Book reviews

I've noticed something about myself recently, something I'd rather not admit to, but something that is part of me nonetheless. The thing I'm referring to is the fact that I am more likely to leave a negative rating than a positive one. It isn't because I don't like books, I'm not the angry book nerd (like the angry Nintendo nerd but for books), I just feel like when I don't enjoy something I am more likely to write about it. Why? Partly because it's boring to write about how much I love a book. Also, I find that I have more to say about something that I DID NOT enjoy. I feel like there are things that I can put my finger on that I didn't enjoy. I just have more to say about something that I did not like. I think most people are like that. If you have a negative experience at a restaurant you are more likely to go on and on about how a waitress spilled a drink on you and how the manager failed to do something about it. I also must admit that I am not good at writing reviews. I'm better at talking about something that I liked in a group of people who also read/watched/played. I want to write more reviews in the future (honest ones, I won't give a positive or negative for no reason). I know authors need reviews to bring in readers so I will try to set aside time in the future to write reviews (and take notes while I am reading the book, like I used to do).

My history with reading

I've written a lot about my history with writing, but I don't think I've ever said anything about my love for reading. I've talked about certain books that I've read, but I believe everyone has a story behind why they love reading. My story actually started before I learned to read. My parents used to read me the Bernstein Bears at night before I went to sleep. I don't remember those stories much, but I do hope one day that I'll have a child of my own to share those stories with. As I got older I noticed that the other children at my school didn't like to read. Reading was something the teacher told us to do, not something to do for fun. I ended up falling in love with the TV show Ghost Writer and reading even though it wasn't cool. The town soon built a brand new library and I got a library card, which was a big deal for me since it was my first one. I remember spending a lot of my time devouring the Goosebumps series and I moved on to Fear Street when I was a little older (I can't wait for the movie). In high school I read Carrie, which lead me to have a love/hate relationship with Stephan King's books. I also started spending my lunches in the library to read (I read things like Speak and Smack). The school gave us a 15 minute silent reading period where I ended up reading a lot of books. As a young adult I started going into the Barnes and Noble chat room and I ended up meeting an author who was not yet published but was about to release her first book. She went on to become one of my favorite authors (I'm scared to say her name because of recent events, but she's an awesome person). She was the first author I ever really followed and I still follow her to this day. She introduced me to the urban fantasy and paranormal romance world, which became my go to genre for a good book. In 2015 my reading life took a hit that it hasn't quite recovered from. I had access to a big library and I would go every week, but I also had a boyfriend who couldn't bare for me to be in the other room. I don't want to talk much about that time in my life, but it wasn't great. I ended up giving up both reading and writing, which caused my work to suffer. I'm currently trying to get back into reading and considering doing writing prompts every day to start my day. I've found that I have problems finishing a book now. I have finished a handful of books lately, but it's nothing compared to the way I used to read. I used to finish at least one book a week and now I barely read past the first chapter. Anyway, I hope to bring myself back to the place I had been before with my reading.

Negative Reviews

Recently I wrote a post about someone using the hurricane to sell books. I also posted a negative review of that book, which I shouldn't have since I hadn't read the book. I admit that I was wrong by doing so, but I am not wrong for thinking it was insensitive to use the hurricane to promote the book. What was wrong with just saying something like: check out this cool book by my buddy? Recently, the author has made several posts firing up her fans and sending them in my direction. They have sent me insulting messages and comments (very few of which I have read, I mostly just delete them). I have responded to a few, the ones who did not leave insults. Her fans (mostly women in their fifties and sixties who don't seem to have jobs or things to do other than comment all day) started by leaving me comments bashing me for anything and everything they could. They moved on to visiting my other social media, my author page, my twitter, blog, etc. Recently they have started leaving negative reviews for my book, Zombie Bite (which is a horror and not an urban fantasy). One person out of all of those negative reviews read the book and said that there is a passage in the book where the main character talks about how she is reminded of driving through New Orleans after Katrina. The reader claims that she believes I used the hurricane to sell books. I never used the hurricane to sell a book, I simply gave the character a backstory. She had survived Katrina, which did not cause zombies to roam the earth. I'm sure there are tons of books that mention Katrina. Characters are like people and each person goes through different things. I will admit that I am not a fan of Zombie Bite, and was considering taking it down and maybe reworking it. I wrote that book, short story or whatever you want to call it when I was going through a rough time in my life and I don't think that it portrays my best work. I actually hadn't written for a long time when I started working on Zombie Bite again and I rushed it out. I needed something to do to busy myself at the time I wrote that and it was kind of my crutch. Zombie Bite helped me feel better, but I do regret releasing it. It wasn't ready and maybe it never would have been. I stopped working on Hair of The Wolf for that reason. I hadn't outlined it and I felt that it deserved better. I put some distance between myself and it but I will be going back to it. I'm almost ready to release The Fortune Teller's Gift, something I actually worked very hard on. I outlined and edited it. It's something I'm actually proud of, which I couldn't say for Zombie Bite. I have expressed my feelings about Zombie Bite in the past, and I'm still not sure what to do with it. I just don't want my future novels to get hatred because of something that was just a misunderstanding. I never wanted tons of comments and negative reviews, I never wanted people trying to ruin my future career. I have wanted to be a writer for as long as I could write and these people think it's okay to ruin that. I want to make it very clear that I have never bashed the author, the only thing I had an issue with was her promotion and the fact that she is sending her fans after me. I tend not to review things, unless I do not like them, but I will be making a point to write a few reviews today on books that I have truly enjoyed. I also want to note that most of these people probably wouldn't have picked up The Fortune Teller's Gift anyway.

The Retail Client Handbook

Writing fiction is my goal in life, it's something I've wanted to do since I could hold a pencil, but right now I am working in commissioned retail sales. The place where I work doesn't provide client books or online tools to help us. I decided it would be best to create my own to bring in returning customers, but I knew that I couldn't be the only one who felt the need for this item, so I made a book that I think could help a lot of people with their sales and bringing in returning customers. You can purchase it by clicking here!