Sit back, relax and let me tell you a little story....

One day in March 2012, I was pregnant with my third child and had two kids ages 2 and under running around. I was tired, grumpy, fat and sick all the damn time. Bored one mundane day, I looked at my Kindle I had gotten for Christmas and I decided to finally browse the book store. Of course, I stumbled upon THE book. Fifty Shades of Grey. It sat there staring at me, taunting me. I decided to quit wondering what everyone was talking about and buy the stinkin thing and see what all the fuss was about. I clicked it. And there it was. How easy was that? I opened it up and started to enter Ana and Christian’s world and that was it for me. I was hooked. I was a junkie looking for my next fix. Day after day I would spend wrapped up in these fictional worlds, never wanting to come out. The mind is a powerful thing especially when it’s wrapped up in fictional land. I was in a sad daze after finishing “50”, But Good Ole Amazon knew I would be addicted so they showed me a little section of “What to read after fifty” I clicked and clicked and clicked. Beautiful Disaster, Love Unscripted and then, Thoughtless etc. I loved getting lost for a while. Forgetting who I was for a minute. Not worrying about bills, the future, planning birthday parties, grocery shopping. All of it. Just for a little bit. Before 50, It had been about 8 years or so since I had read a book, but those Danielle Steel novels never moved me like these books did. These books from countless amazing authors have touched a part of me that I can’t explain. I love reading. I absolutely love that someone has created this “life” that I get to peek into with a front row seat. I never ever envisioned I would write a book. EVER…Never even crossed my mind. One day in August 2012, while reading yet another fabulous book, it punched me in the face. I had countless ideas running through my already crazy racing mind. I wrote about 5k words for about 5 different books but none of them stuck with me and made me want to keep going. Then, one day the idea for Ripping Pages came to me. I had no clue what the heck I was doing, I just did the only thing I knew how to do, Tell a story. I wrote it like I was having coffee with you and telling you this tale. Many MANY times I would read a book while in the middle of trying to figure out exactly how in the heck to finish mine and I would get so discouraged. I felt seriously out of my league. Ok, I still feel out of my league but you get the idea. I only told my immediately family for fear of looking like a complete idiot and failing. On a whim in April 2013, I had only about 20k words down and I decided to make a FB page and see what would happen….I am so amazed at the love and support I received from you all. You helped me keep going when I didn’t know if I could or even if I should anymore. But, I kept trucking on with the encouragement of my posse’ and after 7 long months, Ripping Pages was done. I was in disbelief. It was surreal. Now the question was, what the heck do I do now? Is it even good enough to publish? Will people even give a crap to read it? It’s so crazy and unbelievable to sit here typing this and I can finally say I did it. I published a novel. And whether people love it or hate it, I did it. I accomplished this goal that I didn’t even know I wanted. My one true hope is that Ripping Pages helps you get lost for a while and escape. I hope you really enjoy it!! I love you all so much and I can’t thank you enough for sticking with me even when you didn’t know if I’d actually finish this book. I <3 you all. Every. Single. One. Of. You.