It is interesting to me that in the process of writing my books I have managed to discuss some of my main childhood fears. I did not set out or intend to do so, but perhaps this is my way of letting go of the demons!  Of course by now everyone knows of my greatest fear of dolls coming to life. Stop laughing. I still say watch any scary movie and you will see at least one scary looking doll or ESPECIALLY clown doll!  There is a reason for this: they are freaky and deceptively inanimate!

Butterfly begins with our heroine cleaning out her closets. Wolf begins with our heroine hiding in a closet. Guess what? I was also afraid of closets. Funny that the heroine is not scared while in her closets and yet each story begins and ends with her in it. If my closet door was not shut completely, I couldn’t sleep…even into my thirties. Maybe I shouldn’t have shared that? Oh well, its out there now.

Another more subconscious fear that seems to come up throughout my books is that of abandonment and being left alone. I think a lot of people can relate to this fear. One doesn’t have to be a child to feel it. I hope that in Wolf I was able to find that nice balance of feeling “okay” with finding one’s alone time and being with one’s self.

But what I thought would be fun would be for us to share some childhood fears and how you have overcome them…or maybe not overcome them. I think what’s important is to know that no fear is silly or undeserving. Fears are real and by acknowledging them we can begin to discover their true meaning and hopefully let them go.

So, what are your childhood fears?

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     Butterfly is the 1st book in what I envision as a trilogy for our heroine Tia Brooks. Butterfly begins as an older,  married Tia Brooks packs her house in preparation for moving. In this process of clearing out her house she discovers an old box in her closet marked “Dolls.” Immediately she is transported back to when she was eleven years old, growing up in a small southern NJ town.  And thus we follow her journey of transformation from the shy, uncertain little girl into the beginning of her maturity to womanhood.

     My second book, Wolf, finds Tia now in her thirties and battling to find meaning to her life after a gut-wrenching break-up. It is a story of self-discovery through both reconnecting with family and friends and using her own intuition.

     My third book with a working title of Raven once again will rejoin Tia and eventually tie all three books together.

     Many people commented that Butterfly seemed to end without an ending.  My only comment to them is to follow through the trilogy. In the end, everything will come together.

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On Saturday February 21st, my mother hosted a book signing party at her home in Chesterfield, NJ to celebrate the publishing of my first novel, Butterfly.

The response was overwhelming. We estimate that nearly 120 friends and family members came by with well wishes and to purchase a copy of the book. Since I had self-published the book I needed to sell just about 100 copies to break even. Thankfully I was able to do that in one night!

The food was expertly catered by mom’s best friends Denise & Wendy and the wine was purchased at local vineyard, Laurita Winery, in New Egypt, NJ.

I know that many people could not attend due to prior commitments, but am humbled by the amount of support that I received both by attendees and non-attendees. I hope you enjoyed Butterfly and look forward to my next novel! 

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