Happy Easter from my family to yours. 😉
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Happy Easter from my family to yours. ;-)
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Taken by Chance Cover Reveal
On April 7th, 2015, I’ll be revealing the cover of my first self-published young adult novel! It’s called Taken by Chance and, guys? It’s ridiculously adorable. Better yet? It’s releasing SO SOON! It’ll be here on May 5!
If you want to see the cover a few days early and help us promote the first book in this new series I co-wrote with Lani Woodland, click the link and sign up in the Google Form it’ll take you to. There are only a couple of questions so it should take a minute or so.
I can’t wait to share the pretty with you guys! 😀
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I was on the radio!
I was incredibly excited/nervous/thrilled to receive a radio interview request about Sing Sweet Nightingale. My first one ever!
It was nerve-wrecking to call in and hope that I could come up with off-the-cuff answers that made sense, but I think that I succeeded. The conversation revolved around the theme of emotional abuse, something that is a key element in the book and very important to me personally. I am immensely thankful to KPRS 103.3 in Kansas City and DJ Julee Jonez for helping me spread awareness on this important issue.
On her website, Julee had this to say about it:
One in three adolescents in the U.S. is a victim of physical, sexual, emotional or verbal abuse from a dating partner, a figure that far exceeds rates of other types of youth violence. What’s more alarming? Only 33% of teens who were in a violent relationship ever told anyone about the abuse. But would teens pick up a book about emotional abuse? Author Erica Cameron, who was in an emotionally abusive relationship, figured out a way to marry the theme with a creative read in her debut novel, “Sing Sweet Nightingale”, the first volume of The Dream War Saga, a four-book young adult series. Listen in as we chat about the read and the serious issue of emotional abuse.
If you didn’t get the chance to hear the interview live yesterday, you can still listen to the whole interview (it’s only about five minutes!) online for free here. If you are looking for additional information and resources about emotional abuse, check out my resources page for information on emotional abuse and gaslighting, an incredibly invasive and insidious abusive technique.
Snowy Silver Spring, MD at night. So pretty covered in white!
Maryland buried in snow is a beautiful thing.
Monday March 9, tune in to Hot 103.3 FM
At 11:30 CST on Monday March 9, tune in to Hot 103.3 FM KPRS in the Kansas City area (or online) as DJ Julee Jonez interviews me about #singsweetnightingale and the impacts of emotional abuse. If you listen, you could possibly win one of three copies of my book that she’ll be giving away!
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Snowy DC. ♡
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The choices you make today could irrevocably change the course of your entire life…
The choices you make today could irrevocably change the course of your entire life. Left or right? Sleep in or go on time? Speak up or stay silent? Even the seemingly insignificant decisions could alter your world and not always for the better.
To be now at a junction in my life where every moment counts and every choice seems to have no middle ground is a scary place. The weight of what you (I) must do presses down on your shoulders until even Atlas would admit his burden be less.
But you’d never let anyone know this, would you?
Never complain. Humanity hates it when you complain.
No one can really understand what you’re going through, can they?
Now is the road that splits between childhood and maturity, between the beginning of your life and the end. It’s always just when you think you find a middle road that the path disappears and all that’s left is wilderness. Left to fight every step of the way, your breath being choked out by the branches that found their way around your neck.
So now do you believe me when I say every moment counts? How do you know when you’re going to hit a dead end and be choked out of life?
Guys? I just found this handwritten in an old notebook. I wrote this when I was 16 and depressed as hell but struggling to find a way back out of it and whoa. When I typed it up here, I tried to leave it almost exactly like 16-year-old me wrote it.
Remembering moments like this is what makes me so mad when people say that young adult books don’t matter, that creative writing classes aren’t important. That protecting our kids from unpleasant or controversial topics is better than exposing them to the troubled reality of our world.
Fuck that.
I was too scared and embarrassed to talk to anyone about what was really going on in my head when I was a teenager. Reading and writing probably saved my life. It’s not just important to give our kids books that touch on every single topic under the sun and to teach them how to muddle through their thoughts and express it on paper, it’s vital.
Give a kid a book that reflects what they’re going through. Teach a child to put their thoughts and emotions into fiction or non-fiction. Encourage art and creativity and questions. Do it.
You just might save a life.
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GLAAD Publically Recognizes Asexuality!
THIS IS FANTASTIC!!!!!
GLAAD has publicly acknowledge their mistake in the “A is for Allies” campaign and retracted the erroneous statement. This is a MAJOR step in the right direction for the spreading of awareness and visibility of Asexuality, Aromanticism, and Agender identities.
THIS CALLS FOR CELEBRATION!
I could literally cry right now.
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