I’ve Been Nominated!
Wow. I’ve been saying that for the last few days I got the news of my nominations for four awards at Ozarks Indie Book Fest. What this means to me can barely be expressed with words. I have to admit that I’m having all the feels right now.
I’ve been nominated for four awards!
Author of the Year
Best Book Cover – Girl on a Swing
Best New Adult Book – Girl On the Mend
Best Contemporary Book – Girl on a Swing
In 2013 I hit publish for the first time sending my baby, Fine Lines out into the world. It’s rough around the edges but there’s a great story in there, I promise. The execution sucks. I’m working on the sixth and final book in that series currently.
Since hitting publish it’s been an amazing ride! I’ve attended and spoken at so many conferences, I’ve lost count. Met tons of amazing readers, bloggers and authors. Traveled all over the country signing books. I also reached a level of sales where I was making a full time wage.
Then something happened in late 2015. I succumbed the to the chaos and destruction in my personal life. My soon-to-be ex husband is an addict. It’s like living inside a tornado. Everything is mess both literally and figuratively. Living in a constant state of emergency for ten years. But it all came to a head with another DUI, another crashed car, and another series of egregious actions from my ex. My book money was gone. He had to pay fines, attorneys, classes, get another car, make up for lost time at work while he was in jail. All of that on top of his constant clusterfuck of living inside the tornado.
Aside from basic life just being completely fucked. I had no money to market my existing books, no money to publish the ones people were waiting for and no hope.
So there I was. My writing career over, barely being able to feed my children, my house in foreclosure, having to file bankruptcy and definitely not in a state of mind to write books I couldn’t afford to publish.
I have some amazing friends that really came to the rescue. Birthday presents for my children were bought with a gift card someone sent me when my coffee pot broke. Food was provided by the Mormon Church and some of my author friends that reached out to me. Due to the kindness of others, I didn’t fall completely down. I can never express my full gratitude for those of you that knew my situation and really saved me.
But depression is a pale horse, and it took a while, but I finally got off it!
I finally landed a job! It doesn’t pay much, but it pays something and we made it work. Then, with the chaos gone and the ex out of the picture, I was able to start writing again and I started publishing again. Most of my readership was gone. There was a handful of really awesome stand up readers-turned-friends that were so patient and gracious in waiting.
I published Luci in November of 2016. It bombed. That’s okay though. I then moved on to publish the Wounded Bird Series. Out of my typical genre, on a shoe-string budget. Through the help of my editor Chelly Peeler and cover artist JN Sheets, I was able to put out Girl on a Swing in December of 2016.
It bombed…at first.
No marketing budget and a lot of people forgot I existed. It was bound to happen. But that’s okay, I had the next two books in the series ready to go and the people that did read the first book loved it. I wasn’t giving up. I’d come too far and love writing too much to give up on my dream of sharing stories.
I released the next two books January and February. Many people that had read my previous work were astounded that I am capable of writing a happy ending.
The thing is. My life has changed. While living in the tornado, the happiest ending I could hope for was getting a little bit of sleep. But now, every day is a happy ending for me. I fall asleep in my clean house, in my clean room with my children happy and content. That’s the best happy ending I could ever hope for and finally know what it’s like to be truly happy, not just in spite of what’s happening in my life.
This year, 2017, has been all about rebuilding. Reclaiming my writing career, publishing more books. Sharing more
stories. It’s all about my come back! These nominations, being named among some of the most awesome writers I know, is such an honor.
I really mean it when I say, don’t vote for me just because, vote for the author or the book that has touched you in some way. It really isn’t some Miss America “I love my fellow contestants” bullshit. It’s totally real.
Everyone that was nominated works there asses off, has challenges and strife. Being a published author isn’t easy, but it’s so worth it!
So yeah, I’m just still sitting here amazed and all the struggle, hard work, tears, doubt and not giving up have paid off. I’m back and I’m doing the thing that I love and thank you to everyone that’s stuck with me and jumped on board.
I’m thrilled beyond measure and it’s things like this that make me so glad I never gave up.
The takeaway? Don’t give up. Everyone has the strength in them to overcome frightening odds. Don’t ever give up, never surrender!
