I have no delusions of grandeur. I don’t write me no high-falutin’ works of art. My books won’t sit on the shelves of bookstores across America (or any other country). My stories will never be studied in school to determine their symbolism. I’ve never included any social commentary (at least not intentionally).

I write stories that are designed for one reason; to entertain.

It really is just that simple. In the land of big, rich chocolate candy bars, I’m an M&M. Just one among thousands. You might not even notice me as you look me over for something bigger and better. You may even sneer and say “Who really wants an M&M when I can have a Snickers?”

I can’t blame you. That isn’t the reason I write and sell my stories.

I’m not writing for accolades, acceptance among my peers (many who haven’t even read any of my works), or even for awards. I write firstly for myself. I’ve always wanted to write books and having written 17 books, I’m happy with what I’ve done over the years and how I’ve progressed as a writer. Making myself happy with my stories comes long before any other reason for writing.

The other reason I write is to make anyone who reads one of my stories happy. It doesn’t matter if it’s a chuckle and a tweet, or someone that gets a hold of me years later and says “Oh, man! I still remember, ‘Junior, bring me a hamburger.’” Yes, I still get people telling me that. I released V&A Shipping on Podiobooks.com back in 2008/2009. Five years later, people still remember my characters. I think that says something.

I also have people who’ll get a hold of me and ask me about a girl that rode a dragon and had to learn science or magic and what was the name of that book? Well, that’s Astel. It’s one of mine. It still make me smile when friends or readers ask me about that one.

Another reason I’ll probably never win an award is that I’m not traditionally published. Yes, I’ll have a book out later this year from an actual publisher, but that’s a different story for a different day. Being that most of my works are and will be self-published, I can’t even put them in for an award. If I could, I’d still have to go through the submission process and get the work into the award people’s hands. For now, that just sounds like a lot of work I don’t want to go through.

Me? I’d rather see a reader buy, read, and review three of my books in one day (this happened earlier this year with My Teacher is a Zombie, My Teacher is a Werewolf, and My Teacher is a Vampire). This is the kind of response I write for. People who want to devour my books and leave reviews explaining why they did so and how much they enjoyed them. Their joy in reading my books is compounded 100 times when I hear back from them.

All these things mean more to me than any award will ever be able to accomplish. Sure, it’d be nice, but readers expressing how much they enjoyed something that I pretty much wrote for myself…there’s nothing more powerful than that.

And, hey. I give away books for FREE! Check out how to get one. Sign up for my email list, email me and just ask, leave me a review, help me spread the word. I’d love to share more of my words with more people. If you like what I’m doing here, and I’ve given you a free book, leave me a review, buy a copy for a friend, write me an email and tell me what you loved (or hated) about the book you got. I’d want to hear from you.

Speaking of words, I need to go make some happen.

Until Next Time!

WOO WOO!