The Unexpected

One of the greatest joys in my life, that I never knew existed till recently, is hearing back from people that read my books. When I put out my first series, Safely Begun, I heard a lot of feedback from it. Most of it was word of mouth. My friends read it they said they enjoyed it. Some were even shocked by what I wrote. I didn't really understand the shock from the sex scenes, but to each their own.

I was thrilled to hear that people liked it. But considering most of those people were my friends, I thought it was best to take it will with a grain of salt. After all, Mark Coker warned writers about that very thing in his marketing guide. The people that know us are more likely to be impressed that we wrote anything at all.

But two reviews really struck a chord with me. One was from a stranger, hphsophia on Smashwords about the first book of the trilogy. She wrote, "Jesus H Christ this makes SOG look like Wuthering Heights. Some of the best described scenes I have ever read. And an actual story to boot. Please write more quickly." As soon as I read that I called my mother, all excited. Then I had to explain to her what Shades of Gray was. That was fun. But I was still really excited about it. It was my first stranger review and it was a good one. I was so thrilled that I immediately did what she asked and wrote more quickly.

However it was the second review that really got to me. My friend, Amber, called me up. She had been helping me spread the word about my books. She's awesome like that. One of the women she had told about my books contacted her. She told Amber that she liked the book. A nice pat on the back for me, but nothing too terribly exciting, even if it came from an unbiased person. Amber hadn't told her that she knew the author. But about a week later, the woman's husband called as well. He told her that he didn't know what his wife had been reading, but it had made a huge change for them. In fact, he told Amber, it had probably saved their marriage. I don't know what it was about the story that got to her. But something that I had written had drastically changed the sexual relationship she had with her husband, which was the root of their problem. I had tears in my eyes when I heard about it. And hearing that made me want to write more.

It was one thing to get a review written on a website. But to hear that my story may have saved a marriage... I was in awe. So to those people I did not know, and still don't know, I hope you are doing well. And I hope you have many happy sexy years together. This writer will keep doing what she has been doing, and hoping that more people embrace their own sexual selves. Just keep it safe, sane, and consensual.

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