Thank you and some random ramblings

I haven't been the greatest about updating my blog lately but I have a good reason. For one thing I planned to do a couple of character interviews but instead I have gotten side tracked with actually writing. That's a good thing though right? :) There has been another thing standing in the way of my blogging, something I never really considered would be an issue. What is there to blog about when I talk to the people I want to reach every day? Now I'm sure that when Breaking the Nexus is finished, polished, has a gorgeous cover, and is actually sold I'll want to blog a bit more. Hopefully by then I'll have fans but in the mean time I'm absolutely loving the process and the new friends I have made.

Back in the fall when my sister told me she wanted to try NaNo again I was all for it. I had just gotten married so I didn't have that excust looming over my head. I knew my husband and I wouldn't be traveling for Thanksgiving so I didn't have that over my head. My husband was going to be away a lot that month so I'd be bored a lot of the time. I really had no excuse this time like I had the previous year so I wanted to give it a shot. I sat down and planned a little bit, but really I just put headphones and let the words flow out. I discovered you could plan out scenes to give yourself direction without feeling like you were doing an outline (something I always hated). I had so much fun with it and the rush of realizing that I was going to write 50k words in less than 30 days was beyond words. I say less than 30 days because in all honesty, I started late and did not actually begin writing until 11/6 I think. Looking back I have no idea how my hands didn't fall off but it was such an experience. I have tried to do it since but have had a harder time and I think it's because I want to recapture that momentum of starting a new book so my goal is to have Breaking the Nexus all finished so I can start a new book for the November's NaNo. But that's not really what I want to write about.

My husband was the first person to really push me to try writing. I read an insane amount and I jump around a lot, read multiple books at the same time, crazy stuff like that. Books are an escape from stress and a way to be transported into a new world. I set myself an absurdly high book budget a month and until I discovered independent authors, I had trouble sticking to it. Finding independent authors was amazing because now I realized I could afford so many more books than ever before and I was discovering fantastic new talent. Plus it made me realize that I am living in the perfect time. It has never been easier to get your voice out there and heard. I started reaching out to a few authors asking for advice and what they did to help realize their dreams. I always got responses and a few were quite helpful, especially those from Kaylea Cross (read her books if you haven't...they are some of my favorites). Then life and work interfered and I got discouraged so I shelved things for a while. The seed had been planted in my brain though and every once in a while I would ask my husband, "Do you really think I can do this?" He always replied "No, I know you can do it." Finally the voice telling me to give it a shot grew louder than the one telling me I would fail. I had no idea where to start, if you just publish on Amazon and hope for the best or what. So I reached out one more time to an author I loved but outside of my genre.

Kallypso Masters, I am so happy I emailed you that day. You gave me so much encouragement and practical advice, it was exactly the kick in the ass I needed. Before contacting Kallypso, I was able to tell myself I wasn't following through because I had no idea where to start. Well she gave me essentially a step by step guide on what I needed to do. One of the things she stressed was needing to get involved with social networking, particularly Twitter and Facebook. Believe it or not, I'm a shy person by nature so it was a little alien to really get active but I decided what the hell and dove head first in.

Then I met Miranda Stork and wow is she fantastic. Not only is she a wonderful author who is as insane as I am (go figure), she introduced me to a ton of new friends who write in my genre. Within the space of days I had met and become fast friends with so many amazing people who were encouraging me, joking with me, sharing man candy, and just welcoming me in a way I had never experienced before. The icing on the cake was connecting with several of my favorite authors and getting to know them. I know that when I am finished with my book I have a ton of people I can go to for advice on editing, cover art (FYI Miranda Stork is AMAZEBALLS and sells her work for cover art!!), how to go about actually getting my book onto the sites, and helping me spread the word about the book. A month ago I wondered how the hell anyone would know about my book. Today I know that even if only a few people ever buy it, even if I never write another book, I have made friends that have made this journey so much better. Plus I'm almost positive they'll want to read more when I'm done so there is little doubt I'll continue writing ;)

This was going to be a post about why I haven't fulfilled my personal goal of blogging about my book a lot, but really it's more of a thank you to everyone I've met. I do still plan to update this with either another excerpt from my book or a character interview soon. In the meantime, follow me on Twitter and friend me on Facebook. I'd love to meet even more amazing people!