Alright, I messed up somehow and got this tour confused with another one. I can't believe I did this and for that I am very sorry. But, I am going to get this posted because I feel so bad for missing it and J.D Watts took time out of her busy schedule to write this beautiful guest post for me and I didn't post it. But here it is now! J. D I am soooo sorry! I feel so bad.
I have to make
an open admission…I owe a lot to Twilight and Stephenie Meyer. Now hold on,
don’t freak out just yet. There are two basic reactions to this statement…1)
you go all fangirl/boy and don’t make it past the first line, or 2) you don’t
want to read anymore because you’re in a Twilight coma between the insanity
over the books and movies, etc…but just hear me out.
Four years ago,
I found myself the Mom of a three year old and a newborn that wanted to eat nonstop.
I was going stir crazy and was sick to death of watching TV. I saw the preview
for the first movie and heard about the popularity of the series, so I decided
to pick up the book and read it. I picked up the second book for good measure
thinking the two of them would probably hold me for a week or more. I tore
through those first books in less than 36 hours and took my kids out in a
rainstorm to pick up the last two books.
The story
haunted me and I had all of these questions about what would happen next and a
few things never addressed in the series that I wondered about. After a couple
of weeks, I discovered this thing called fanfiction. I started writing about
some of my ideas and somehow ended up creating this whole world that followed
up where the series left off. It was rough and messy. It had been years and
years since I had written anything just for fun. So then, when that was done, I
kept going with new stories. I started pulling the characters out of Mrs.
Meyer’s world and throwing them into worlds of my own design, getting more and
more confident with each new accomplishment. By the end of the first year, I
changed the characters so much they really just had a familiar name and
physical characteristics.
I did fanfiction
for almost two years before I got brave and decided to try a story all my own.
No safety net of beloved characters, no world already conveniently at my
disposal if I got stuck. I began to craft a world full of Angels, Fallen
Angels, and Guardians invisible to most and one teenage girl in the midst of it
all who saw everything. It was such a thrill to build this new world from the
ground up into Convergence.
With each book
that has followed, I have learned and grown as a writer and a person, but I
look back and can clearly see that it all began with that first step. A tired,
stressed out mother of a newborn, who needed a break reached out for a book
that stole her imagination. I will be eternally grateful that God placed that
book in my life at that time to guide me to where I am today. My only hope is
that what has followed is worthy of the joy my writing has brought to my life
and pray that someday one my stories might be as popular as the stories that
started it all.
Thanks so much for letting me be part of your tour even though I screwed up! :( Again I am so sorry. I hope you all enjoyed this great guest post and will check out J.D. Watt's amazing books!
