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