Not long after I began my endeavor, I had the pleasure of conversing with an actual real author, Lauren Groff. When a New York Times Best Selling Author tells you something… listen. The single most valuable piece of advice I received I got from her.

“Write every day. Do something, anything with your work every day.” I did and it kept me close and tuned into my characters, no matter where I went they stayed with me. I wrote something new, edited something old, thesaurused things I’m not smart enough to know synonyms for, but I stuck with my story and I never let my characters or myself down.

As a mother of two, and an over volunteerer (is that a word?), I should put achiever… or “can’t say no’er” , there were a lot of nights I wanted to slide under the sheets, pull them up over my head and tuck them in enough that no one would notice I was there. I didn’t fool anybody with that trick and so… instead of hiding under the covers I hid behind my notebook and… I wrote.

My husband has been extremely supportive of my writing, but I don’t think he took me seriously until after I told him I had over a 100,000 words in my document. He peeked over my shoulder several times after that, I think mostly to be sure I wasn’t writing, “I love donuts. I love wine. I love cheese. I love chocolate” over and over.  Ask him to name my four main characters… I dare you.

If you’re reading this it’s because I want you as a fan or you already are one. So it’s probably just you and my four closest friends.

I hope you enjoy Acacia and crew as much as I do.

-C

P.s Amal wants to know if you have anything to eat. Specifically a taco.