Since publishing Until Alex last week, I have been taken aback by the kind words that have come from readers who have read my book. When you write something, especially me who doesn't let anyone read what I'm working on, you have no idea how the characters, circumstances, and story will resonate with readers. It has been truly amazing to receive so much positive feedback. 

Now...I read a lot (at least I do when I'm not writing). So I know good writing. I also know books that are award worthy. Mine is not that. It was never intended to be. It was intended to be a fun read-okay so maybe there's lots of angst-but there is a HEA and closure for Alex and Hayden who suffered so much. That is all I set out to do. Tell a story the way I would like to read one.

There are definitely two things I have learned from putting my work out there:

ONE: I am stronger and can take criticism better than I ever thought possible. Sure it hurts when first reading a negative review, but I get it. I don't love every book I read. It doesn't mean the author did anything wrong. Something along the way just didn't work for me. So while I would love for everyone to love my story, I know that is impossible, and it's okay.

TWO: Reviewers and bloggers are amazing with a capital A. They spread the word and are your champions when they don't even know you. So many people have taken the time to read and review Until Alex, which means they've invested hours into my story. I know everyone has lives, family, work, etc. So the feeling I get from knowing these wonderful people set aside time for my story, is indescribable. I am indebted to everyone who read it and spread the word about it. 

I appreciate the opportunity to get my story out there more than I could ever put into words--ironically enough:-) So thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

So I set a goal and I achieved it! I put Until Alex out on Goodreads today and hopefully people will like the blurb, which took forever to get just right-and even still I'm not sure I love it. And hopefully they'll like the cover. LJ at Mayhem Cover Creations did an amazing job with it! I know I've said it before, but I really feel like the essence of the story is captured by the cover models--the angst, the love, the guilt, the confusion. 

Step one in getting Until Alex out there for all to read is putting it on Goodreads. That's my task this week. Hopefully, once it's up, people will mark it To Read. My next step is emailing bloggers who I follow on Goodreads, and whose opinions I respect and oftentimes lead me to read a book, in hopes that they'll review it. Keeping my fingers crossed!

So I finally have exactly what I want on the cover. LJ at Mayhem Cover Creations was awesome to work with. She had revisions back to me within a day, and when I wasn't satisfied with how much of "Hayden" was showing, she gave me a little more and then a little more and then a little more until I was completely happy. When I worried I was being too picky, she eased my mind and offered to make even more revisions if I had any. I would absolutely recommend her work and will be in touch when my second novel comes out for sure.

So I'm in the middle of editing, and I need a break. Since I looked up what Hayden's heart and dagger tattoo might actually look like(after I'd already written about it), I tried to find what I envisioned his angel tattoo to look like. 

These images were as close to what I envisioned as I could find. Now I know in the novel his tattoo took a single afternoon, so some of the more intricate ones here would have taken much more time and more than one visit. I just thought it would be fun to check them out.

In my head I thought I knew what Hayden's tattoo looked like.  But when I began looking through images, nothing I found was what I had envisioned. I thought I'd post some actual tattoos that might resemble some aspects of his tattoo.

I follow some really great blogs and wanted to share some of them.  Please know these are just a few. For many more, please check out my Goodreads page  https://www.goodreads.com/jnathan