The life of an author...

When someone asks you for an interview, I become very defensive. I don't do them. And if one person gets one from me, don't expect the answers you would receive from someone else trying to make themselves look more than what they are.

I had an encounter. I will not mention names at this moment. But, I asked questions. Well I asked one. I repeated the question over and over and over and over (you get the point), and they never answered it. When becoming successful, you have to be careful on who your friends are.

My freelancer had this friend. At the time, I had no pictures of myself up. I rarely have pictures of myself up. I don't like my picture being taken. I am vague on where I live. I am vague on everything. And, for a very great reason. I write for fun. I have a small fan base of readers who love my writing. I don't care about anything more. I'm happy. I don't write for the money.

Back to her friend, because I had no pictures up, she (the friend) wanted to be my PR person. She demanded that I pay her $65K up front. So she could quit her job, pay off her condo, and buy a new car. Umm, *scratches my head* I don't even make that a year. I don't even make a quarter of that a year. She began explaining when the books took off she would accept awards on my behalf. (Umm, no that's what I have a publisher for) She didn't like that. She, in return, started telling everyone that she was me. Well, I didn't have any pictures up, so they believed her.

She got a DUI, and Tracy helped her out. She drove out of her way to pick her, to drive her to work (two towns over). This continued for about a week. She asked her for gas money. She said she was buying her a dollar coffee in the morning and wasn't that good enough? Then she said she would put gas in her car (with no plates). Can you see where I'm going with this?

One could only take so much of being used and abused before saying: forget it - and cut all losses. (I don't blame her.)

In which she did exactly that. She lost a months worth of work and whatever little she had saved up, was gone. She went to harass my publisher at the time. She continued to harass me and everyone else. Whatever. She left horrible reviews. Which, is really funny because the reviews she left were for books not even released yet. Then, when I called her out on it, and got the reviews deleted, she would create fake name after fake name. She still does to this day.

Every few months or so, she'll try to come into my life and destroy it. Again, whatever. I didn't tell her the truth about everything. She can say whatever she wants. Who is going to have respect for someone who has to create fake names all over the place and leave un-honest reviews? It doesn't bother anyone who knows us either. They get a kick out if it.

She's not only a liar, but has way too much time on her hands. Would you go out of your way to create a fake account and try to destroy another? Or, do you have a life of your own?

She even went as far as to "pretend" to be a guy and say she contacted my previous publishers and was working with them. Again, I don't care. She then even went onto my like page and started trashing fans. Really? You have nothing better else to do with your time or life? That you need to follow mine? What you do is not a reflection upon me, it's a reflection upon you. How you conduct yourself, is showing the world what type of person you are.

That's fine you can bad mouth me. It only makes people want to look at me even more. That's fine you can leave bad reviews. People will know they are fake. So whenever you open your mouth, no one will believe a word that comes out of it. You are not hurting me. You are helping me and thank you. You are hurting yourself.

So what if you don't like my work? I don't care. Not everyone does. But, there are people who do. Because you come to points in your life to where it sucks, when you trash on another, Karma is a bitch. Future employers do look at what their employees do on the Internet. Background checks aren't hard to see what's associated with what.

More importantly, who the fuck cares what another person is doing? Are you that bored with your life that you need to meddle in anothers? I don't care what anyone else does. It's their life - not mine. When I say "Life" is my inspiration, it's people like you who give me the stories to write. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. That is fine. I welcome opinions. However, you make others want to defend their own opinions and make you see that you are wrong. Thank you. You may think something doesn't exist, that is fine. But, how do you know? Were you there? No. So, how are you one to comment? You may believe what you want to believe.

If you don't know the truth, don't claim that you do. You may think you do, but remember this...
I say and do everything for a reason. I will call you out when I know something isn't right. I ask specific questions. When it's never answered, or you divert away from it, yeah, that's a reflection upon you.

The reason I am where I am today, is because I have concentrated on my own life. I'm not meddling in others where I don't belong. I have never stated anything other than the truth. I have never stated anything other than facts. I never stated that everyone will love my books. I know some if not most will hate my books. That's fine. That's okay.

I can look at myself in the mirror and not hate myself. I can sleep (peacefully) at night. I can wake up in the morning with a smile. Yeah, you may wake up with a smile, in how to hurt someone for that day. I wake up in the morning and think of how I am going to better my life. I better myself without bringing down others. That's a real character of a person.

For those that become defensive over this, shows you are the guilty ones. For, I have not mentioned names. Long story short, my first book of Hidden Destiny is ghostwritten by my freelancer Tracy Adams. I tweaked the book and wrote the next eleven. I asked Tracy to step in on several occasions on behalf of myself. She made a lot of people think it was her (Tracy), really me (Lily). I have great friends and support behind me. I am sorry in having people think that she was me. But, I wanted to remain behind the scenes and write. For those who personally know me, knows why I did what I did.

I will say you will know who the troll/hater is by their review. They will diss me, the author, more than the book. They will say the book is pure fiction and everything is made up. (Find the irony there?) They will think they are revealing information. I am telling you right now, book one was ghostwritten. I tweeked it and wrote the remaining part of the saga.

Short Story

My husband and I are getting a divorce.
I was being nice in letting him keep the house since his girlfriend's lease was expiring.
I moved out and my lawyer called the house, one, twice, three, sometimes four times a day. Certified mail was even sent on more than one occasion. I even tried. Each time, we kept getting his girlfriend. Now, according to the law, only the person who is listed are we allowed to discuss this legal matter with. We told her the urgency of him contacting one of us.
Days went into weeks into months. No call back from my husband.
Found out through the grapevine, they had been planning this extravagant wedding. So, we really put pressure on her that her soon to be husband had to contact one of us.
Again, no word.
I got all dolled up and looked my best. It was a wedding of course. I couldn't go in jeans and a worn t-shirt. I walked up to the church and I knew she would be busy, I hunted for him. His family who never liked me escorted me out. I strongly hinted that I needed to finish a legal matter. They said it could wait until after the wedding. They threatened to call the police. Hmm. Tough call. Since, he was committing a crime as well, this was a hard choice. I weighed my options.
I had two options.
Option 1 - I could have gotten dolled up for no reason and let them carry on with their wedding.
Option 2 - I could be determined. Since their marriage wouldn't mean a thing until he signed papers.
I chose the latter of the two. After all, I didn't want them to ruin their big deal over a technicality.
I snuck back in and took a seat. The place was so beautiful, any hillbilly would have tears in their eyes.
I sat back, quiet. No one really noticed I was there. Again, a very beautiful wedding. The Dollar Store would had been so proud in how their decorations were used.
The Priest asked, "Does anyone object..."
I raised my hand. "I do!"
Oh, yeah, I got a lot of glares. I stood up and walked toward the altar. I couldn't contain my smile. I really don't remember what the Priest had said. But, his lovely bride to be turned full around and came charging at me. Poor thing didn't make it two steps when she fell flat on her face. Poor thing, they should have had red somewhere in their decorations. She busted her nose wide open. Picking herself up, she ran down the aisle and I don't know where.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
"I thought you would thank me?" I asked, condescending.
"What the fuck do you mean?"
"You're about to commit a crime."
"No, I'm not!"
"Well, since you are still my husband, LEGALLY, and it is a crime to have more than one wife," I explained.
His look said it all and it was worth it.
"Now," I said, handing the divorce papers over. "Here's where you sign," I said, pointing.
"What the last page?" he asked.
"My lawyers bill," I answered. "You'll see how many times we've been trying to reach you. By phone and mail."
"I didn't get anything!" he cried.
"No, but your soon to be bride did. She answered each one," I quoted.
"This couldn't have waited?" he hissed, signing.
"Now, when you say, 'I do', it'll be legal."
"You're a bitch!" his brother snorted.
"I may be. I would rather be a bitch than a liar," I said, calmly. After I made sure the papers were signed correctly, I held them up. "Thank you and all a good day."
Before completely leaving, I turned around. "You may resume. I have no further objections."
I walked out of the church proud of myself that I didn't let my 'now' ex-husband commit a crime. Now, how many ex-wives do you know that are that nice?

Moral of the story? Don't touch the handle of a frying pan that's been simmering.

So, I read a great blog...

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/the-five-mistakes-killing-self-published-authors/#comment-64127

Everyone who knows me, I don't read many blogs. I don't read much on the internet. She brought up great points that I have and still stress to everyone about.

The first one - eh, not so much. But, the others, take a gander inside and if you are rolling your eyes, read it again. And again.

What makes a story?
I don't know. That's the honest truth. Everyone has their on taste. Do I want to read about vampires all the time? No, not really. So, if a new vampire genre comes out, it's not going to grab my attention. The only and I mean only crediting. I will give Twlight, is the take on revolution. Can vampires possibly withstand the sun? Possible. Not likely, but possible. I don't buy the fact they glitter. Nice touch, but we couldn't come up with something more believable?

Does it have to have a beginning? I don't know. When you start reading, is that the beginning? Or does the beginning come later? Like in Star Wars?

Does it have to have a middle? Sure.

Does it have to have an end? I don't know. Define an end. Is it left open to where another one could be made? Is it left open to the readers imaginations?

Which lets get to that. It doesn't seem like readers have much of an imagination. They want everything spelled out for them. There are so many dos and don'ts in the writing world. I look at the writing world, like law. It's not always going to make sense and it's not always going to be right.

I love writing for fun. Does it go against the writing "laws"? Possibly and probably. But, I have not one, but several fans who love my writing. And, to me, I have succeeded in writing. I don't care about having a huge fan base. I'm tired of hearing those who want to retire off their writing. If it was that easy, everyone would be doing it.

Everyone is self publishing and thinking that their one book will be seen. Writing is like applying for a job. Would you hand in a resume full of spelling errors? No. How many failures do you have to have before you succeed? Maybe writing isn't for you. So what. I never once thought that I would get into writing. In fact, out of all the works I wrote before, I hated to sit down and tell a story. Now, I love it. I always thought that I would go into sales. I was great at it. I made money, but it didn't make me happy. I make no money and I'm happy. So which side won?

There are so many dos and don'ts. I don't listen to a single one. If my reader can't get into my story, that story isn't for them. The story may downright suck. The story may not have what the reader is looking for.

Let me ask you a question - Why did you read Twilight? Was it before or after the movies were released? Same with Harry Potter?

I also hear so many times, I want to write another story... Okay? So go and do it. There are no excuses. If you want to, it's a hobby, you'll find time for it. If you make it a business, there are pros and cons. How much are you willing to devote and make it into what you believe it should be? I believe it's a business. I spend more time in my writing and getting to know my readers than anything else.

Do I have sleepless nights? Hell yes I do and lots of them.
Do I have struggles and writerblock? Yes!!!! And lots of them.
Do I people wanting to set me back? Called trolls and haters and I have more than I have ever had in my life.

I don't let that stop me or deter me. They inspire me to do what they could only dream to do. I am not where I want to be, but I am exactly where I'm supposed to be.

You may be wondering if I can write so much, why don't I have more books available for sale? Easy, I tried that via the "assistance" of my last publisher. I knew it wasn't going to work. I took a chance and it flopped. I want my best foot out there. Even if that means waiting extra time to make sure everything is in order.

Publishing Houses

I've been fortified a great opportunity to take partnership in one. I'm really thinking about doing it. We are working out everything from when you read that first word on our website, to after you decide you want to submit your work.

A lot of people know I am the first person everyone goes to for help and answers. I sat back and thought about this, alot. At one time I was even thinking about starting one up and had everything drawn up. But, I wanted to finish what was on my plate first. Now, that's finished, the person who came up to me with the follow through, we are going to make it a reality.

Hall and Muscato Publishing will be fully up and running soon.

You can view us here to start - https://www.facebook.com/hallmuscatopublishing

We are working on the website and working on this day and night until it is completed. We look at all genres and every author.