Straight From the Heart
Good evening, my Lovelies! Ya good? I sure hope so! It's Friday eve so even if you've had a crappy week, just think about the fact that the weekend is playing peek-a-boo. I promise that will make everything better!
I just admitted to my Facebook friends that I didn't think about the fact that it was blog day until about 5:30 this evening. Not. One. Thought. So I'm not entirely certain where this is going to lead, but here we go.
First, if you've read my previous blogs you will know that I talk about something I call "heart smiles." What is a heart smile? Shell's Dictionary of Craziness defines it as this: A person, place, thing, or experience that touches you so deeply or profoundly that no matter your mood, no matter your mental state, no matter where you are, and no matter what is going on in your life or around you at that moment, that when you think of them/it, you can't help but smile uncontrollably. If you are lucky, you have an abundance of heart smiles throughout your life.
This week I think I've experienced every emotion in the book and then some. Happy, sad, anxious, mad, frustrated, excited. I've been all over the damn place. But through it all, I've been able to have a heart smile because of the amazing group of people that I've found in the book world. Everyone that I've come in contact with has been helpful, supportive, encouraging, and a blessing to me as I'm trying my damndest to learn the "other" side of writing.
You see, I can write. Finding my words and my stories has never really been an issue, at least not once I figured out the genre I belonged to. But the other side, the publishing side, is just not my thing. I've never been a very business-minded person. I'm not the person to talk to about marketing. (Obviously, otherwise, I would have debuted my books with better covers from the very beginning.)
When I started trying to really market my books, I was lost. Not only was I lost, but I was also unbelievably discouraged. One night I was sitting and scrolling through Instagram lamenting the fact that I had no idea where to begin with the process when a photo came across my feed that stopped my scrolling, instantly.
What was that photo? It was a picture of this insanely sexy guy with a gigantic, black dildo suction cupped to his forehead with a caption along the lines of, "We're bored in lockdown and about to play an epic game of ring toss."
I absolutely lost it. I laughed my ass off. It was just the laugh that I needed, just when I needed it. I immediately started following this guy, who, as it turns out, is a cover model for romance and erotic books. One thing led to another and before I know it, he and I started chatting. It turns out he was the perfect person to get to know.
Since he and I started talking (more than a year ago now), I've started to figure out what to do, where to look, and who to talk to in the book world. And now, in just a matter of days, my first series is going to be re-released with brand new covers that are simply amazing. Just following him and finding other models and photographers to follow has opened doors that I didn't even know to look for.
In fact, he has helped me so much (without even realizing it) that I've decided to put his sexiness on all the covers of my next series. (The first book is already written! Whoo!)
I never would have thought that a crazy-ass guy from Tennessee with an incredible sense of humor would be a heart smile for me, but he is. Wait - does that mean, in a round-about way, that a dildo is a heart smile for me? I bet I can work that in a book.
So, to Matthew, thank you for being a heart smile for me simply by being unapologetically you. I'm looking forward to the day we finally get to meet in person.
(Don't forget to sign up for my mailing list so that you get entered into the drawing for my book giveaway!)
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