B is for Believing... Day 2 of the A to Z challenge...

B is for believing! It's important to believe in your ideas even when others try and encourage you to walk away from them. Sometimes the discouragement you hear is the fear others own regarding the goals they have set for their lives. Its sort of like that old saying, “Misery loves company.” Some people love to snatch your dreams since they haven’t breathed any life into their own…

When you have dreams that have been lying dormant because life got in the way, they are still within reach. They continue to live inside of you waiting for the right moment for you to focus on them. Believing allows you to create the impossible making extraordinary things quite possible. 

When you wake up everyday put your dreams into action. Don’t just sit at home thinking about what could be, when you could be out doing what you have dreamt for you. Never give up on your dreams…

Believe that you can do anything because you really can!

The A to Z Challenge for April. We begin with the letter A...

Answering the call from my dreams that have lived inside of my heart and mind has been the easy part. Bringing them to life while being patient has been extremely difficult. Basically I am poised, and ready to move into the next chapter of my life when that chapter hasn’t even clearly opened up for me. Sigh. I have to wait.

I have to continually remind myself to be patient. Rome wasn’t built in a day. They say. And you have to crawl before you can walk. That makes sense. Creating a clear cut marketing plan for successfully introducing BrookLyn’s Journey to young adult readers, has been helpful since it’s somewhat of a distraction from my intense desire to have my book finished. 

Note to self: continue working with the editor, and book cover designer to create a successful project. I did my part by answering the call, and now things will all fall into place. Now, back to my marketing plan and my quest for patience…

Writing under a pen name...

A lot of things are going on right now so I haven’t posted in a bit. I am in the process of getting my YA LGBT book edited. We are also working on book cover ideas. I feel a dance coming on as I think about it, but instead I'll keep writing. It doesn't mean that I won't dance. It just means that I'm not in the right place to dance right now.

I am very excited about bringing my character BrookLyn Scott to life. I will be writing my LGBT fiction under the pen name Coffey Brown. I have no idea why I selected that name. There's no great story to go with it except that I wanted something that wasn't common for the first name. Brown sort of just went with it. Yeah, that's it. LOL!

My YA and adult fiction that aren't LGBT, and my motivational or inspirational books won't be under a pen name. My goal is to acquire readers and not confuse them along the way. Isn't that only fair? That’s the only reason I chose to write under two different names. It makes sense to me so I hope that it makes sense to you.

I have a new blog being developed for BrookLyn's Journey. That will be where the excerpts and giveaways will be. Right now it's called Coffey Brown Books and it’s on WordPress. Stop by and enjoy!

Dreams remain daydreams when we don't put in the work. I was tired of daydreaming so I put in the work to bring my dreams to life!

And now the book cover idea…

The characters come easy. The words come easy sometimes, and the title comes before the words. So… why am I struggling with the cover? I wonder if it’s because I want it to be eye catching and pop off of the page. I know that I love to look at book covers and must admit that a bad one turns me off quickly. I know we aren’t supposed to judge people or books by the cover, but we do.

I have a few ideas floating around in my head and am getting a headache from trying to figure it out. Do I use a person on the cover, or a drawing, or an inanimate object? I am not really sure but I have been searching the internet for ideas.

I see some covers in traditional bookstores or online, and wonder why the author selected that font or color scheme. It might not appeal to me, and it makes me wonder if it appeals to others when the colors look sort of drab, and uninviting. Then I see other covers and am thrilled with how amazing they are. I want the latter for all of my books.  Maybe if I stop trying so hard, an idea will come to me. I am really not sure but I might give it a try. Well… at least until I start thinking about it again.

I am so excited to bring my character BrookLyn Scott to life. I changed her last name, and now the book is called BrookLyn’s Journey. I am happy that my dreams are coming to life, and look forward to seeing the book cover. If I don’t come up with something soon, I will be looking for help from my friends… Yes, that means you!

The next step on my publishing journey is HERE!!

The decision has been made and I have chosen an editor. I mentioned having one before but things weren’t official. Now things are official. I am beyond excited and look forward to working with Lisa Martinez. This means the world to me simply because my dreams are coming into view. I have faith. I own faith. So, I knew it was going to be. Now that efforts are being made to prepare my manuscript for publication I am ecstatic. This step takes my faith to an entirely different level.

I spend my day making every effort to encourage people to work toward their dreams. I try to encourage the hopeless and remind them to knock their fears down with their efforts to succeed in whatever they desire. I am excited about God blessing me with good people in my writing circle. I’ve connected with people that take the time out to help aspiring authors. They have directed me to where I need to be to get my dreams realized. I will definitely pay it forward.

So… I am on this journey that has taken another turn towards my dreams becoming realized and this ride is unbelievable. I can't imagine what I will feel like once the book is edited, the cover is completed, and it is ready to be shared with the young adult population that it was written for. [insert woo-hoo here!]

I will keep you posted. Happy writing!