Standing behind what you write, even when others think it’s controversial

                        This one is tough for me since I always prided myself on having a thick skin. At first, I was anxious and upset about some refusals to read Choices because of the controversy. To me, my story isn’t controversial. To me, it’s real life, but I understand from a traditional romance reader’s perspective I guess, Choices can be controversial. Some people weren’t interested in reading it due to the adultery factor. I understand that now, but my immediate response was to run and hide and change my story even though, deep down I really didn’t want to, nor did I think I should. It was just going to take time until I found my niche, until I found the right readers where Choices resonated with them. I needed to find readers who were willing to invest their time in a story that wasn’t neat and tidy. Living life and making choices isn’t always neat and tidy, or sweet and nice. It’s not surprising to me to write a story that isn’t neat and tidy as well. Patience was the word of the day, then weeks, then months as I waited to find my niche.

           I wrote a story that was human with human reactions, responses and flawed characters just like real life. There’s also hope and redemption, too, just like real life. I was intimidated at first and thought about changing Choices to please other readers when I realized how ridiculous I was being. To me, writing is also a way to not only express my creativity, but also to get people to think about themselves, or others, or difficult situations. The goal is not only to write a creative story, but to allow the reader to contemplate the situations presented in the book, digest them and then discuss or debate their opinions with others. To me, that’s writing.