10 Things You Probably Don't Know About Me...

1.)  That I was the 7th born out of a family of 9 siblings.

2.)  That I was born under the astrological sign of Pisces.

3.)  That I had wanted to be a singer before I ever thought about writing as a career.

4.)  That I co-run a book design company with another family member called:  "Trueheart Designs".

5.)  That my favorite meal is a toasted cheese sandwich with Kosher Dill Pickles.

6.)  That my favorite television show is "Once Upon a Time".

7.)  That my favorite male singer is a toss up between Paul Anka and Julio Iglesias.

8.)  That my favorite female singer is Lara Fabian.

9.)  That my favorite movie is "Titanic".

10.) That my favorite thing to do is WRITE!  Of course, you probably already figured that out since I'm a self-published author. lol

Author Blog Tag

     I was sent a list of questions from a fellow author to answer in a tag.  Here are the questions and my answers to them.

1.)     Where is your favorite place to write?

         I don't actually have a favorite place to write.  I generally am just happy when I can sit down and just find the time to write.


2.)     Coffee or tea?

          I actually like both of these beverages but at various times of the day.  Coffee in the morning and then tea in the afternoon.


3.)     Favorite Book of all time?

         This is too hard for me to pick.  I can tell you that when I sit down to read I like reading romance, science fiction/fantasy, and self-help books.


4.)     NaNoWriMo?  Yes or No?

         No.  I am a pantser so doing NaNoWriMo would be hard for me because I don't like the stress of having to do so many words per day by the seat of my pants.  And, because I'm a pantser I definitely don't want to outline so NaNo would be difficult for me.  My philosophy is just write something every day regardless of how many words.

5.)     What genre would you write in if you had no restrictions?

       I would have answered erotica, but I did this already when I really wasn't ever planning to.  And, then I would have said historical, but now I am currently working on a historical, romance novel.  So I guess as a writer I should never look at writing as a restriction because you never know where your ideas will lead you.


6.)     If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

         Since I'm dealing with a health issue right now, I wish I had a super heart that would never fail me and never need repair.  (if only, then I wouldn't need open, heart surgery like I do currently).


7.)     Favorite Author?

      This is too hard for me to answer.  I like a lot of authors and I don't really have a favorite.


8.)     What kind of music do you listen to when you write?

       I like listening to instrumental music when I write like:  epic music, movie soundtracks, and such.


9.)     If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?

      I currently live in Phoenix, Arizona and I have to admit that I like Arizona, but there are times in the summer that I wish I could live up in the upper areas like; Flagstaff or Payson.


10.)    What do you do when you get writer's block?

       I very rarely get writer's block, but when I do, I basically just make a note in my writing that I'm not sure what to write here, and then I go to a part in the story that I do know what to write about.  Sometimes when I do this it triggers my brain to come up with an idea to the previous part.

Writing While Dealing With My Personal Health Issue

The Human Heart

   Being a writer dealing with a personal, health issue can be hard.  The creative side of things doesn't always flow the way you want it to when you are thinking about the future health issue that you know you are going to have to deal with.  I briefly mentioned my health issue on my other blog site: "The Struggling Indie Author", where I briefly talked about the fact I would probably be needing open heart surgery.  I have had issues with my heart over the years with a leak in one of my heart valves and I hoped as I got older that it wouldn't get any worse, but I'm sorry to say that it has.  Now my cardiologist wants me to have open heart surgery to fix the heart valve.  I had an angiogram about a month ago and it told my cardiologist that I really can't ignore this, although I want to.  I don't know of anyone who would want to have their chest cut open, ribs cracked just to get to one's heart, and then if that isn't bad enough, they have to stop the heart to work on it.  I don't know about any of you but I'm not looking forward to this.  In fact, it scares the living daylights out of me. Personally, I would rather write a story about this instead of having to live through it myself.  But, I guess that is just the writer in me.
   
     Anyway, I have to go talk to a cardiologist surgeon about this and I'm really not looking forward to this.  I mean, who would, right?  Luckily, I do have my writing to fall back onto even if my mind isn't a hundred percent on it.  But, writing and creating a story for someone else does sort of help distract me somewhat.  This is the great thing about being a writer.

     In the meantime, although I didn't sign up to do NaNoWriMo I have been trying to write more since this is National Novel Writing Month.  So far I'm doing pretty good with my word count.  In the first two days of NaNoWriMo, I've written 3,360 words so far in the medical, romance novel that I am writing.  Who knows maybe I'll give one of my main characters the heart issue I have.

The Day in the Life of a Writer...

10 Things I would tell my Younger Writer Self before I Ever Self-Published a Book!

1.)  You're going to have to learn a lot about self-publishing before you can actually publish your first book, and you will definitely publish your books.

2.)  Writing involves a lot more patience then you could have ever imagined.

3.)  Don't ever doubt yourself if finding your readers becomes difficult.  Just keep writing.

4.)  Don't let anyone tell you that you are wasting your time as a writer.

5.)  Don't read your book reviews; they are for readers only and not you!

6.)  Always stay true to your genre and don't jump on the bandwagon when the next great topic of interest changes.

7.)  Remember you always wanted to be a published author since 3rd Grade, so don't let anyone tell you because it isn't working out as a writer that you should just quit.

8.)  Your readers are out there, so keep writing and keep publishing your books.

9.)  Stay the course no matter how long it takes you.

10.)  And, if all else fails if you don't ever find your readers, then enjoy your own books, after all, you wrote them because you have a great passion for storytelling.

Welcome to my Author Website

     Hi, and welcome to my author site.  I am currently working on a historical, romance novel.  This is something I thought I would never do since history wasn't one of my strongest subjects in school.  What can I say, I had this dream and it inspired this current book that I continue to plug away at writing day after day.  I hope to have this book completed some time in mid-2018'.  I am also working on a blog that I started not to long ago called:  "The Struggling Indie Author", where I offer tips and strategies to new indie authors and up-and-coming indie authors on getting published, and what I learned from this experience.

     I have currently as of this writing self-published (10) books and you can read the book details about each of them here on the top menu bar.

List of Book Titles:

• Book 1:  "Love Song to Simone"
• Book 2:  "The Shattered Pieces of Shay"
• Book 3:  "The Ugly Side of Paradise"
• Book 4:  "The Value of Love"
• Book 5:  "Stranded By Deception (Series)=Books 1-6

     Thank you for stopping by and I hope you will come back soon.