And things just got creepy

Riddle me this, why can we not thank people anymore without the conversation to turn creepy? What kind of things make a conversation creepy? Here's one:

Person says "Mornin. I'm a new fan."
As an author I think this is awesome. So this is my typical response: "Thank you :) "
Now, please tell me if this is weird? All I did was thank the person. Because I'm really grateful for all my friends. What I'm not cool with is what happens next.
Person asks, "And your only 17?"

I realize not everyone is a super grammar snob in which I'm not cause I can over look the fact they use the wrong you're. My problem is the fact this person is asking about my age. Why would you want to know if I was ONLY 17? But to solve this question is No, I'm not 17 and haven't been for a while. This however makes me think of the worst in a person. Like the creepy people I protect my kids from.

Sorry if it sounds like I'm ranting here but I have to. I want to thank fans. I want to enjoy messages from fans not flag, or keep people from me. But I must protect my family and friends. Am I wrong here?

How would you deal?

Excerpt

Bryce releases February 23, 2016. Yes 19 days away! Wahooo. You can preorder you copy right now Here.

So while I am finishing up the final touches on Graham. Here is a small snippet of Bryce.

I’m half-tempted to drop this box and tell her good, because I don’t want to fucking help. But I catch the sad glimmer in her eyes, and damn it, it ceases all my asshole retorts. “Look. It’s clear neither of us want to be here. Let’s just get this done as quick as possible, and we can go back to doing what we love to do best.”

She stares blankly up at me.

“Ignoring each other, Smalls.”

“Okay.”

We get back to work quietly. As we head out of the basement with the boxes, I decide to try and be nice, like Graham suggested. I’ve got a feeling we’re going to be stuck with each other a lot if he’s making headway with her cousin. “So, what’s up with the ‘no one in your room’ policy? Got some secrets in there?”

“Everyone has secrets,” she shoots back.

I chuckle. “Ain’t that the truth. But you, Miss Goody Two-shoes, don’t have dark secrets. Bet your room is a picture-perfect, princess pink.” I nudge her.

She enters a room off to the right, and I follow. My jaw almost hits the floor. Her walls are not pink, they’re white. The way she kept her room off-limits, I expected shirtless guy models posted all over her walls. But there is none of that in here, just paintings. Lots of different paintings.

Feel this

This whole you only have so many hours in a day and need so much sleep to function correctly is well ... tough sometimes. Life is always changing. Kids get sick and now you have to leave work early in order to get them. Hey, what the heck can you do? Sit around and cry about it or just deal with it and move on? Life happens.

As my cover reveal for Bryce is looming near, I'm excited and overly nervous. Nervous because I LOVE this book. I seriously never had so much fun writing. These characters cracked me up. Literally I was at the computer laughing while typing. Possibly looking really really crazy but it happens. But that's not what I love most. What really got me was the feel of this. The life part of the book that was well, fun. That's why we read right? To find ourselves into someone else's life story. Cheering for them. Crying with them. Yes Feelings.

Anyways I hope you love the little snippet I left from Bryce at the bottom of this. Currently finishing up book #2 Graham again really loving these characters. Fun witty characters are always a blast to write. Back to writing and in my editing cave.

I glare out my window at her house. Graham sighs. “Oh, come on. That was kind of funny. You know she’s just getting back at you for the wet T-shirt bullshit you pulled on her at Greg’s party.”

Okay, in all fairness, that was a dick move on my part. But I’m an asshole. Everyone who knows me knows this, especially Madison. I’m not going to apologize for being me. She was wearing a white T-shirt, and I happened to stumble upon some water balloons. So, I may have run up to Greg’s balcony with a bowl of filled balloons and waited for Madison to come into view. Then I launched them in a way that got her T-shirt soaked, revealing the parts she always keeps hidden. Literally, the girl goes swimming in dark shirts.

I’m a guy. We like boobs and ass. Sorry, ladies, if this offends. Some of us aren’t as open about it. Those of us who are are pigs. We know this. We just don’t care.

Anyway, Madison’s sharp green eyes found me through the laughing crowd, and she made the slit-your-throat sign at me. Pissed off, raging mad, and blushing red, Madison is actually really hot. That’s probably why I love tormenting her so much. Plus, it amuses me.

Being an author

You want to be an author, fantastic. You're taking the serious steps of getting your book published this means you've stepped out of the "This is a hobby" to "This is a job" stage.

Wait, this is a job?

Yes, this is a job. Welcome to the hard road and dedication it will take to get you through this. Trust me, you'll need it.

Over the months you might spend your time trying to create the most wonderful one of a kind masterpieces. You might even be a closet writer like I was for a long time. People would ask, "What are you doing?" I'd freak-out shut down my word and say, "Nothing." Because at the time I was completely scared that my work sucked. But eventually, very slowly I might add, I began to share. Bit by bit. It's a process, and again, eventually you'll share.

Next comes the figuring out your path. I tried the agent thing first and I ended up with the wrong one the first time around. This happens. Sometimes no matter the research sometimes you just end up with the wrong agent. The good thing about this possibly painful realization is that you know now what you need and are looking for. Hopefully, you find it. I didn't search for an agent until after I published my second novel through Swoon Romance.

Yes, I went the Indie route, and you know what? I love it. I can honestly say I've grown and have learned more going this route than trying to do things myself. Or trying to find a place for my works in the world. Is it for everyone? Probably not. Some people are happy with self publishing and you know what? Good for you. I'm glad. It doesn't make this person any less of an author than me. If you think differently then ok, but let me ask you this, if a person is selling his or her books whether or not online or in stores does this not make them an author? Let me ask another question, did this person write a novella or a full length novel? Then wouldn't this make them an author if their work went from being an MS to being sold?


Point is don't judge people by what form of publishing route they take. Agent or unagented. Self-published, Indie, or Traditional. If their books are out there they are an author.

Happy writing.

Update

Hello Wonders!

Exciting news. I just returned from NYC, and I met a whole lot of wonderful fans, readers, and I was just so excited to be around all of you! YAY! I'm almost finished with my latest project which I am sooooooo excited about I actually am literally at the edge of my seat waiting to share.

Before I get too far ahead of myself ... I want to say my wonderful agent told me that she's pitching my other project Runaways so fingers crossed and YAY! So excited about that too. That's most of my updates. I am going to go write and finish up some work and I will post again later.

Happy reading

Oh for the ...

HA! I wrote this post. Thought it saved. Turned out only a sentence saved. Everything else was lost. UGH.

Okay restarting: I apologize for being away for so long. Here is the latest updates.

Rival Dreams is in Editorial YAY!

Runaways is Finished and with my Agent! (Double Yay!)

Current writing projects: Scandal Life, My Summer of Boys, and Things We Shouldn't Do.

Scandal Life- On pace to be finished in June

My Summer of Boys- On pace to be finished in September

Things We Shouldn't Do- On pace to be finished in December


This is my crazy writing schedule. Outline. It's wonderful. I never use to before but now it comes easier when I do.

That's all my writing updates. Now, let me talk about on the personal front. I'm excited about my trip to NYC this year. BEA and BookCon is going to be great! I hope to have Scandal Life finished before my trip, but it probably won't be so ... that's why I say June for that one. :)

Happy reading and writing!

Review/rate/star away

As an author, there are things we must and mustn't do. 

Do tell readers how much you like them.

Don't tell people who gave you a bad review how much they may suck.

While I am talking about reviews, what do you consider a bad review? Here is what I think a bad review is: 0-1 star, yeah, that's bad. 2-3 is average but not BAD. 4-5 is great!

So when I see on Goodreads lots of 3-4-5 star ratings and a few 1-2 that tells me the book is good or decent. Now, if it has a lot of 1-2 star ratings and very little 3-5 star ratings that tells me the book is not so hot.

This seems logic right? 

The problem with this though, is sometimes Authors tend to look at only the bad reviews and focus on this. Only this. And they really shouldn't. What? Yes, I mean what I said. Don't focus on the three or five bad reviews out of 200. Seriously, what does that matter? 

The only thing this tells you is that 195 or more people think your book is Amazing! 3 to 5 people don't. Wow. 

How about these odds, there are over a billion people in the world. There is one person out of a billion that doesn't care for your book. Wow, again, wow. 

So, let me ask you this, why are you focused on the negative review? 1 out of a billion. Odds don't seem so terrible now do they? That review isn't that scary now is it?