The Road to Redemption

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authors, books, eBooks, life, life is a journey, mistakes, novels, redeem, redemption, sequel, sequels, that's life, truth, vampire books, vampires, writers, writing, writing a novel

Redemption. What does the word conjure up when you think about it?

For me, as a spiritual person, it means to recover from past mistakes by undoing them through better deeds, better actions, better attitude, and everything better all around from what you did wrong – with what you did wrong fully in mind.

We all fall short, and we all make mistakes. And we all have to pay or fix those mistakes. But when it comes to redemption, to me at least, we redeem ourselves from major, life changing mistakes that take our life’s path in a totally different direction. A direction that we did not intend, yet were too blind by something to not realize that we were going to veer off course.

Image by Maria Morri via Flickr

I’ve been down that road, and there’s nothing quite like looking back and wondering why I took the road that took my life in a direction it should not have gone on.

The good news is, I’ve been getting back on track and fixing my life, and becoming someone who I was meant to be, rather than running away from my potential and talents. What I’ve learned is that there comes a point in life where you simply cannot doubt yourself anymore or else you’ll have more problems than you need. Plus, you never really grow. Since I value personal growth, I had to learn the hard way that insecurities are really limiting, and I had a choice to get over them or give them up if I wanted a better life.

So I made the choice to give them up, and now I’m setting on a more better path for myself. Too bad there are lots of consequences that I have to deal with, such as starting over again professionally, financial sacrifices and consequences. But I am more at peace with myself, and where my life is headed.

I hope for the same for my main character, Claire McCormick. Some of you may recall in the first book of my trilogy, she made a lot of mistakes that led her onto a path she couldn’t really get off of. Now she is stuck in a life she never wanted, but ended up on because of her flaws and naivete. Granted, she’s a young girl, just 22 years old and just out of college. Like many at that age, she thinks she can survive easily yet is wrought with insecurities. And she paid a heavy price for her actions.

The second book of my trilogy will focus on Claire’s redemption. She is not the same person she used to be. Aside from being a vampire, she’s been through a lot and is now more unsure of who she is and where to go in this life that she didn’t ask for. That uncertainty is ripe for either self-destruction or self-redemption. However Claire chooses her path determines not only her future, but the future of the vampires, which is growing increasingly insecure with modern technology.

Redemption can be fun. It can also be scary. It can be painful. It also can be relieving. Either way, I believe when one is committed to redemption, it is a journey filled with new beginning and painful endings, great reminders, and agonizing truths. But its a path no one can ever avoid, no matter how hard we try.

 

Can Evil Be Overcome?

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amorality, bad people, devious, evil, human psychology, immoral, karma, psychology, redeem, redemption, vampires, villainous, villains

Before I get started, I just want to announce that for the month of October, “The Dark Proposal” is on sale for 99 cents on both Amazon Kindle and Smashwords. Check out this paranormal thriller for this Halloween season!

Anyway…

One of my favorite posts on this blog was, Can Evil Ever Be Redeemed?, where I looked over famous villainous characters and wondered if there was any hope for them to be redeemed from their evil ways.

Well, I am here today to discuss whether evil can ever be overcome.

Evil, amoral, bad, villainous – whatever word you use, despicable acts leave many both appalled and curious. What makes a person do something harmful, without a care in the world? And how can we get them to realize what they’re doing or done is wrong?

I’m writing this post for two reasons: as I work on my sequel, I find Daniel’s ways to intolerable, and my personal life this year saw a lot of cruel, heartless actions be done towards me. I have asked myself so many times why some people are so ruthless, and is there any hope for them to realize?

To be honest, I think for a lot of people, the answer is no.

I’d like to believe that everyone is born with good hearts. But there are some people out there who seem totally incapable of empathy that I wonder if they were born without a chromosome that allows common empathy towards others. Some would say they had difficult childhoods or weren’t raised properly by their parents. Others would say success has gone to their heads, or deep insecurities and fears make them lash out at the world. That may be so, and if it is, that’s both sad and scary.

However way a person becomes an intolerable, nasty person, it is a question whether their evil ways can be undone. The only way they’ll know they’re that way is by acknowledging so they can change. You can’t force or make someone change. They can only change on their own. And for many, self-awareness is an unknown skill for them.

Which is why I am doubtful that some awful people are capable of undoing their horrible ways.

I am thinking this while I write the sequel to “The Dark Proposal”. The villain in this story, Daniel, is easy to despise because of his heartless actions. But can his evil ways be overcome? That will be tough, considering he’s nearly 700 years old. It will also be tough because….

….OK, I don’t want to give away any spoilers, LOL! But in the not-yet-titled sequel, you learn how Daniel became the way he is a bit more. He’s not just simply evil for the sake of  being evil. He’s like that due to events over the course of the centuries.

But can he overcome his evil ways?

We’ll see….

Another Year Over – A Look Back on 2013

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Happy 2014, New Year's Day, New Year's Eve, NYD 2014, NYE 2013

Another year over
And a new one just begun

“War is Over – Happy Christmas” by John Lennon is one of my all time favorite holiday songs because of those lines above. No matter what the holidays mean to you, it is true that Christmastime signals the end of the year and a time to reflect as we gear up for ringing in the new year.

Image via Wikimedia Commons

I’ve been reflecting a lot on 2013, especially as a self-published author. It’s been the year that I’ve really developed both as a writer and as businesswoman (really, selling books is a business). When 2012 came to an end, and 2013 began, I was having severe doubts about my abilities to write and sell my work. On New Year’s Day, I was thinking that perhaps I shouldn’t write at all because my work isn’t good enough and I didn’t do such a good job selling my book. But yet, I still wanted to write and tell stories because it honestly is my nature, so I kept going.

As I did, I learned many new perspectives on storytelling and self-publishing. I voiced these new perspectives here on this blog, and I want to take the time to say that I really loved the great discussions I had with so many awesome writers out there. They are:

Francis J. Franklin
Deborah Nam-Krane
Eric J. Baker
Laeken Zea Kemp
Melissa Maygrove
Judith Victoria Douglas
David Stringer
Misha Burnett

To them, I say: all you guys are great, and I look forward to many more chats with you as we journey ahead in the world of writing and publishing. If by chance I forgot to name someone, rest assured that I certainly did enjoy your input and hope for many more.

I also want to take the time to mention my ten favorite blog posts this year. I am proud of these posts because they were thought-provoking and got good discussions going. They also helped build my platform:

Are Happy Endings a Must?
Should We Always Relate to the Protagonists?
The Challenges of Writing Ethnic Characters
Balancing Visions – Yours and Your Readers
Lessons One Year Later – Marketing and Promotions
Lessons One Year Later – Was It All Worth It?
Hey You! Get Off My Platform!
Why I Don’t Write Strong Female Characters
Self-Publishing – You, Yourself and No One Else
Self-Publishing May Be Like the California Gold Rush

I am looking forward to many more good discussions with anyone looking to give their two cents on the topics of writing, storytelling, and the publishing business.

I am also looking forward to completing the follow-up to my book. I’ve been so busy this year with working full-time, moving to a new part of NYC, and other priorities. I will definitely hit the ground running so I could get the sequel out hopefully by late June. I had hoped for April, but given the time it takes to edit and make sure there are no typos (like it was with the first edition of “The Dark Proposal” – yikes!), I’d say late June would be the best target time. I’ll keep everyone posted with whatever milestones come along as I tell what happens to Claire and Daniel.

In the meantime, I’ll keep blogging twice a week if I can. I’ll also continue giving author interviews and stopping by other authors’ blogs. I really need to step the latter part up. Even though it’s not easy to browse online at work, I still need to make more of commitment to support other writers by coming to their sites. So, that’s a New Year’s Resolution that I hope I can keep!

Once again, thank you to all for this amazing year, and I hope it will be equally amazing in 2014!

Happy New Year!