author anniversary

Hello everyone! And Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there! I have been so busy that I forgot that In Love With My Best Friend was released on this day four years ago. That day, I was so proud of myself for doing something that I never imagined doing, and that was publishing a book. Sure, I’ve written books, but I never thought about publishing them. That day still feels like it was yesterday because many of the things that I have experienced then I’m still experiencing now as an author.

After In Love With My Best Friend, several other books were released, including Our Love, and Love Unbroken; but the book that really got me noticed among the romance genre was A Chance At Love. Not only did that book reach #1 in the African-American Women’s Fiction category, but it also became my best-selling book of my career. That story made readers want to read more of my stories, which made me a bit surprised, but also happy, because my dream was coming true.

As time progressed, so has the books that were released. From romance, to new adult, to even urban, I wanted to tackle all of the genres that I were interested in and have even read as a reader. I wanted readers to relate to my stories as I would when I read another author’s work, because that’s what being an author is all about. You want to be able to create a story that not only touches you as the writer, but touch your audience as well.

Throughout my writing journey, I have seen a lot of success, including another #1 best-seller with Trust Me, great series with In Love With My Best Friend,  and Love, Life, & Happiness, signed with an urban publisher, launched several great series that were edge of your seat drama, and even started my own publishing company. There have been a few bumps in the road and probably burnt some bridges with some people, but no matter what, I have learned a lot along the way. I’m still learning to this day, which to me helped me become a better writer. As I look back on everything, I know I have came a long way, and I know there is still some room for improvement. I may not have the recognition as other authors, but I’m still proud of what I have accomplished so far in my career. There may be some things that I wish I could change, but it’s all a learning process.

Now that I have been in the writing business for four years, there are still some things that I want to accomplish, including reaching a bigger audience and writing more books. One of the books that I will be working on will be If It Isn’t Love, which will be a spin-off from the Something Just Ain’t Right series. This will be Lamar and Tamara’s story as readers get to learn more about their relationship. Not only that, but I will be doing a short story involving Hayley and Morgan, which I will probably add to If It Isn’t Love (I’ll keep you all updated on that soon).

Not only that, but I will be doing another spin-off from the Love, Life, & Happiness series involving Cheryl and Marcus as well as write the third book from The Love Chronicles series, How Deep Is Your Love. The third book from The Lost Story will also be released sometime this summer.

I will also continue with my short story, Love. I released the first three chapters last year, but I will relaunch it in the next few weeks with the entire story released on my blog. I think you will love the story of Sophia and Patrick.

One of the things I have always been grateful for is you, the readers. Thank you so much for supporting me and reading my stories. I’m extremely grateful for the readers who have stuck by me and have been a reader since my first story; so for that, I’m thankful and blessed that you all continued to support me.

Again, thank you. 🙂

 

Hi everyone!! Two years ago today, I published my very first book on Amazon, titled In Love With My Best Friend. I was so nervous when it went live, because I didn’t know what to expect and whether readers would like it. After mixed reviews, the story did become popular in it’s own way, which led me to publish other stories, including Our Love, Love Unbroken, A Chance at Love, and others. While I had a few bumps along the way with certain books, along with the backlash and the mixed reviews, I realized that this was something that I wanted to do. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagined that the road I was heading down would determine where I would be today.

Throughout the two years as an author, I have accomplished so much, from writing over 13 books, to signing with a popular publisher, I never thought that I would be fulfilling my dream. I never imagined that I would be interacting with some of the most popular authors in my genre right now or being able to talk to readers through social media. It’s the little things that I appreciate and never gets old for me. I enjoy doing this because this doesn’t feel like a job or a hobby- writing is my passion, and I hope I can continue doing this for as long as I can.

With that being said,  I have to give a huge thank you to you, the readers. You took a chance on me, an unknown author that was trying to make a name for herself. You downloaded my stories and read them and actually enjoyed them! It makes me smile when a reader interacts with me on Facebook or Twitter and say how much they enjoyed the story or how much the story line relate to their lives. You don’t know the feeling it gives me to know how much you all enjoy each of my stories and are eagerly awaiting for more. Believe me, I have a lot of story ideas to give, so there will be more to come! But thank you so much. I truly appreciate the love and support. 🙂

Now, let’s get to the celebration! A couple of months ago, I created a few polls for everyone to vote on. The categories included Favorite Male Character, Favorite Book, and so on. Now, I have the winners for each category! The votes were pretty huge, and even had some close races, especially for the Favorite Male category.

Here are the winners chosen by you, the readers:

Favorite Male Character 

Shawn Walker – Love, Life, & Happiness series 

Favorite Female Character- Tie 

Tia Simmons – In Love With My Best Friend series 

Riana Robertson- Love, Life, & Happiness series 

Favorite Book Couple 

Riana & Shawn- Love, Life, & Happiness series 

Favorite Book

In Love With My Best Friend 

Favorite Series 

Love, Life, & Happiness 

Thank you to everyone who voted! 🙂

There wouldn’t be a celebration without doing a giveaway! Up for grabs is a swag pack with a lot of great goodies:

• Signed paperback book of your choice from my book collection
• 2 bookmarks
• $10 Amazon gift card
• $10 iTunes gift card

 

To enter, click on the Rafflecopter link below and it will take you to the entry page:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/2d93349b8/

 

The giveaway begins now and will end on June 30th.

 

Again, thank you so much for going on this journey with me. I promise you that you all will continue to enjoy the ride as much as I do. Until next time, happy reading! 🙂