Careers And Motherhood

All mothers have it hard. Being a mother is a full time job and if you also work, then that is equal to two jobs in my opinion. My parents divorced when I was six. My mother was a single working mom and I only saw my dad every other weekend. It was lonely as a little kid with only a sister who didn't always want to play with me or be around me after school. Since then I always imagined I would stay at home when I had kids so I could be there for them, go on field trips with them and all the stuff I never got to do with my mom.

I can't tell you how disappointed I was when I knew I would have to go back to work after having my baby. He was a happy surprise in a very tight time for us but I hoped and prayed that I would be able to stay with my baby after he was born. Luck was not on our side, as it usually isn't, and the fantastic opportunity my husband had to finally be a firefighter at his dream station fell through the cracks. He was jumped over by someone with no experience because the other candidate was friends with the chief. To this day if I ever see that guy, I am going to punch him in the dick. But I digress, I had to go back to work at six weeks post partum working ten hour overnight shifts three times a week. It gave me the most time home with my son while providing enough income to keep a roof over our heads and food in our tummies while my husband looked for work. It was necessary but it still hurts to think how much time I lost holding and rocking my newborn because I had to work or sleep to recover from work. I will never get that time back.

Flash forward to now and my son is fifteen months old. I am still working the same exhausting hours and I have a child that sleeps significantly less and a husband that works two jobs. Another opportunity has presented its self and we are hoping and praying again that everything works out. If it does, I will finally get to be home with my son. Being at homes means a lot to me. I will have all the time in the world with my son and I will have plenty of time to write (when he lets me). Today he has a fever and a cold and luckily its on my off day so I get to be home to take care of him. Nothing is more precious to me than my baby and I cling to my dream of being a writer because it will give me that time. It will give me the freedom to make my son my first priority. Employers like to make this promise but they really don't mean it. If I had to call out for my son for a shift or even just not attend a two hr work meeting, (eye roll), I would actually be penalized. That's the reality for a mom working outside the home these days. So here I am blogging/venting about it while my son puts a colander on my head and laughs at me. Its time for me to get back to my favorite job of being a mom. If you would like to support my dream of being home with my son permanently pop on over to Amazon and download my book. No one can take care of my little bear like mama bear can.

On another note: Support your local firefighters. They are our first responders and are very under appreciated. They appreciate any goodies brought to them.

Creativity And Failure

Since I have begun this journey as a new author I have gone through many emotions. Joy, excitement, pride, anger and fear. Rejection is not new to me. I went through the process of queries and submits with agents and publishers and received plenty of form thanks but no thanks letters. I have given up and started again many times and Mine, All Mine has been through many stages. My harshest critic is always myself but that doesn't mean their isn't a bit of a sting every time I read a one star review. Do I have them? Sure, and I take sincere comfort in the fact that everybody does in fact; when feeling particularly bummed after reading one of them I go and look at reviews of some of my favorite authors and books. They have one star reviews too and its just part of life.
Not everybody is going to love my book, my style, or any other thing they choose to pick apart no matter how small or insignificant. That is just the reality. People would rather tear something apart than praise it, and people love leaving bad reviews whether its a book, restaurant, or movie. Not that I don't have good reviews because I do and those are the people who make it all worth it. I wrote a book I as a reader would want to read and it appears I am not alone and even one person liking my book is the most amazing feeling in the world. I will never forget my first review and how awesome that person made me feel knowing they liked it and wanted to read more. For that person and the others like him I will keep going.
My one star reviews have their place. I know what I can do better next time and I am more driven because of it.
I remind myself constantly to write the book I want to read because it is impossible to meet the expectations of thousands of nameless faceless people I will never meet. To feel that creative rush and inspiration I have to write without the burden of that fear. Confidence and I have never been great friends but it is needed to continue to reach for my dream. My dream is much bigger than any one star review and I wont be torn down by it. I am still building my foundation as an author and to quote Paramore; you have to build your home brick by boring brick or the wolfs gonna blow it down.

Just because :)

The Growth of An Author

I came across a facebook post recently about Julia Quinn's Dancing At Midnight being on sale. Ooh, I thought, I need to read that again because of course I already own it and have read it :) I have all of JQ's books FYI. So I am currently re-reading it and marveling at how much her style of writing has evolved. Its always fun seeing how much authors grow from their first book to their tenth. I especially love when I find an author later in their career because it means lots of reading for me! Julia has her very own style that is fun, witty, sweet, and full of everything one wants in a romance novel. Dancing At Midnight is only her second book and in each following book she gets better and better. I only hope as my career grows and with each book I release that I can have the same success and get better and better too.

While checking out JQ's website and her bookshelf I came across something super fun. When you click on her books and it takes you to the book page with excepts and such it will also show the original covers and the covers released in other countries. How neat! I had to giggle because the original covers are super corny in that classic bare chested hero embracing the heroine way that kinda gives romance novels a bad name. I much prefer her newer covers that are so much more elegant and sweet. They say don't judge a book by its cover but I have read that in the genre of romance if a cover is explicitly sexual than you know the main focus of the plot is sex driven but if the cover is more romantic, scenic etc, then the plot is focused on romance and relationships even though their still may be sexual scenes. I prefer the latter. I'm reading for the true love, the discovery of emotions and if and when they succumb to their attractions that is just the icing on the cake.

Take a look at how different these covers are and if you haven't read a JQ novel then you need to stop wasting your life and get to it. You will have a lot of catching up to do but I promise it will be so much fun.

Novellas

Do you like them? I recently read an article about how authors have to pump out more books to satisfy the demand of readers.  No longer can they publish one book a year and leave it at that. We voracious readers demand more! So in between the release of big titles you have novellas. Novellas are short and sweet. They can either come as single title e-books or grouped together with different authors which is also fun. Recently Eloisa James, Connie Brockway and Julia Quinn released their second collaboration The Lady Most Willing. It is not exactly a novella per se but instead a continuous story. Its a delightful read and it flows together seamlessly. It is the sequel to The Lady Most Likely which was the first collaboration and is also a great read. Read both!

Back to Novellas. I am currently throwing myself at my second book Sweet Torture but I'm thinking I should complete a novella I had started called Fallen Angel. As a new author my focus is building a foundation so that I will not be easily forgotten. I don't want to burn out like a shooting star I want to be a meteorite that makes a hug crater and people come to see me for decades. I want to write until my hands are too mangled to type and I am an old gray woman.

In this fast pace world where people are constantly plugged in and consumerism is at the click of a button I know I need to compete and I need to be a presence. So here I go. Watch out for me because I'm coming and I don't plan to leave anytime soon.

For your viewing pleasure. Mark Wahlberg and a baby chimp! If you had to pick between them who would you choose?




soon.

Musical Inspiration

Most if not all of my book ideas have come from an emotion created from a song. It is the most spontaneous occurrence and often happens in the car since that is where I listen to the most music. No book has a single song to represent it. I will feel the emotion from the song and suddenly my mind creates a situation in which that emotion is felt usually between a hero and a heroine. A good example is Sweet Torture. The song My Body Is A Cage as sung by Peter Gabriel really shows the kind of emotion I want between Devon and Lydia. There are many others that I can list but I don't want to give to much away. I think its cool how author Julia Quinn makes a play list for her books and if you didn't know that you should definitely check it out at JuliaQuinn.com. 

Borrow for free!!!!

This weekend you can borrow Mine, All Mine for free from Amazon. The promotion ends Sunday so hurry up and download, read, and leave a review. I would love to know what you think!

As a new author its so exciting to know people around the country and world are reading what I have worked so hard on for so many years. Mine, All Mine went through a lot of changes. When I first started Mine, All Mine I had set it in medieval times. Dominic was a knight and Lilly was escaping her home and village that was being burned down by an evil Lord. However, the Regency era is my all time favorite era and is pretty much all I read with the exception of a few paranormals. Sherrilynn Kenyon and those dark hunters you know, they will suck you in.
So I changed my story to the Regency era where I was in familiar territory and had a much bigger library of reference and inspiration to draw from.

Writing Dominic and Lilly was so fun and I will love them forever but I am so excited to be starting over with a new novel. Now that Mine, All Mine is released I can now focus on Devon and Lydia's story. Have you ever kinda hated someone but been attracted to them at the same time? Or you thought you hated them but now you can't stop thinking about them and then there is a kiss. A kiss meant to irritate, annoy, and distract but wouldn't you know it has an entirely different effect and it changes their whole perspective. Its funny how a single kiss can do that.

Sweet Torture is my next adventure and its already well under way. There is a fun surprise in the book too but you will have to wait and read it for yourself.

Your Daily Man Meat

Well somebody grew up nicely...
- Source: Bauer Griffin

But in all seriousness...

His fight scenes rock in this movie and if you haven't watched the extras from the Inception DVD this set actually rotated 360 degrees and he did it all with no stunt double.