I will never look at my trainers the same way again. It feels as though maybe they should be locked away at night.

That is a serial killer laugh if ever I saw one.

I am very pleased with the design I came up with for my Fire & Ice series. An author started a thread asking about ‘author logos’.

It started me thinking; this could be mine. What do you all think?

I’m me. An everyday person with a life full of family, occasional drama, births, deaths, marriages, and health bombshells.

As an aside, health events are always a bombshell. No one ever sees them coming… those sideswipes that fill your brain with paralysing worry, but I digress… where was I? Success.

I accidentally wrote a book series. Yes, that sounds weird, but it is true. Okay, I was good at English at school. I read my way through my childhood and teenage years, but then nada, just living the mother, family, for three decades. And before you leap out of your seat, I consider raising three children a huge success.

Just as empty nest syndrome loomed on my horizon, a bizarre collision of inspiration and compulsion made me write a short story that refuses to stop growing. It was all consuming, and the feeling of obsession, being driven, was exhausting.

My success is that I managed to pour my heart out onto paper – well, laptop, but you get what I mean.

Now, I hunger for readers and the process of getting their attention is bewildering and complex. So, do I measure my success on the act of writing, or am I a failure unless I attract a fan base?

The elation at getting 5 star reviews certainly settled the anxiety when I put my work – my heart – out there, but if I’m honest, no matter how hard I push that boulder, getting the ball rolling and transforming it into an avalanche of readers – good grief! That’s not just a mixed metaphor, that’s a metaphor crash – erm, as I was saying, getting the ball rolling and transforming it into an avalanche of readers feels impossible.

On that measure, I’m failing, but I’m not giving up.

www.facebook.com/100001952685785/posts/5851022164972815/

Is this a short term fix to getting my books out in Audiobook format I wonder?

Speechify – Audio Text Reader

fb.watch/6cs9GB2v9m/

Sometimes, kindness is a lifesaver and must be celebrated.

twitter.com/vg_stef/status/1402581972191416320