Dream Big 142 Farewell To Thee, 2019...

Twenty-nineteen was an incredible year. In what seemed to be in the blink of an eye, this year has been incredible, surprising, challenging, and yet inspiring. There have been so many things that have happened this year, so much to be thankful for, so many people to thank, and I am so proud of what I have achieved...

Incredible as it was, after almost a nine year wait, Seventh Star Press said yes to my fantasy novel The Amulet of Elements. As many of you well know, getting my book published was a longtime goal of mine, and for it to have finally come true was the best thing ever. I want to thank first Stephen Zimmer, and Holly Marie Phillippe for believing in my words enough to bring me into the SSP family, thank you both so much. I am so grateful to have met you, and so blessed to call you both familia. A lot of work went into the creation and publishing of this novel. Many long hours and months were put into this passion project, Holly worked with me on editing, Stephen formatted the words so beautifully, and there are others whom worked just as hard to bring the book to life. I want to first thank those who worked behind the scenes, the two who worked with me on the blossoming idea of what I envisioned the book to look like, and helped to create the visual heart of it. The Amulet of Elements was created with the four elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, and then fused together with the blood of a unicorn, as it reads in the book, but in reality it was created by Ashley Burt of The Mystic Orb. My vision of the amulet was perfectly replicated, and I couldn’t have been more pleased with how it was made, thank you Ashley. I also wanted the amulet to somehow be on the cover, so the concept art needed to be done next. I was lucky to have been offered the artistic talents of Les Murphy, who stepped up to help me with my vision for how the amulet could be on the cover. After several drawings, and positioning the amulet just right, the style was finally chosen. I was thrilled to see what was in my head on paper, and I want to thank you Les for making that happen. Now that the cover idea had been approved by the powers that be, the next thing was to get that idea in a more permanent image. The universe blessed me yet again, and the art for the cover was born from the very background art that was used for the Book Release Party Poster that was created by the multitalented Randy Humphrey. The poster art was too beautiful not to utilize for the cover, and the only thing it lacked was the amulet. Although we could not use the concept art, I was able to recreate the positioning the amulet was drawn in, and simply took pictures of it. The collaboration between the concept art, and the digital imagery were breathtaking, and I could not be more pleased with the majick that Randy conjured with the cover art. Thank you so much Randy for creating such beautiful art, and not just the cover, but for all of the other promotional art, to include the super cute Baby Yoda memes, you rock sir. Now that the cover art had been approved, it was time to get to the next part of the process, the promoting. The first thing I thought of and planned was getting in motion the book trailer. Although it was not released until after the book came out, it was still a critical, and most important part of getting the book out there. I want to thank Cam Chaney for the wonderful voiceover he did for the video, he nailed the narrative of the blurb which is on the back of the book. His voice helped to bring the book to life, thank you Cam. The book trailer would not have been complete without a beautiful score written, and performed by Gage Sharp, to carry the feeling of the book, a setting of music to use as a portal into the world I had created. I was blown away by the beauty of the music, thank you so much Gage for creating it. The final pieces to this masterpiece was put together by the cover artist, Randy Humphrey. I did mention earlier that he was multitalented, and I was not even kidding. His vision for the art, the characters, and blending the voice over, with the music, were nothing short of the perfection he created, and it was beyond what I had pictured it to be, thank you so much Randy for taking my breath away. I also want to thank everyone who helped me launch the book, and to help me throw a release party to end all release parties. I could not have had the incredible Book Release Party without the help of my friends...A huge thanks to the Open Chord for allowing us to have the party there, and I couldn’t have had it at a better place, thank you... And to my amazingly talented friends: Kris&Ashley, Gage&Ashley, Cris, Buford, Jennifer, Lance, Danny, Raven, Micheal, Doug, Rose, Randy, Les, also Outlander Media Network for capturing the moment, all of our sponsors for their donations, and everyone else who came out to support me on my big day. Thank you all so much, I couldn’t have done this without you! When The Amulet of Elements came out the day before my birthday, it was the most incredible thing aside from having my children that has ever happened to me, and for this dream to have finally come true was the greatest thing to have happened in 2019...

Surprising as it seems, the feeling of finally being a published author took months for it to feel real. I had to pinch myself daily, but the most oddest feeling of all was the fact of how that getting published was just the beginning. The real work was just starting, and promotions was the next big thing. I am a one woman show when it comes to promoting on social media, but I do have help with monitoring my fan pages, and the creation of memes and other promotional means. I want to thank Randy Humphrey for helping me in creating the memes, as well as fitting the cover image into several sizes for my merch. Thank you so much Randy for all of your continued support, and artistic talents. I also want to thank Ashley Burt for creating all of the official Amulet of Elements replicas in which is a lovely pairing with each book. Thank you so much Ashley for the hard work, and talent that you place with creating each individual amulet. I also want to give a huge shoutout to Bob Cassady for working with me in creating the visual promotions, by not only photographing me with the book, but for all of the beautifully added graphic art to make for the best promotional advertising that I have ever thought to do. I am so blessed to have you in my life Bob, thank you for your visual talent, your creative artistic blending of each project that we do, and for all that you do for me. Promoting the book has been a surprising amount of hard work, and I couldn’t have done the street promotions without Les Murphy, who had stepped in to not only be a supportive friend, but as a manager as well. I couldn’t have been booked on the news, or at any other places on my Book Tour. He has not only been a part of this promotional tour, but has kept me on task with everything else that I plan to do, thank you Les for all that you do. The tour could not have been a success without all of the incredible businesses for allowing me to set up and promote my book... A big thanks to: The Other One, The Mystic Orb, Southland Books&Cafe, The Bookcellar, The Black Cat, Mr. K’s in Johnson City, Brickyard Bar&BBQ, and both locations of Half Price Books in Lexington, Kentucky. Thank you all so much for hosting my tour! I also made a few drop in appearances at a few conventions: Imaginarium 2019, Fanboy Expo, and Marble City this year to promote my book, and to meet and great others creatives, and make new friendships. I want to thank everyone out there who purchased a print copy of the book, and those who ordered a digital copy as well, I appreciate each and every one of you who have supported me on this journey, thank you. Surprising how much of a response that I have had of the promotions, and 2019 was just the beginning...

Challenging is not a word that I use lightly. I will not kid myself in saying that this year has not been without its challenges, not only professionally, but personally as well. I have had many losses, and I have had many blessings, but both have almost come together in some way or another. I have lost friendships, some that had ended abruptly, and some that I wasn’t even aware of. In the end I have to mourn them, but still remember the good memories, and the lessons that I had learned from them. The blessings are plenty, they have been beautiful, but yet were still challenging to say the least. No matter what I have faced, I have not done it alone. I have had many friends, and loved ones who have helped me along the way. I have struggled, cried, and fought my own self-doubt in order to do what I dream, and I appreciate everyone who has stood by my side. Challenging being a creative is, but alone in 2019, I have not had to be...

Inspiring as my story sounds, to have finally been able to achieve the biggest dream that I have wanted to happen for almost nine years, it has not been met without the incredible, surprising, most challenging, and inspiring experiences that I have ever had in my life. This year soon to pass has been more than I could have ever hoped for, and for that I have to give credit to all of my friends for helping me to make this happen...

The most inspiring thing of all for me in 2019 has been from my friends, because they have been there to help me always, dream big...