S.R. Fabrico's Blog, page 2

THANK YOU!

WOW! Writing The Secrets We Conceal was an incredible journey. As a debut author releasing my first novel was a new experience and I didn’t know what to expect. The support from family, friends, and fans has been overwhelming, to say the least. I couldn’t have done it without you.

The one question that I keep getting asked by so many people is, what are your plans now?

It’s crazy that for the first time in my life I don’t have a ten-year plan. I typically have a goal in mind for everything that I do. Publishing The Secrets We Conceal was the goal, and that has been accomplished. What I didn’t anticipate was the tremendous amount of support and appreciation for the book. So many of you have reached out to me directly or shared your reviews online and it has been incredible. The messages from fans thanking me for sharing the story have warmed my heart and made me realize how important the story was to publish.

I never really thought much past publishing the book. I guess now I am looking forward to seeing where this journey takes me and the doors that may open. I am diligently trying to get going on book 2 and looking forward to whatever may come down the road.

When you set out to write a book, especially a book like mine you don’t really know what to expect or how it will be received. The heartwarming well wishes, emails, messages, and phone calls sharing your own personal stories of trauma have meant so much to me. Knowing that The Secrets We Conceal is helping others has been indescribable. With that in mind, thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read The Secrets We Conceal, it means the world. Continue to spread the word and tell others, and if you have time, leave an honest review. Be sure to follow me on social media @srfabrico_author so you can stay in touch and check out all the upcoming events and announcements!

Publication Day Celebration

Join me in celebrating…It’s PUB DAY for The Secrets We Conceal.

What a wild ride this experience has been, but I am so glad that I pushed forward on this journey, and the day has finally come that my book is available for anyone to read.

I feel so much emotion, I have gone through a series of emotions over the past several weeks, but today I feel pride and gratitude. Pride for the accomplishment of putting myself out there and seeing this goal through to the finish line and immense gratitude for my friends, family, and launch team crew who have supported me every step of the way. I am not sure I would have had the courage or strength to go through this without such great support.

I am looking forward to continuing to market the book and enjoying reading the reviews as they roll in one by one. Good or bad, I appreciate everyone that takes the time to read the book and provide their opinion. I am doing my best to indeed BE present in this moment and soak it all in; I even took the week off from work – lol!

So what’s next??!!

Well…my family is coming to town to celebrate The Secrets We Conceal at the book launch dinner. You can tune in live on my Instagram page @srfabrico_author around 7:15 pm EST to celebrate with us! I am looking forward to spending the evening with family and close friends.

The Secrets We Conceal has THREE virtual book tours planned! Beginning March 14th through April 28th, The Secrets We Conceal will be traveling across social media with different bookstagramers. Follow along each day to see what they say about The Secrets We Conceal.

Saturday, March 19th, I will be doing book signings at “Meet Me At The Market,” located at the Knoxville Expo Center in Knoxville, TN! If you’re in town, stop by and get your copy of the book signed or purchase one on-site!

Stay tuned for more from The Secrets We Conceal and announcements about my next book…coming out in Spring 2023!

Thank you for following my journey; I look forward to seeing where the road leads. Comment on this blog any author questions you may have. I will be doing an ask the author segment soon!

Today only happens once; make it amazing!

My Writing Journey

What a journey writing this book has been. Where do I even begin?

I started The Secrets We Conceal over four years ago; I originally wrote it for my husband. I wanted him to understand me better. I printed it out in all its unedited glory put it in a binder and wrapped it up for Christmas. He read it, we talked about it for weeks…and that was the end of it.

Fast forward to March 2020 and the world comes to a screeching halt. Going through sort of a mid-life crisis I decided I would spend my free time re-reading the book I wrote a few years back. As I started to read it once again, I realized what a terrible piece of garbage it was – insert laughter here. I decided I could do better, and I completely rewrote the entire book. I deleted entire chapters, reorganized the chapters I decided to keep, and added new chapters. Then I sat on it for several months.

Fast forward several months and I read the book again, editing each chapter as I went along. I googled more rules on writing than I care to admit. And frankly, the rules don’t agree with the rules. I didn’t know if I was doing certain things correctly, and correctly according to who? Finally, I decided to send what I had written to an editor. The editor was helpful, I learned a tremendous amount and I edited the book some more. After this, I thought, okay I’m done. Let me send this to a few people to read and get their opinions.

My husband, of course, read the new version once again. Each time the book improved but it wasn’t ready. Not even close.

I received a lot of great feedback, made several more edits. I decided to send the book to another editor and several more people to read and provide me with constructive feedback. I learned way more about misplaced participial pronouns than I ever knew was possible. One reader (also an author) even said you have a great story, but your book isn’t ready. Keep working, you have more work to do. You want to put your best out there. So back to the drawing board, I went. Editing and editing and MORE editing. After several more rounds of reading, changing, tweaking, and editing…December 2021 I FINALLY FINISHED my manuscript.

So, we are ready to publish now right…NOPE! You must format it. What size book do you want, what color paper, what kind of cover. You need to design a cover. Do you want to justify your text, what about the front matter and the back matter? Are you prepared to market the book? Do you have social media pages ready to go? Have you built up a following? And the list goes on and on!

I am sure that many other authors out there understand what I am talking about when I say writing the book is the easy part. It is everything else, that’s the challenging part.

All in all, I’ve had a blast, I’ve learned a lot. And I feel at peace that my book The Secrets We Conceal is finally ready for the world to read. Whomever in the world might read it. I hope that should you decide to read The Secrets We Conceal, you enjoy it as much I enjoyed writing it.

Here’s to new adventures, and the joys of learning new and exciting things! The Secrets We Conceal will be available March 15, 2022!

ONE WORD FOR 2022

It is that time of year where everyone decides what their New Year’s Resolutions are going to be. You know the list of goals that everyone wants to tackle on January 1st, like the new year has some magical power to make us all better people. We all want to set bigger goals - lose weight, save money, buy a house, blah blah blah and the lists go on.

If you are like most people, you have great intentions. But, in actuality you stick to those resolutions for a few weeks maybe a month. My suggestion this year is to keep it simple. Choose ONE WORD. Yep, you heard me, ONE WORD that will be your guide for the year.

What one word will help you focus for the entire year to be a better you! Here are some ideas:

· KIND

· LOVE

· AWARENESS

· DEPENDABLE

· RESOLUTE

· FULLFILLED

· WEALTHY

Give it some thought. Choose your ONE WORD and then…

STICK TO IT!!!

Happy New Year Friends! I hope you have an amazing 2022. Remember you are in control of your destiny. Sign up for my newsletter or follow me on social media to find out about my word for 2022!

Christmas Bucket List And Some Jokes Too!

The holidays always seem to sneak up on me. No matter how hard I try to be organized I feel overwhelmed with so many things to do. I remember, oh crap, the kids need a Secret Santa gift, or a Toys for Tots gift I forgot to buy. Shoot, I forgot to grab the drinks I signed up on Sign Up Genius for the school party, and the Angel Tree gift needs to be wrapped and tagged. The anxiety grows and I muddle through, then it’s over. I am exhausted and before I know it, I’m taking down the decorations. Poof it went as fast as it came, and I don’t even remember it.

I WANT TO ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS! Soooooo, I decided to create a holiday bucket list and I am forcing myself to stick to it. I have listed some ideas below. If you’d like to throw caution to the wind and enjoy your holiday too – download the free template I’ve provided and create your own bucket list for you and your family too!

Click to Download Christmas Bucket List Template

1) Connect with an old friend who lives out of town – Set up a zoom call to chat and have a glass of wine, or better yet find some time to get together in person.

2) Read aloud – Choose a family friendly Christmas book and read a chapter each night of the month!

3) Christmas Movie Night – Choose a holiday movie, baked movie themed cookies, pop popcorn and wear your Christmas jammies. Cuddle up on the couch by a warm fire and enjoy.

4) Gingerbread House Contest – Each family member makes their own gingerbread house. Post the pictures on social media and ask people to vote on their favorite. The winner gets a prize!

5) Christmas Playlist – Better than a mixed tape, right? Create a playlist on your phone or on pandora with your favorite Christmas tunes. Play that puppy on full blast each night while you’re cooking dinner.

6) Homemade Hot Chocolate – YUMMY! Make a special treat one night and make some homemade hot chocolate. You can do it in the crockpot – super easy. Have some whipped cream, sprinkle toppings and marshmallows to throw in. Oh, and don’t forget the candy cane sticks.

7) DON’T DO THE ELF – That’s right…lol! Skip the elf, start a new tradition Okay do the elf if you want to!

8) Christmas Light Tour – Take a drive around town and look at everyone’s Christmas lights, of course while blasting your Christmas playlist in the car.

9) Christmas Ornament Notes – Cut out red and green circles that look like Christmas ornaments. Each night throughout the month of December - write something nice on the ornament and hang in the door for your kids or significant other. Simple notes like, I love you, your beautiful, your smart, your funny…whatever nice things you want to tell them.

10) Homemade Secret Santa – Okay so I know I talked about the stress of Secret Santa, but this one is different. On a piece of paper write down the names of all the people that live in your house. But them in a hat and draw names. Each person needs to handmake a gift for the person whose name they drew. Give the gifts to each other on Christmas Eve.

11) Holiday Show – Go see the nutcracker, or some other show in your local theater for Christmas.

12) Ice Skating – Basically just what it says, go ice skating. Preferably somewhere outside with a Christmas tree.

13) Clean out the closet – Donate your old jackets, hats, gloves, scarves, and blankets to the local shelter.

14) Caroling – How fun! I am not sure that anyone would like to hear me sing, but I do love caroling.

15) Random Act of Kindness – Do something kind anonymously for someone else.

16) Wear An Ugly Christmas Sweater – coordinate with your family and everyone wear an ugly Christmas sweater to work or school on the same day. Don’t forget to take a picture and post on social media, because let’s be honest if it isn’t on social media – did it really happen? Lol!

17) Just Sit – Yep that’s right! Take some time to sit still and do absolutely nothing. You can wear a Santa hat to make it Christmassy.

18) Mistletoe – Kiss someone under the mistletoe. Pucker up!

19) Play a game – Choose a game and play one night after dinner, even if it is only for 30 minutes. My family loves Jenga!

20) Porch Gift – Leave a gift for your neighbor on their porch. Don’t tell them who it is from.

I hope you got some great ideas from this post and will have a wonderfully Merry Christmas. Wish me luck with my bucket list, I’m already behind, but I’m going to keep trying

Journal Writing To Your Children

I became familiar with losing loved ones at an early age. My grandmother died when I was six years old. I was too young to truly process and understand what was happening, but I remember feeling sad, mostly because my parents were very sad. When I was 12 one of my closest middle school friends lost her mother. Again, I didn't fully understand. I remember being grateful that I still had my mom. At about age 13 my sister lost her lifetime best friend to a drunk driving accident. The list goes on, but the most earth shattering for me was when I lost my mother at age 21 and 5 years later lost my father-in-law. Still to this day I wish that I could speak to both of them. A direct line to heaven would be cool someday, with all of the technology in the world we should be able to communicate with our loved ones in heaven, shouldn't we?

When my mother died, I wasn't married, nor did I have children. But she had the forsite to knit a blanket for my child that would be born one day. My aunt held on to that blanket for seven years until I had my first baby girl. Wrapped in beautiful paper with a huge perfect bow, my aunt shipped it to me a few days after my daughter was born. It has mean so much to me and to my daughter, she still sleeps with it to this day. As I grew older and had my own children, I wanted to provide them with something meaningful after I was gone. I purchased 2 leather bound journals, one for my daughter and one for my son. I write to them when the mood strikes. Sometimes I write several days in a row and sometimes I go months without writing at all. I hope that someday VERY long from now, they will find comfort, wisdom and inspiration inside of them.

If you are currently writing a journal for a loved one or would like to begin writing a journal for a loved one here are some great topic ideas.

Vacation memories - document funny moments, enjoyable memories, or sites you visited together on vacation. Pride and Joy - tell a story about something that made you proud of them. An accomplishment they achieved, or a good deed they did perhaps. Hard Lessons - if they got in trouble and needed reprimand, this may come in handy later when they need it with their own children. Love letters - express how much you love them. Jokes - tell them jokes to make them laugh. Surely, they will need funny things to make them smile. Holiday memories and traditions - Write about your favorite holiday memories and traditions, maybe sometimes it is holiday horror stories too! Favorite recipes - Share your secret recipes that they may want to cherish and share with their families. Wisdom and Hard Lessons - life isn't always a bowl of cherries. Share those moments too and how you overcame them. They will need those moments later in on in life too. Apologize - apologize for your less than perfect moments. Kids truly assume and believe that adults know everything, and we have it all figured out. But we adults know that we are just blindly trying to figure it out. Let them know it is okay not to have all the answers. Learn from the lessons and keep growing. Love is always the key. History - share key moments that occur during your lifetime. What was going on around the world. History always has a way of repeating itself and whatever comes their way they will survive!

It is never too late to start! Good luck journaling.

A Morning In The Life of SR Fabrico

Typical…meaning showing the characteristics expected of or popularly associated with a particular person situation or thing. Life…as in the existence of an induvial human being or animal.

Interesting…I am not sure any morning is typical, insert thinking emoji! I guess there are some typical things that I do, like coffee for example. I will wake up 3 hours early just so I can sit outside and listen to the birds while drinking my morning brew. The morning, alone with the birds is a great way to clear my head and start the day. I breath the aroma of my freshly brewed coffee and think about what I am grateful for in that moment.

After I have had a few sips and my eyes are fully open I start to read. I read lots of different things, it depends on my mood that day. I will catch up the world news, local news, writing tips, marketing tips, you name it, I read about it. For my day job I study social media marketing trends or email blast marketing trends. My brain is constantly going, and I like to fill it with just about any piece of knowledge I can get my hands on. As an author, you can never ready too many articles about Amazon keywords.

After I’ve had my fill of coffee, usually 2 cups, I check to make sure my kiddos are up for school and let my dogs out. Usually, Andi, Ollie, and Angel are strolling down the steps right on cue, ready to greet the morning dew on the grass. Ollie will do jump circles in the kitchen to receive his greenie. A dental treat that all the dogs love.

What happens from here is anyone’s guess. The house is alive, kids and the husband are moving and shaking trying to start there day. We work together to get everyone off to school and work. My husband and I find a moment to discuss the activities of the day and who is doing what and we are off.

What is your typical day like? What are you grateful for? Most importantly…what is your favorite coffee?

Reflections - A Symbol of Strength

I had the most wonderful experience this week. I spent a day this week taking family photo's and noticed the gorgeous trees in the background. The magnificence of these trees instantly flooded my day with positivity. I am grateful for the beauty they provided to my family photos as well!

The Southern Live Oak is a beautiful species of tree. When you take a moment to appreciate the beauty around you, you become alive injected with enegry from that wonder around you.

The live oak was used in the War of 1812 as the hull for many ships. The hull was so strong and tough that the cannon balls of the British ships bounced right off. They are considered a southern "Symbol of Strength".

Live Oak trees remain green and "alive" all year long. They are able to grow in a variety of soil types and locations such as forests, schools, parking lots and gardens. They can even grow by oceans. Often they support epiphytic plants like Spanish Moss giving them even more character.

The Angel Oak is a historical Live Oak located near John's Island, South Carolina. It is estimated to be over 1500 years old with a hiegh of 65 feet and a diameter spread of 160 feet. AMAZING!

Anywho - don't forget to stop- and smell the roses...or in this case the Live Oak Trees.