Hi all!
This is my first of (hopefully many!) blog posts that I will post into my site. I will talk about my writing, announcements, tips and tricks etc. so please keep your eyes peeled.
Seeing as this is my first post I will talk about why I chose to write. If you've had a look through my about page you'll see that I mainly write YA Fantasy. I love fantasy, it's so easy to escape from reality for a few hours and read about teenagers having adventures across dangerous lands and battling ferocious beasts.
But that's not the only reason I aim my writing at teenagers.
When I was a teenager, books were my only escape. At school I was isolated and no-one really spoke to me because of my shyness. I'd spend my breaks walking aimlessly in the hallways because I had no one to talk to. Most days I'd just wander around trying to hold back the tears.
But, books made me forget about that.
I wasn't just the lonely quiet girl in a book, I could be anything!
I desperately wished that I would just get sucked into a book and go on adventures and have a stable friendship group.
Although I was always a shy and anxious girl, those years made me depressed. Of course, no one believed me until I was nineteen.
They called me a liar, attention seeking, worthless and told me to kill myself.
Books were my only outlet.
Although I had written a few short stories when I was young I didn't really think I was capable of writing a book. When I hit seventeen, I thought I'd give it a try.
In three months, the first draft of Blood and Water was done.
It had no name, several plot holes and a lot of grammar issues but I was over the moon.
It inspired me because I thought about all the other teenagers that were going through what I went through. Anxiety and depression with no help and no compassion.
So that's why I'm writing, for them.
Books can keep people alive, they make them believe they can be anything. As a teenager, you need that to get through until someone finally believes you.
Three doctors later, I was finally listened to and I am now a lot happier than I was.
A lot of people still think I'm lying and want to bring me down. That's why I waited four years before I even started querying, I was afraid that those people would come back to haunt me. I was terrified that my readers would believe them over me. Now that I'm self publishing, the thoughts became even worse. It would just take one nasty person to start hurling accusations that could ruin my writing career before it even started.
But, I have now reached the point where I'm not going to let them hold me back. This is my dream, the one thing I'm good at. Why should they be the ones to take it away?
So while currently I'm focusing on YA in the form of Blood and Water and Nirvana, I am open to New Adult and Adult so maybe I'll write a book for them too!
Right now, I'm focusing on the people who I think need it the most. I've written the book that I needed when I was their age. I just hope that my work can help one person, no matter their age, and help them get through the dark times.
Thank you for reading, I hope you'll stick around! Next week I'm going to talk about mailing lists and the pros and cons of setting one up.