Avery Maxwell's Blog

What time do they open?" She stares at me blankly for a moment before I get my desired response. The laughter that comes out of her is a sound I've never heard before. It makes me want to do everything in my power to hear that sound again and again. ~Preston

Hey guys! It has been a while since I've written a blog...is that what you call it? Writing a blog? Blogging maybe? Whatever it is, I am committing to doing it better! Well, let's be honest. Remote learning, four kids and a deadline coming up? I'll rephrase. I am committed to TRYING to do better. Phew, have to put that disclaimer out there. LOL

Can we just talk about remote learning for a minute? It is freaking HARD! I'm drowning most days and my kids? Forget it, they are begging to go back to school at this point. To all the Mom's, Dad's, Grandparents, Babysitters, Guardians out there trying to do this shit? You're not alone. It's hard. It's painful. It's wreaking havoc on everyone's mental health. Please, just know you are not alone.

There are some wickedly funny ladies all over Instagram posting video's of what remote learning is really like. I highly suggest you check them out. If nothing else, they will make you feel a little better about yelling "Sit down," four million times in two hours. My favorite right now is Caitlin Murray @Bigtimeadulting She also has a blog www.bigtimeadulting.blog/ I won't lie, I have hidden in my closet with a bottle of wine and laughed until I cried over some of her antics.

Here is deal folks, our world is pretty messed up right now. Laugh when you can!

Okay, so about me. During this quarantine, I have broken my foot, (I hit a mailbox trying to learn how to ride a bike) had surgery (not even on the broken foot! Colon surgery...isn't that some shit?) been stuck in bed for weeks on a liquid diet, (can you say hangry?) played teacher (badly) and am working on Preston's book, Saving His Heart. Somewhere in there, The Beat of My Heart released and guys? It hit all kinds of charts, I just can't thank you enough for that!

One of my favorite reactions I got to Trevor and Julia's story was the immediate outcry from all you readers to "Please don't let Preston die!!!" Now, obviously I cannot tell you the fate of Preston's life. I will, however, tell you I write happily ever afters so whatever happens will be for the greater good of this group of friends we are all falling in love with. You will want tissues for his story as much as he will have you laughing. He is, after all, the self-proclaimed king of one-liners.

One more thing about Preston...His story has gone in a direction no one could have guessed, mainly because it had never occurred to me until I started rewriting it, for the 6th time! You read that correctly; I have rewritten his story 6 freaking times, so I hope it will all finally be worth it when it releases this winter.

I would love to stay in touch with you all! So, please, leave a comment, follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads, Amazon and anywhere else you can find me. Send me a message and I'll do my best to reply. As always, please leave your reviews on Amazon if you have loved the Broken-Hearts Series. Nothing helps an Indie Author more than reviews.

Until next time, I leave you with a picture from one of my and Mr. Maxwell's favorite date nights. A speakeasy in NYC at 3am. What was your favorite date night?

Luvs,

Avery

What time do they open?" She stares at me blankly for a moment before I get my desired response. The laughter that comes out of her is a sound I've never heard before. It makes me want to do everything in my power to hear that sound again and again. ~Preston

Hey guys! It has been a while since I've written a blog...is that what you call it? Writing a blog? Blogging maybe? Whatever it is, I am committing to doing it better! Well, let's be honest. Remote learning, four kids and a deadline coming up? I'll rephrase. I am committed to TRYING to do better. Phew, have to put that disclaimer out there. LOL

Can we just talk about remote learning for a minute? It is freaking HARD! I'm drowning most days and my kids? Forget it, they are begging to go back to school at this point. To all the Mom's, Dad's, Grandparents, Babysitters, Guardians out there trying to do this shit? You're not alone. It's hard. It's painful. It's wreaking havoc on everyone's mental health. Please, just know you are not alone.

There are some wickedly funny ladies all over Instagram posting video's of what remote learning is really like. I highly suggest you check them out. If nothing else, they will make you feel a little better about yelling "Sit down," four million times in two hours. My favorite right now is Caitlin Murray @Bigtimeadulting She also has a blog www.bigtimeadulting.blog/ I won't lie, I have hidden in my closet with a bottle of wine and laughed until I cried over some of her antics.

Here is deal folks, our world is pretty messed up right now. Laugh when you can!

Okay, so about me. During this quarantine, I have broken my foot, (I hit a mailbox trying to learn how to ride a bike) had surgery (not even on the broken foot! Colon surgery...isn't that some shit?) been stuck in bed for weeks on a liquid diet, (can you say hangry?) played teacher (badly) and am working on Preston's book, Saving His Heart. Somewhere in there, The Beat of My Heart released and guys? It hit all kinds of charts, I just can't thank you enough for that!

One of my favorite reactions I got to Trevor and Julia's story was the immediate outcry from all you readers to "Please don't let Preston die!!!" Now, obviously I cannot tell you the fate of Preston's life. I will, however, tell you I write happily ever afters so whatever happens will be for the greater good of this group of friends we are all falling in love with. You will want tissues for his story as much as he will have you laughing. He is, after all, the self-proclaimed king of one-liners.

One more thing about Preston...His story has gone in a direction no one could have guessed, mainly because it had never occurred to me until I started rewriting it, for the 6th time! You read that correctly; I have rewritten his story 6 freaking times, so I hope it will finally be worth it when it releases this winter.

I would love to stay in touch with you all! So, please, leave a comment, follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads, Amazon and anywhere else you can find me. Send me a message and I'll do my best to reply. As always, please leave your reviews on Amazon if you have loved the Broken-Hearts Series. Nothing helps an Indie Author more than reviews.

Until next time, I leave you with a picture from one of my and Mr. Maxwell's favorite date nights. A speakeasy in NYC at 3am. What was your favorite date night?

Luvs,

Avery

As anyone with kids knows, you cannot get shit done with kids around. Trust me, I have four of them. I finally sent them outside for recess and declared school is done for today! I'm sitting in the corner of my family room now staring at the computer screen trying to figure out how the hell I connect MailChimp to my website. Let me just tell you this about myself now, tech is not my forte.

My novel, Cross my Heart, is with the editor right now. That in itself is enough to have me drinking but now I'm learning the business side to writing and to be honest, it kinda sucks. I've never been great at putting myself out there to begin with. Now not only do I have to really put myself out there, but I also have to sell myself.

Sell my brand, everyone keeps telling me. What the hell is my brand? I'm a mom, a wife, a friend, a daughter, a sister, and now a writer. What is my brand? I'm a mom who can't keep up with laundry. I'm a mom who has now been forced to be also a teacher (btw, you should never have to teach your own kids, it just doesn't work for most of us). I'm a wife who falls asleep early or now stays up all hours writing. I'm a friend that will have drive-way drinks with you while maintaining six feet of social distance because let’s face it, quarantine and no social escape is doing a number on my mental health.

My brand, I suppose, is me. My flaws and all. My writing isn't perfect, I have more days of mom guilt than I care to admit, my husband sometimes wishes he could hide and I'm the friend with a shoulder to cry on, even if it's virtually right now.

I'm not sure this brand sells (ha) but I am willing to bet they’re a lot of us out there. The not-so-hot messes, the dreamers, the realists, the happily-ever-after seekers. You are who I write for. I write for those of us that want to believe there is still good in the world and those of us that love every cliched trope, every cheesy line, every bad-boy/good girl scenario because for an hour or two it’s our escape.

I'll sit here until it's time to make dinner (steaks tonight if you're curious) and then once the kids are in bed I'll come back to the screen. I'll sit on the couch with my husband while he binges a show on Netflix, and I'll try desperately to figure out the business side of this new world I've emersed myself in. I might succeed, I might not, and that is okay with me right now. I'm finally doing something for myself and while I sincerely hope you'll all love it as much as I did while writing it, I know this is a tough, tough world.

So while I'm jumping in headfirst off the deep end, you keep being you. We are all in this together whether you're writing a novel like me or sitting on a mountain of laundry (also, like me) just know, your best is always good enough.

I just finished my first novel...eek! The bigger news is I did it without telling a soul. Not until the very last minute, and perhaps a few cocktails. It's a scary thing to put your work out there, especially when it is full of cursing and sex! Ear-muffs!

When I finally got the nerve to send the mass message saying, "Hey, friends, guess what? I just wrote a 90,000+ word contemporary romance novel..." the number one question I got was how? Then it was why?

The answer to both is two-fold. I love staying home with the kids; I have four of them, but let me tell you something. Kids are a lot of freaking work! I have spent my entire adult life caring for other people and when my youngest two started school this year I realized, what had I done for myself? The answer was not much. Many can argue that I'm lucky to stay home with them (I am). Many can say my life has been well spent raising them myself (it has) but at forty years old, I decided I needed something for me!

Oh, yeah, then there was cancer. At 39 I was diagnosed with kidney cancer. The cancer that everyone tells you, "If you have to get cancer, that's the one to get." Well, guess what? If you know someone that gets Kidney cancer, how about you DON'T say that to them, because really, it kind of sucks.

After almost a year of recovery where my husband had to do double duty as full-time bread-winner, nurse and don't forget child provider for four small humans I hadn't been able to do much of anything, except read. And read I did. A lot. I read so many romance novels I probably filled five kindles (if that's even a thing). And guess what I learned? I love funny, sappy, sometimes dirty romantic comedy with lots of curse words I can't say out loud for fear my children will repeat it in church!

Then, we moved to a new state where we started all over and I decided you know what? It is time I do something just for me. And this is it! Here it is, my blog about a novel that may or may not be a success with a little bit of real life throw in!

Cheers to life. Cheers to new adventures. Cheers to just putting your shit out there.

XOXO,s

Avery