Grim, grinning, ghosts

I’ve had such a good fall season so far. Back in August I was already so pumped for Halloween that I made a list of spooky things I wanted to do. The list included: making creepy cupcakes, going to Gardner Village, looking through Halloween editions of The Martha Stewart magazines, taking fall walks, and watching (lighthearted) scary movies.

Fall is such an inspirational time for writing. Think about it, the air is crisp and cool, the leaves are crunchy. Houses smell like pumpkins, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Movies like Haunted Mansion and Hocus Pocus put scenes in your head of swirling masquerade parties and haunted ballrooms. I LOVE IT.

The 31st is almost upon us, so if you haven’t yet, enjoy some candy corn, pumpkin carving, vintage decorations, monster mash, Halloween fun.

P.S. I watched the Addams Family for the first time last week. Gomez and Morticia were so wonderfully strange and humorous to me. I told my husband to grow out a mustache (which I quite like) and I think we might attempt to be the infamous couple on all Hallows eve.

Release Date June 2012

The release date is here! June 2012. Hip hip hooray!

I’m so excited for The Shapeshifter’s Secret to come out. It has been a dream of mine for a long time to get published, and working with Cedar Fort has been such a positive experience.

I remember scribbling down incomplete short stories in Jr. High and wanting so bad to one day become an author. I’ll never forget when I was 13 years old, and I told my dad I wanted to write books. Looking at me confidently, he said, “Then do it.” He passed away shortly after that, but I’ll never forget how encouraging he was. He really taught me to just go for whatever ambitions I had in life.

My mom was incredibly supportive too. She was consistently feeding my creativity with fantasy novels, trips to book stores, and summers filled Harry Potter (seriously we watched The Sorcerer’s Stone everyday for one summer straight).

It has been a lot of hard work to get to this point, which included harsh criticism and rejection. Both of which can make anyone question their aspirations. However, I kept going because of motivation, passion, support, and prayer.

I know that rejection is part of the process. And even though it can be brutal, it helps you grow, which is hard to see when you get a letter that begins “Dear Author, thank you so much for submitting your story…unfortunately we’ve decided…best of luck though!”

Having gone through that and finally getting to this point has been really exciting. I really hope to encourage other writers to jump in with both feet when it comes to getting your work out there, even when you’re right in the thick of it.

“Why do writers writer? Because it isn’t there.” –Thomas Berger.

How positive thinking helped me get published

I’ve wanted to post about this for a while; I guess I was waiting for one of those sunny, not-a-trouble-around, everyone-is-singing-on-the-street kind of days. But, like my pug wanting new tap dancing shoes, i know that's a ridiculous requirement.

Positive thinking is something I always want to put into practice, but when it starts to rain (even though I love my cloudy days), or when I'm made aware of some sudden unfortunate news (my pug needing new tap shoes), it’s hard to look for the sunny side of things.



I feel like I did my best with positive thinking in the months when I was trying to get published. Every time I sent a query letter off to a publisher, I’d try lift myself up and tell myself that I was a great author. And when I was just about to fall asleep, I’d close my eyes and envision what I would do when I found out I was getting published.

It helps that I have an incredibly supportive husband who whenever I doubted myself would say “You will get published.” The phrase would linger on my mind, and I would repeat it until I knew it was true.

I’ll never forget how sweet that moment was when I found out I was getting published, and I’m really thankful for the people who were behind me (I have good friends, family members, and/or pugs).

I know it’s impossible to always be chirpy, smiling, and tap dancing with happiness, but try to be kind to yourself. Give yourself compliments, envision your goals, and recognize your talents. YOU ARE AWESOME!