Michigan Author Spotlight with Kelly Kenyon

Continuing our Michigan Author spotlight we have  Kelly Kenyon here with us today.  Kelly why don’t you go ahead and introduce yourself.

I have always been interested in all things artsy. Writing, singing, and the fine arts have been a passion of mine since childhood. I love becoming engrossed in an amazing story, thus my thirst for becoming an author myself. I tried out for American Idol a few years back. Didn’t make it, hence why I am still not famous yet ;)   I am currently a dental assistant/student/mother/wife. I am taking writing classes at Delta College and will soon achieve my writing certificate through them. I have been writing since a very young age, but have recently gotten back into it with more enthusiasm and hope to get some works published once I have finished them.

lol funny you should say that. My singing career didn’t work out either and that’s literally how I ended up here :) So tell us, are you published?

I have a couple short-short stories that I “self published” through smashwords.com. They are free to read. These were turned assignments that I had turned in for my writing classes at Delta, and I wanted to share them to get some feedback.

Don’t leave us hanging what’s the link?

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/KellyKenyon

Are you available in print? In eBook?

Right now, just the two short stories are available in ebook version on smashwords.com, however, I do plan on being available in print once I have some of my bigger works finished.

What do you write?  

My works in progress range from sci-fi to horror, but I have been writing some suspense and literary fiction as well.

Great! Now on to the nitty gritty … Are you originally from Michigan or just residing here now?

I am a Michigander by birth, and have lived in Michigan most of my life with the exception of a few years spent in Wyoming and Germany with my husband who, at the time, was in the Air Force. We moved back in 2007. Living in these other places gave us a better appreciation for our beautiful mitten shaped state. I never want to live anywhere else.

We know you’re a Michigan author but do you consider yourself to be a “Michigan Author?”

Most of my stories do take place in Michigan. The novel I am currently working on takes place on a fictional island on Lake Michigan.  Rainbows is also set in the “boondocks” of Michigan, in a small farm town where I grew up. I am currently writing a screenplay for my screenwriting class at Delta that also takes place on the Rail Trail near the Tridge in Midland, Michigan. A series I hope to work on soon, will be set in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I will obviously have to do some studying of that area to ensure that my scenes are authentic.

Are there any specific places you’ve written about that are borrowed from real life?

Some of the places I write about are real. In Rainbows, the dirt road and field are real places I have visited. The Rail Trail in Midland is also a real place. It used to be a railroad. It was paved over and made into a pathway for bikers, joggers, and roller bladders to use leisurely.

Do your fictitious towns have any basis in real-life? In my main project I have created a fictitious island in Lake Michigan. There are some islands in our lakes, but this one is totally sci-fi based and does not truly exist. However, the city that is also fictitious is loosely based on Ludington, Michigan, a small little pier town along Lake Michigan.

Can we get a little snippet of what you’re working on right now?

Well, this book is in the making as we speak and has been for a few years now. I decided to get some more experience under my belt before attempting to finish the project. Once it is finished and published I will give out that information. But for now, the two short stories on smashwords will suffice as a sample of my writing. Keep in mind, these two works were assignments for classes, and are very raw. They were edited by me, not an experienced editor. The novel I am working on is my baby, and I have to keep her protected until she is ready to face the world. It is a Sci-Fi/Horror/Romance mix, and I think it will be epic ;)

Sounds like it!

You set your books in Michigan, is it because of that old adage “Write what you know” or is it something else?

What is your favorite thing about Michigan? It is definitely the adage write what you know. I find it very hard to write about other non-fictitious settings when I have not personally experienced them. You can create a whole new magical world, but even then, those places have some basing on places you have already encountered.

What is your favorite thing about Michigan?

When we lived in Wyoming, I deeply missed our beautiful trees. Wyoming was barren and dry, Michigan is vibrant green, and we have lakes everywhere. In Wyoming you had to travel very far just to find reservoir in the mountains. In Germany I also missed our beautiful lakes, but there it rarely snowed. When it did, it melted right away. So, my favorite things about Michigan is our beautiful greenery, our refreshing lakes, and of course our plentiful snow.

I love the snow too!

Okay now some just for fun questions …




Three brands of fudge from Mackinac Island. (Jennifer Day/Photo for the Tribune)

Salt Water Taffy or Mackinaw Island Fudge:  Fudge. Can’t beat chocolate ;)
The Island or the city: I can honestly say I have not been to the Island, or at least not that I remember. So my choice would have to be the city. I also come very close to needing a changing after crossing the bridge. Me + heights= bad news.
Yeah … I’m not such a fan of heights either.
Trolls VS. Yoopers – your vote: Trolls
Your favorite Michigan Season:  Fall. So many beautiful colors!
Michigan or Michigan State: Michigan!
Football or Hockey: Football
Your favorite Michigan City: Ludington
Your favorite Michigan Lake: Michigan
Your favorite Michigan Hideaway: Rogers City
A beautiful choice!
Paradise or Hell: I am a horror buff, so I’d love to visit Hell, especially when it freezes over.

Tahquamenon Falls

I’ll let you borrow my Get Out Of Hell Free card when you go …  on second thought maybe you better get your own ;)
What’s your favorite Michigan Highway : Um...75?
Favorite Michigan tourist activity: Visiting the falls (Tahquamenon) Your favorite book that showcases Michigan: The Virgin Suicides
And finally what’s next for you?  When can we expect to read more from you?

I do not have a release date for my next piece of writing. It may take me a while. I am simply trying to get through with the classes needed to achieve my writing certificate. Once this is finished, I plan on getting more serious about my novels. I wanted these classes to better understand the work that goes into writing, the formatting, and the confidence boost I needed to realize that I can do it! My Plan is, finish out the program at Delta. This summer, however, I am going to be spending more time writing for me, not for assignments. These ideas are eating away at my brain and I need to get them out on paper. I know now what I am capable of and that I can captivate my audience with my writing. I am ready for the next steps in my future career as an author.

How can we keep up with you? Give us your social media stats ;)
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/kellyjokenyonBlog/webpage:  http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/KellyKenyonGreat! Thanks Kelly! It was so nice having you here today!
If you have a comment or a question for either Kelly or … well … Kelli  leave them in the comments below and one of us will respond.  
Don’t forget to tune in tomorrow too for day three in the Michigan Author Spotlight.

Michigan Author Spotlight with Cindy Ullery

Today is the start of a weeklong blog-fest I have planned with some pretty cool people. I'm talking to authors this week. All of them are in varying stages of author-hood but have at least one common thread tying them all together. We are all Michigan Authors.

My first guest is Cindy Ullery. Cindy why don't you tell our readers a little bit about yourself?
Married at sixteen, I have two children, two grandchildren and, amazingly, my original husband.  Though I’ve worked a multitude of jobs (store clerk, housekeeper, secretary, book-keeper, construction worker, kindergarten aide), I have written, in one form or another, for as long as I can remember.  What started out as write-to-keep-myself-sane poetry soon turned into personalized poems I sold to gift-givers, and it wasn’t long before my love of reading romances had my overactive brain itching to give that a try as well.  I’ve written Historical Romances and just recently crossed over into Contemporary.  Since my romance writing has been another tool used to keep my sanity, I am seriously beginning to worry that I am teetering on the edge on any given day.

 

 

Funny you should say that I've always sort of thought that one has to be a little bit crazy to be any good at writing. :) Are you published Cindy? 
 

No, I am not.  Thirty years ago, I sent three of my very first romances sailing into the slush pile, receiving personal letters and comments on all three from publishers such as Kensington and Avon.  Unfortunately I was too stupid at the time to realize how lucky I was.  One of the romances, a historical, actually had the publisher asking for changes and a chance to view it once those changes were made.  But life, being life, had my hubby injured on the  job and by the time we came to terms with our new existence and I managed a rewrite, the requesting editor had been replaced, policy had changed, and my manuscript was sent back unopened.  I’ve not attempted submissions since, but have never stopped writing – that sanity issue again.  My family thinks it’s a waste of time to write without submitting.  Me?  I kind of like my sanity, thank you very much.
What about now? Do you ever think of trying again? Is your work  (or at least parts of it) available to be read anywhere on the internet?

 

 

No, but I have seriously been considering making a few submissions once again.
Good! I'd be glad to point you in a few good directions. Now onto the good stuff. Are You

originally from Michigan or just residing here now?   

 

A born and raised Michigander – that’s me.

We know you are a Michigan Author but do you consider yourself a “Michigan Author”? Do the stories you write take place in Michigan?   

 

 All of my books are set here in Michigan.  It’s an accuracy thing with me.  If I had the opportunity and means to become a world traveler, I might branch out a bit, but I’m a firm believer in writing what, or in this case where, you know.

 

I hear yah! Do you write about areas that actually exist here? 

 

I do.  Usually.  My Historical Romances are set in the Upper Peninsula, late 1890’s, in Grand Marais, Seney, and the Au Sable Lighthouse, which also happens to be my very favorite place in this world.  My contemporary, however, takes place in a small-minded, fictional, Lower Peninsula town.

Au Sable Lighthouse

Is your fictitious Michigan towns ever based on actual towns?    

 

I suppose my fictional town could be based on any number of small towns, anywhere across our great country.  Small-mindedness doesn’t seem to be confined to Michigan, darn it all.  

Ha! You're right. It doesn't ;) Tell us a bit about one of your recent works. 

 

 Okay.  I’ll give you part of a scene from my contemporary, Maddie’s Mistake, the story of two best friends facing their worst fears while dealing with a friendship suddenly twisted about by love and desire.  In this scene, a slightly inebriated Maddie has decided to throw caution to the wind and have a taste of what she’s always secretly desired: her best friend Jake. 

 Here goes….

 

    “Don’t be stupid, Jake.”  She was glaring now, her gorgeous eyes the color of the whiskey sloshing about in her glass.  “Are you serious about this one – this Tessa?”

    Smiling slightly, he shook his head.  “She’s just a friend, Madison.”

    “Mmm….”

    “What’s that supposed to mean?” he found himself demanding with her tone.

    “Just one more pretty to add to your little harem?”

    “For pity’s sake, Maddie.”   

    “Are you sleeping with her?”

    “What!”

    “Are you….”

    “I heard you the first time,” he snapped, interrupting her.

    “Then answer the question,” she directed, tone reasonable.

    “No.  I will not.  My sex life,” he shifted uncomfortably, “is none of your concern.”

    To his surprise, she laughed.  “It wasn’t my concern when you were in the back seat of your little red Mustang with Sheila Ferguson either, Jake, but I managed to get every little detail on that one.”

    “Good God.  That was a dozen years ago, Maddie.  How….”

    “Hair dye.”

    “What?”  He was beginning to think it was his new favorite word.

    “I bribed her with hair dye.  Her roots were showing, and her parents were refusing to hand over any more money.  So I paid her off in hair dye to tell me every single thing you did to her that night.”

    “Oh, my God….”

    “She said you weren’t all that good at it either,” she added, tone disappointed.  “I wanted to punch her when she started spreading that all around school.”

    Bristling, he sat straighter on her couch.  “It was my first time, for Christ’s sake.”

    Those doe eyes of hers swung up to his, a definite sparkle in them now.  “Was it?  I didn’t realize.  Peggy Sue Terwillegar had been telling anyone who’d listen that you and she had….”

    “Stop!  I did nothing with Peggy Sue.  Well, next to nothing,” he added, color creeping when she just stared at him.

    She gifted him with a giggle.  “I didn’t think what she told me was anatomically possible anyway, but Peggy Sue swore….”

    “I don’t want to know what Peggy Sue swore,” he broke in, cutting her off.  “It’s bad enough that Sheila was strolling around the countryside advertising I didn’t know what the Hell I was doing in the back seat of that Mustang.”

    “You scored points for trying,” she soothed, “in my book, at least.”

    To his horror, he felt a grin forming.  “Thank you, Maddie.  That really helps.”  Falling silent, he finally muttered, “Christ.  My reputation in shreds for one small bottle of hair dye.”

    “It was a case, Jake.  She made me buy her a whole case.”

    His grin widened.  “That makes me feel so much better, Mad.  Thanks.”

    “Don’t mention it.”

    Those eyes were on him again, in places he’d rather not acknowledge and, this time, he squirmed a lot on his couch.

    “So, you’re not planning on marrying anyone in the near future?”

    “Huh?”

    “And you accuse me of being drunk.”  She shook her head, wobbling a bit on her chair.  “Listen carefully, Jacob.  Try to follow the conversation.”

    “I don’t want to follow the conversation, Maddie.  I don’t even want to guess where it might lead.  I think you should go to bed now.”

    Her gaze ran over him again, oh so slowly this time.  “Funny you should mention that, Jake.  I’ve been thinking about that very thing.”

 

 

 

 

 

First of all I just have to say I am a complete sucker for friends to lovers romances. So you already had a point from me in that aspect but I loved this excerpt. I want to read more! What happens? I think you better get to submitting I'm sure I'm not the only one out there dying to know what comes next for Maddie and Jacob.

You said before your set your books in Michigan because of that old adage “Write what you know” is that all of it or is there something else behind it too?  

 

I think it’s mainly the ‘write what you know’, but my love of our state’s history and the beauty of the terrain may also play a part in my decision.

What is your favorite thing about Michigan?    

 

I should lie and say the people, but we have some not-so-nice and none-too-friendly people in our state.  So, being a lover of honesty, I’m going with the Great Lakes.
Good choice!  4 out of 5 Great Lakes Prefer Michigan ;)

Okay now some just for fun questions …

Salt Water Taffy or Mackinaw Island Fudge:    Mackinaw Island Fudge, hands down. The Island or the city:    The Island.
Trolls VS. Yoopers – your vote:    Yoopers.  I was born on the wrong peninsula; I’m a Yooper at heart.
Psst. Me too Cindy. Me too.
Your favorite Michigan Season:    Autumn.  There is nothing more breathtaking. Michigan or Michigan State:    Sorry, not answering.  I have lovers of both in my family, and I have vowed neutrality.
Just call Cindy Switzerland ;)
Football or Hockey:    Definitely hockey.
Your favorite Michigan City:    Grand Marais.
Your favorite Michigan Lake:    Lake Superior.

We are Michigan soul-sisters you and I. I love that frigid lake. The series I'm currently writing is basically an ode to her.
Your favorite Michigan Hideaway:    My no-electricity, wood-burning, gas-lit, outhouse-sporting cabin in Grand Marais.
Paradise or Hell:    Paradise.  I have tried my best to avoid visiting Hell and, if I ever felt the urge, it’s in the wrong peninsula anyway.What’s your favorite Michigan Highway :  H-58.

Portions of H-58 are left unplowed during the winter and used as a snowmobile trail.

Favorite Michigan tourist activity:   Agate-picking on Lake Superior or salmon fishing on the Two-Hearted River.  It’s pretty much a draw.

I almost don't feel right putting this out there because I'm greedy and want to keep the spot all to myself but my favorite place in the world is where those two waterways meet.

Your favorite book that showcases Michigan:  Please don’t make me choose.  I’m a sucker for every book written about the history of Michigan.  Hmmm….  My favorite?  I guess it would have to be the short little ditty with funny Michigan outhouse stories.  And the title escapes me.  Makes me wonder what that choice says about me.
I don't know but once you remember the title let me know it sounds like it's right up my alley - not sure what that says about me either. 

 

What’s next for you?
 I’m thinking, if I want to be published before I’m dead, I’d better get moving.  I plan on dragging out my last four manuscripts for rewriting, revisions, and polishing before trying out the ePublishing market.  Should be fun.  At my age, it’ll be like writing a whole new book.

Hey judging by the excerpt I bet your books are fun and well-written. If you're looking for a beta reader, look no further!

How can we keep up with you?

  My email.  If you promise you’re not one of those Facebook stalkers who keep propositioning me in broken English, Kelli has my email address.  Although the broken-English propositions ARE rather funny, now that I think about it….  :o) 

 

Cindy, thank you so much for hanging out with me here today! You were such fun!
Leave a note or question for either Cindy or I in the comments. I can get back to you today and Cindy will probably get back to you when she's home from her amazing Michigan vacation. The lucky duck.

Either way come back tomorrow and meet the next Michigan Author on the roster.

Anniversary

The end of this week I'll be celebrating an Anniversary of sorts. About a year ago I made a trip down to Ohio. It had started as purely a fan-girl trip. Some of my favorite authors were going to be at the closest, most affordable, and relaxed reader orientated conference. I didn't want to miss that.

Then I realized that I could kill two birds with one stone. I had the opportunity to sign up to pitch my book to an editor of a publishing house. When asked which house I wanted to pitch to I didn't hesitate for one second. I said ANY.

That's where I was. I was so desperate for this opportunity. I didn't care who with.

So they set up a time slot for me.

A little while later I received a second e-mail asking if I'd be up for two pitch sessions, with two different editors from two different houses. I of course realized the opportunity here to double my odds. I took it.

The morning of RAGT I woke up and checked my e-mail again to find that I'd been granted another opportunity with a third publisher. I was elated ... and much, much more nervous.

I showed up at RAGT alone, but I wasn't alone for very long. Everyone is so wonderful, friendly and what's really great is everyone there is just as nerdy about romance novels as I am.

I met great people, some I'm still in touch with today, and I'm beyond excited to see them there this year. Those same people gave me a wonderful pep-talk before my pitches.

Yet it wasn't until I'm close to hyperventilating waiting outside that conference room and a petite graying brunette with librarian glasses calls me in and tells me to take a seat, that I'm fully understanding the weight of what it is I'm about to do.

This is potentially the start of my career ... or if it goes badly a crushing blow to my dreams.

She takes a seat, she smiles at me, and then in the kindest voice she reminds me to breathe. "Just talk to me," she says like an old friend might.

It was that moment I stuffed away my notecards, took a deep breath, and began to tell her a story.

I left that room confident, ecstatic really -- because she'd said those four words I'd only dreamed I'd hear. "Send me your manuscript."

It was divine intervention I pitched to her first because my next boardroom was not nearly as comfortable, or inviting. It was me facing six editors. I did my best. I kept my notecards in my bag. I told them about my books conversationally. They had questions, lots of questions. Some were very easy to answer, and some of them were things I'd never thought of before ...
Who would these books be marketed to?  for instance. I guess I'd never thought much about it before - obviously romance readers ... but there are more types of romance readers than I ever dreamed existed.

But by the end of my 15 minute time slot I also heard the magical words "Send us your manuscript."
Once was a miracle.
Twice was unreal. By the time I stepped into my third conference room my head was spinning, I was edgy, and exhausted and I had to go through this one more time?

I sat down with an editor from Liquid Silver Books for a fifteen minute pitch and by the time I was leaving that room forty-five minutes had lapsed and she was already talking to me about contracts.
Mind blown.  

The next day I met up with those wonderful girls I'd met the night before, the ones who'd given me that pep-talk prior to pitching. Today was supposed to be relaxing, fun, fan-girl time...
That was until Duffy Brown was pushing me into an elevator heading up to the suite where the woman who'd been nominated for Editor of The Year sat waiting for me to pitch to her as well.
It was a surreal experience. I left the RAGT with four submission requests, tons and tons of signed books, pictures with my favorite authors and a handful of new friends.
Last year was my first time at the RAGT as a reader.
This year will be my first time at the RAGT as an Author.
I have no idea what I'll be leaving RAGT with this year but I know what giant steps can be made there and what just a single year can bring a person. I so look forward to sitting here writing another blog post about this very same thing a single year from now.
RAGT here I come.
What comes after that?  I can't wait to find out!  

What's underneath all the clothes...

This is not my usual sort of post but for just one minute I'm going to step up on my little soap box and talk to you all about something that, for a change, is not fiction but actual reality.

I have to admit, I used to have a tendency to run at the mouth. I spoke my mind, and often, quite loudly. I spewed my opinion wherever and whenever I saw fit. I argued with teachers & professors, students, friends, strangers and I am the person who has been trolled a time or two-hundred...

As I've grown older, and arguably wiser, I have been able to bite my tongue a bit more. I've found the ability to pick and choose my battles -- something my mother has been trying to teach me from day one.
So at first I wasn't going to address this, mostly because I didn't want to perpetuate the buzz. I didn't want to give this particular company undue publicity, because let's face it even bad publicity is still publicity.
Yet I just didn't feel right about turning my back on something that hit so close to home...

 

I have been out of high school for seven years this year. Some days those seven years feels like a lifetime ago and some days it feels like just last night I was downtown hanging out with my close group of friends.

 My close group of friends I wouldn't say were popular but we weren't outcasts by any means. We had dates to school dances. We were invited to parties. We laughed, had fun, and got into a little trouble like most teens but we were overall pretty good kids. We went to school in the middle of a corn field, on the "wrong" side of the river. Our graduating class was only like 140 students wide, the entire school only something like 400 and some students large. It was easy for a person to know or at least know of everyone in the school.

But still it was a normal school.

There were cool kids.

There were not so cool kids.

There was bullying.

There were mean girls, and really douchey guys.

There were football Gods.
There was a slew of popular, pretty, Homecoming Court girls.
There were a fair share of stoners, and kids who got really excited over anime, or graphic novels, or obscure bands...
There was a scrawny red-headed gay boy thrown against the lockers and ridiculed.

But there was also... 

really brainy, really smart "jocks."
There were really cool, really funny kids who hung out with "geeks."
There was a painfully beautiful - from the inside out - Home Coming Queen who was, still is, sweet and had that kind of Christ-like niceness to everyone that's somewhat rare for a teenage girl ... hell somewhat rare period. 

There was a very popular guy, I've known since I was at least five but had only talked to sporadically since elementary school, who stopped me during a tough time to ask me how I was and he meant it. This wasn't the general, with a nod of the head, "Sup?" that usually occurred in high school this was a quiet show of genuine concern. "How are you (really)?"
Now let me tell you about me. I was in band, forensics, Media, and drama. I was friendly with everyone. I was sharp, albeit kind of a slacker. I laughed a lot, and cried a lot, and I was a bit of a dreamer (maybe still am.) I was the kid called down to the counseling office when a student, new or maybe not so much, was having a hard time integrating into the social life of high school. I was asked to take them in and I always did. Sometimes they stuck with my group of close friends but usually after awhile they found their own place in the spectrum of high school.
I was president of S.A.D.D. (Students Against Destructive Decisions) and Senior Vice President of Student Council. I was surprised to win that last position, because I didn't run unopposed and like I said I wasn't necessarily "popular." I was also morbidly obese.
The kind of obese that was uncomfortable, restrictive, and at times embarrassing. The kind of obese that made me dread restaurant booths, rollercoaster seats, backseat seatbelts and clothes shopping. 

The kind of obese that begets taunting, bullying, and social isolation. While occasionally taunted (mostly early on in school) it was never really an issue I suffered with, at least not alone. I had good friends. I was, to some degree confident enough not to let my weight rob me of too many things. I think, mostly, I was well liked and at least mildly respected. I was funny, easy to be around, and nice.
Yeah, I heard the fat jokes occasionally. I had a couple girls try to bully me a few times. I hardly ever got the guy I was crushing on and I definitely didn't fit into the trendy clothes.

I just want to touch on a few things here. You do not have to have the "cool" clothes to be cool. You are not what you wear. You are not the hobbies you partake in. You do not have to have it all together at all times.
I don't know what's going on out there, in schools across America. I don't know how "average" our school was. I don't know if we are different because we're small. I don't know if being in the middle of a corn field sheltered us a little from the real world. I don't know if other schools vote a band & drama kid Home Coming King over one of the "football Gods" but our school did. I don't know if your country, backwoods, rural, predominately all-white community voted a minority for your Prom Queen but we did.
I don't know if when something shakes your community if your school district meets around the flag-pole, "geeks" joining hands with "preps" or whatever and truly coming together in optional prayer to mourn, console, or to just be with one another ... I don't know.
I don't know if the morbidly obese fat girl in your school had a really awesome prom date but I did. There's a lot I don't know about you and your school...
What I do know is that it is possible. It's possible your school and your community is already like this. If it's not it's possible for it to be like this. Don't get me wrong we're not perfect by any means but maybe in time, maybe every class who passes through those halls will build that place up piece by piece, maybe we can all make things a little bit better, just a little bit, by doing just a little good every day.
Yes, maybe there are popular kids and maybe there are not so popular kids but I've seen that gap bridged time and time again.
Yes, maybe there were kids who bullied that red-headed gay friend of mine, but there were kids who stuck up for him too.
Maybe it's true that the "popular" kids to tended to wear "popular" clothing brands but it's also true that, it wasn't necessary. I don't recall a day in my high school career when someone touched the tag on my shirt, unless it was to tuck it in for me. Walking down the hall way I've never been asked who I was wearing. When I made my speech for that Vice President position for student council I didn't end it with dropping the name brand on my shoes, or pants, or shirt.
So regardless of what is in the news right now, or going round and round through this rotating door of the internet. Know that.
There are bullies in school and there are bullies in life but don't buy into their hype. You are not defined by your clothes, or your face, or your weight, trust someone who used to be obese and still after losing 157lbs still technically is. You are defined by your morals, your actions, but most importantly by how you treat others.
So maybe someone out there is telling you, you aren't pretty enough, you aren't perfect enough, you aren't straight enough, you aren't skinny enough, or tall enough, or short enough, or curvy enough ... but I'm here sticking up for you. I'm telling you none of that matters. I'm telling you those people who are less than accepting are insecure and threatened by the fact that they know this to be true. You. Do. Not. Need. Their. Approval.
I've been a stubborn and firm believer in "If you don't want me, I don't want you either." It has never been truer in this moment. If some person or corporation is going to tell you they don't want you because you're not the right size, shape, color or creed, they are not good enough for you, not the other way around.

 

Let me also remind you that fat girl is now a multi-published author and my clothing didn't have anything to do with that. 

 

 

It's not what you wear, it's how you treat people that defines you.

  

All about my WIP (Work In Progress)

I was asked about my current Work In Progress. I figured I'd share all the deets with you guys too :)

1. What is your working title/title of your book?
 Chasing Dreams (Falling #1)

2. Where did the idea come from for the book? 

I wrote book #3 in this series first. In that story the Heroine's brother is giving her some advice and while he's doing that he highlights a little bit of his own romantic encounter with his wife. I decided I had to see what their story looked like from the inside and went back to write it?

 3. What genre does your book fall under?
  Contemporary Romance.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
 This is so difficult because I can't think of any actors who look like Nathan looks in my head. He's tall, wiry, and athletic. A body like a runner or a swimmer.

The same with Selina although Marion Cotillard could pull it off.

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

I haven't actually written one yet so I'll just throw one out there for you.

The Falls bring two people together while life tries to tear them apart.

 

 6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
 I'll be resubmitting this book to Taliesin Publishing after a request from them to Revise & Resubmit. I'm hoping they'll pick it up.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
 This particular one, ohhh probably about three weeks.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
 Hmmm. I'm not sure I can think of one, honestly. I was told it reads a little like an old Cary Grant movie. I was pretty pleased to hear that. (I love Cary Grant.)

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
My Beta (who has been reading and reviewing everything I've written since we were twelve) begged me to tell this story. It's been a favorite of hers ever since.

 10. What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

It's a little different than my last three published books. 

Nathan Lawson meets Selina LeClezio while on  break in Niagara Falls. Sparks fly the first time they meet and the two quickly jump head first into a fast hot fling. Tragedy strikes and Nathan is pulled away from his week long spring break, and week long tryst much too soon.
While separated the two are dealt heavy struggles and simultaneously lingering feelings that neither had anticipated. Will either one decide to chase their dreams of being together or will it be left to the magic of The Falls to show them their destinies?

It's hot, sweet, and incredibly romantic. I'm not going to lie, though, I'm a little biased... but only a little ;)
I'll keep you all up to date about it but expect to see it out sometime this year :)