Ask Me Anything…

Happy Saturday!

Normally, I don’t post two blog posts in a week unless it’s a writing event or release week, but this week I have something different to share with all of you. A few weeks back, I posted an Ask Me Anything type of post on my social media and told everyone I would answer the questions here on my blog. I plan to start posting these at least once a month. So if you have a question you would like to ask me about my author life, writing, plotting, reading, or anything that pertains to my life as an author. Feel free to watch for another post on my social media asking for questions. Or you can leave a comment below and I’ll answer them as soon as possible.

This week’s question comes from my Facebook group and it’s one that I thought would be a great question to answer first. The question was sent in by a good friend of mine named Joelyn, and I’m excited to answer it. She asked if I had always wanted to be an author. See what I mean by the perfect way to start these Q&A posts. Anyway, there is a long version answer to this question and a short answer. The short answer is: Yes I’ve always wanted to be an author.

Now the long version is a bit more complicated. When I was younger I was an avid reader, I loved books and I loved thinking of my own stories I could write. I enjoyed writing the ideas down and trying to figure out a way to get the main character from A to B in the story. Now keep in mind that I have dyslexia, so in the back of my mind even as a teenager, I thought there was no way I would be able to be a published author. So I let that dream fade away, like any other dream you have when you’re a kid. You know the ones like becoming a Princess or the President of the United States.

I had this one teacher who really believed in me when I was a kid and tried her best to tell me that I could do and be anything I wanted. Her name at the time was Mrs Bowmen (I’m not sure what her name is now), and she was an amazing teacher. She helped me learn how to read even with the problems I had. She made me believe in myself. Now when I got to high school I had a teacher who made me give up on the dream once more, but we don’t need to get into that one. When I got to be an adult, I was still reading like crazy and ended up writing fan fiction, and that brought the joy of writing and creating back to me. It also let me escape a lot of the bad things in my life. (Again we aren’t going to get into that one either.) This is where I started to believe in myself again and my writing. I found amazing writer friends who cheered me on. They introduced me to NaNoWriMo and that’s where I wrote First to Fight.

Now it took me six years to take that step and publish it, but again that’s a different story, one filled with once again self-doubt.

I hope that you, my amazing reader who is reading this post, remember that it’s okay to take big chances. Even if you fail, it’s okay, you just get back up and try again. We first have to believe in ourselves and we honestly need others around us that will cheer us on. (If you need someone like that, message me, and I’ll cheer you on the whole way!)

So there you have it, the long version of if I always wanted to be an author. Joelyn, I hope that answered your question.

Remember, if you have a question for me, please leave it in the comments below. I’ll try to answer at least one to two questions each post. I hope you all have a great weekend! I’ll be spending mine writing. (Of course, this author is a bit behind on her writing schedule. Got to catch up this weekend.)