Samantha Christy's Blog

If you've ever wondered what authors do all day, I'm about to tell you.

Sometimes we do nothing. Literally nothing. Well, okay, maybe we sit around and THINK a lot, but to the onlooker, it seems like a whole lot of nothing.

Sometimes we write zero words. Sometimes we write 10,000 words.

Sometimes we work ten minutes a day, sometimes twenty hours.

Sometimes we read books or watch TV to get inspired. Vacations are good for inspiration, too. I highly recommend those.

For those of us fortunate enough...

As an author, I deal with books. I write books. I read books. I market books. I talk about books. I dream about books. Sometimes I even sleep with books.

So I thought I'd write a blog post that for once, has absolutely nothing to do with books. Okay, starting now, because I know I said books like twenty times. Damn it - okay, staring now.

I have four kids. Of course I think they are the best kids in the whole wide world. They are. No really, just ask their dad ;-) I've never considered myself o...

A lot of stuff is going around lately about so-called 'trigger warnings.'

If you don't know what a trigger warning is, it is something authors may post on their book information page that will advise potential readers of sensitive material contained in a book. This could be anything from cheating to rape.

As an author, my stance is to not provide trigger warnings. Most of my books have a notation that state they contain adult material.

Let me tell you why I'm against trigger warnings. The plain...

Thank you to all who participated. If you didn't win this time, I will for sure have more giveaways in the near future.

Here are the winners of my paperback giveaways on 4/25/2016

If you are a winner, please contact me at samanthachristy@comcast.net with your mailing address.
Books will be mailed out within three weeks. If you have an international address, please allow extra time.


Michelle Tooke - 1st signed copy of Black Roses

Shawna Curtis - Imperfect cover (proof) of Black Roses

Nidhi Agarwal -...

On the 14th anniversary of 9/11, which also happens to  be my son's birthday - my book sales passed the 4,000 mark. I can see it now . . . some of you are rolling your eyes because really, in the overall scheme of things, 4,000 is not a big number considering all of the books out there. But, just a mere eighteen  months ago when I picked up a pen and started writing a story that was bouncing around in my head, I didn't think ten people would ever care to read my book(s), let alone 4...

One of the best things about being a writer is the ability to create entire personas. I get to build a character from scratch. I can pick their personality, their background, their physical features, and their profession. But from the very first characters I ever developed (Brooklyn Vaughn and Nate Riley), to the characters I’ve already picked for my next four books; my favorite part of the character development process has always been naming them.
People ask me how I pick names for my charact...

Yes, you read that correctly, and I'm going through it right now. It's a very real thing . . . for me, anyway. My next stop is Goodreads where I'll find out if any of my author friends experience the same thing.

Did you ever plan a really extravagant vacation? If you have, you'll know what I'm talking about here. You plan for months, maybe even years. You do the research, pick the best locations, look into flights, hotels, or tours (okay, for me it's cruises). You suck your family into the pla...

I wrote this the day I finished my Abstract Love manuscript.
I used to think that writing the first sentence of a book was that moment that one would remember forever. But since I've become a writer myself, I now know that it's the last sentence that ranks right up there, just below the day I got married and the birth of my children. Because that is what completing a book feels like, the birth of a child (on a smaller scale, of course, and usually weighing in at less than a pound). 
That last sentence is what you think about, dream about and obsess over for months and months. It is what drives you to write, what fuels your thoughts and what embodies your dreams. It is such a high. But at the same time, it's bittersweet because now I know the ending. 
At 3:30 today, I wrote the last sentence of my second novel. Fueled by the emotions of a near-tragedy in my own family today, I believe I was able to put those feelings back into my writing and hopefully, I came up with an ending that will make my readers feel that wonderful connection to the characters that writers hope they can convey. I've decided that I could care less if I sell books, I love writing and will continue to do it until someone takes the pen (or keyboard and mouse) out of my cold, dead hands.


     
Me with my youngest baby.

I'm a paid author! 




It only took several months because of the way Amazon pays their royalties, but it's finally here! Okay, so maybe it's just enough to cover my initial publishing expenses like cover art, ink and reams (and reams and reams) of paper -- yes even in this digital age I still have to print out everything I write.

All this time Amazon told me my first check was going to be a paper check and I had it in my head that I was going to frame the damn thing. I didn't even care that...

Many people ask me why I started writing. What's my inspiration.

To be totally honest, it was more a New Year's Resolution than anything. Actually, it was the result of my resolution to make a bucket list. Now, I know I'm still young -- 45 is the new 29, right? So maybe I'm jumping the gun on my bucket list, but being a stay-at-home mom for the past twelve years had me feeling pretty unimportant in the overall scheme of things (okay, SAHMs - don't pulverize me, I know we have the most important job in the world, it just doesn't feel that way most days.)

So, when I started writing -- because if something is #1 on your bucket list, you must do it -- I found myself writing what I call 'Hooverisms.' God, I love to make up words!

My favorite author, my inspiration,  the woman who I want to be my mother in my next life (sorry, Mom), is Colleen Hoover. I can't say enough about her. I even Googled her once (okay, more than once if I'm being completely transparent) and saw a blurb about how she started writing and it felt like I was reading a bio about myself. She could have been me. I could have been her.

Then, right around the time I was publishing my first novel, I read her book, Maybe Someday.
Holy crap!
It knocked the wind right out of me. I loved it. If there is a stronger word than love - that's how much it touched me. I had outlined my second novel, but it was missing something, I just didn't know what until I read her book. Those of you who've read my book, Abstract Love, may pick up on a few similarities (Hooverisms!)
The way her characters spoke was so honest, so open, so real. I changed my entire book to add the one element that gave my characters a better voice than spoken words.

So, even though she will never read this, thanks, Colleen Hoover, for being my inspiration. I can only hope that, maybe someday, I will be someone else's . . .

Oh, wait, I already am! My twelve-year-old daughter is already 20,000 words into her first novel.

So.
Damn.
Proud.