When You Wish Upon A Star

"All of our dreams can come true,

if we have the courage to pursue them" - Walt Disney

I have been taking the blogging course "Blogging to Build Brand" by Kristen Lamb and have learned many many things.  One of the things that I have learned is to always be real.  Be yourself.  Be 3-Dimensional.  Involve others, promote others, give thanks. 

I'm here today to do all of that. 

Once in a while, we need to talk about ourselves, giving insight on who we are.  Perhaps a form of a biography.  Writing down 100 individual words that describe me helped so much to figure out what I want to blog about, or directions that I can take it.  I'm random.  I always have been, always will be. 

So, here we are.  You and me.  Bored yet?  I promise you won't be much longer.  Want to know why?  I'm going to tell you a few things about myself and about the people who helped me get where I am.

Let's touch on my first book, "From Hel, With Love".    How did I get started?  D&D.  Yeah, you remember that board game in the early 80's???  Yup, the one that every parent screamed was the Devil's playground along with Metallica?  YES!  I saw that lightbulb ignite!  You know exactly what I'm talking about.  My step-brother had a D&D game night once a week with his friends.  One got grounded, so he asked me to be the Dungeon Master.  Boy, was that a mistake.  I had WAY too much fun creating worlds and scenes for them to play with.  I finally begged to create a character, and thus, Raven was born.

Raven quickly became a household name for me.  I'd come up with adventures for her at his next game night, try and have Raven kick his characters butt.  It kind of got out of hand, Raven was always on top, and he finally got mad and wouldn't let me play any more.  At that point, I decided to write down some adventures, short little stories of her adventures that I didn't want to ever forget. 

BAM!  A dream was born.

The early 90's hit and we all know what became popular then.  V:tM aka Vampire:  the Masquerade.  Toreadors, Ravnos, Brujah.  Raven went from demon to vamp.  It just didn't work.  Raven was so complex that changing her up wouldn't work, so we discovered AOL's Rhy'Din.  Lord have mercy upon anyone who crossed our path. 

I honestly think that is where my writing skills developed to their fullest.  My imagination was running wild, Raven was becoming more than a character, but a part of me and I knew that I needed to tell her story to the world.  How could I not?? 

Another dream was born.  I wanted Raven in print, and her world that I created. 

I wished upon a star.

I've made quite a few friends when I decided to take my dreams to the next level.  I have to give many thanks to Charity Parkerson, Johanna Denton, Amy Lichtenhan, Katie Henson, Joanna Shupe, Amy Gregory, Diane Hattaway and last but not least, Sapphire Star Publishing.

No, no, I'm not forgetting my hubby, Daisy or Sarge.  Not by any means.  They support me in everything I do.  Charity became an immediate friend and helped me with my self esteam with Raven.  She kept pushing me to take chances and because of her, I took the step and spoke with Katie.  Johanna is a sister, already having been a close friend, though we only get to see eachother about twice a year, the texts and calls and emails between us, bouncing idea's off of eachother, I'm sure our hubby's are sick of it.  Amy G .. well.  She's the Thelma to my Louise.  We hit it off immediately, and well, the rest is history.  Amy and Katie are my new family in the publishing world.  These two believe in Raven and I, giving us a chance to shine and become a household name.  Diane.  Well, Diane is a whole new world.  She's helped me more than I can ever say.  Basically has been my personal assistant.  She would spur on my idea's, give me a few to run with and we'd both be scribbling these idea's down on the back of projection schedules, notebooks or napkins.  What fun.

I guess what I'm trying to get out here, is that I have a great family and awesome friends, and without every one of you, I wouldn't have had the dream I had come true, that wishing upon my star would have been just that.  A wish.

Wishes can come true.  I'm living proof of that.

Tell me your dreams and wishes, and let's make them come true.