One Year Anniversary.

 To my dearest friends and followers,

I can't believe it's already been a year since I published my book with IngramSpark (May 1st), and almost 1 year since my book became available for purchase (May 29th).

It's been a crazy journey, to say the least. I knew I wanted to be a writer since I was around 12 years old (more than 10 years ago). After having written multiple novellas and short stories and achieving that goal, my next goal was to become a published author. 

So I met with a published author in 2015. I had questions on advice for writing, for writing fiction, and what to expect from the world of publishing. It was her who encouraged me to start a blog and begin talking about what I do...so I took her advice and started this blog, having previously no knowledge of what a blog even was.

Several things I'm extremely grateful for since starting my blog, is building a small following of people interested in what I do and what I'm writing about, and just being a part of a writing community. I've made several friends who are fellow writers, I've completely changed my view of independently published authors (and become one myself), I've joined several writing groups, I've gained so much knowledge about different publishing options and writing as a whole (not to mention sharing my own experience and answering people's questions when I can), and I've gotten so much encouragement about my own writing.

Since starting my blog, I have 147 published posts, I've shared 2 short stories and 1 novella I wrote as a kid, I have a regular following of about 100 weekly readers on my blog, a Twitter account with just over 3,000 followers, and 1 published novel.

It still feels a little surreal that I actually did it - I became a published author. I always knew I would, but still, it's weird sometimes to see my book in stores, both online and brick and mortar. It's a little uncomfortable to have people who've known me my entire life read my book. It's weird to think that someone somewhere, someone I've never met, bought my book.

To celebrate the 1 year anniversary of my book, I am hosting a book giveaway on Twitter (for The Story of Hollyhocks) which you can enter and follow the instructions on the post.

The rules are pretty simple. You have to have a Twitter account to enter, you have to be from the US, and you have to like and retweet the post. I'll be choosing the winner on May 29th by DM. If the winner doesn't respond within 24 hours, I'll choose another winner.

I'm also hosting a giveaway on Instagram, which you can enter if you don't have Twitter (it's the same giveaway, so there's no need to enter both). The same rules apply, except you must have an Instagram account, and like and comment on the post to enter.

If you entered the giveaway, thank you!! And as always, thank you for reading. XD

Yours truly,

Me