Saturday, September 10, 2011

Author Spotlight Saturday

I wake up every morning and like most of you the first thing I do is hop on Facebook. I love signing on and seeing just how many notifications, friend requests and messages I have. It not only makes me feel loved and important but it does feed my little ego demon. Who doesn’t need a little ego boost every now and then.

Over the past month I have found most of my new friends and fans on Facebook all have one question on their mind. So, I thought I would take the time to fully answer it here on my blog.

“What started you writing?”

Seems a simple question such as that would have a simple answer but true to my form it’s more complicated than one would imagine. The answer dates back to 2000 when I began dating my husband but it wouldn’t be until 2009 that I type the first words of my first novel.

 Back in 2000 I had no ambition to become a writer. The thought never crossed my mind. I was a dumb nineteen year old girl who had a lot going on including a rivalry with my boyfriend’s (now husband) sister. The feuds were explosive, cracking the Eldeen clan into pieces.

Years of war between two dumb, proud girls took their toll until finally it all came to a head. Seeing the damages of our rage-filled, petty battles and growing up enough to put our pride to the side, we finally (after nine long years) called a truce.

We didn’t become best friends but it was nice going to a family function and not needing to think of an attack plan. We grew more tolerable of each other and subtle cheap shots. In an effort to show sisterly harmony, my sister-in-law stretched out an olive branch---a vampire novel for my birthday. It was far from the normal genre I enjoyed reading at the time. But I figured she deserved credit for trying.

After reading the book in less than a day I sent a quick text thanking her and expressing the fun I had reading it. That’s when she dropped a bombshell on me. There were more novels to this one book--my kryptonite…a series.

With OCD kicked into full swing I purchased every book which in turn started a novel sharing club between my sister-in-law and myself. Before I knew it I was hanging out and chatting away with my former arch nemesis about who’s who and what’s what.

Fifteen vampire tales later I found myself feeling run down and a bit tired of the fanged underground world. The day I chose to express my reading rut happened to be a day she was in no mood for me.

“Like you can do any better?” Her response was meant to be a shot but I took it as a challenge.  Three months later I completed my first novel Vineyard House—a tale about a young girl who finds out not only is she a shape shifter but the key to saving her kind--and was submitting it into the ABNA’s (Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards).

I would love to say I won and became an instant success but I didn’t. Not to say I didn’t gain from the contest. I learned a lot about what it takes to write and how to improve my writing.

Now two years and five novels later I can say I’ve not only did I prove her wrong but in the process showed her I’m not half bad.I'm looking forward to the release of The Demon Side October 21st, 2011 thanks to Decadent Publishing

~If you’re wondering what happened between me and my sister-in-law afterwards, well, I can tell you her and I are the of best friends now and I look forward to her visiting today for some dress making and Bar-B-Queuing.~

2 comments:

  1. Your sister in law sound like my sister in law. But we still aren't friends. I love hearing why writers write. I started writing because it was either that or I start killing people. Since writing doesn't come with jail time I chose to write. Looking forward to reading your book!!

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