Category: Tales from a Trouble Maker

Misti’s Book Journey

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Books for me have always been around it’s honestly something I never really thought about. I just know in my life books have always been my way to escape on a journey that I would not have been able to go on.

I can, however, tell you how I came to this moment right now. My gateway into the Indie community was through this guy named Scott Hildreth and his book Broken People was the first author I read that wasn’t an NYT bestseller. Christmas 2013 I received my first kindle and after getting it all set up I was ready to start browsing for books. I was amazed by the books that were available at my fingertips and I read the blurb for Broken People and immediately bought the book. While I read other authors I found that Scott was always my go to. I read everything he published and was instantly a fan of his work. Years go by and my kids talk me into Facebook and low and behold guess who they found for me, Scott Hildreth!!! Well, I joined his group and now TADAH here I am.

By that one book and that one author, I tripped over a guy named B.T. Urruela and this book he wrote Thirty Days.  From the day I read it, will always be THAT BOOK for me!!! Well literally, immediately after reading Thirty Days, I joined B.T. Facebook group so I could tell him how wonderful his book was.  Which looking back now I’m sure he thought this woman has lost her ever-loving mind. He made this announcement about something called the Frat and new people joining and I happened to catch a video of this fantastic young guy named Chris Genovese and I immediately fell head over ass for him. The way he made me laugh and how personable he was, I was mesmerized by him.  I’m honestly proud to say he became my first Indie Author friend. Now that being said, Chris is also the one that opened my eyes to the rest of the Indie Community. He encouraged me to go to takeovers he was doing where I found more and more authors and friends.

Next thing I know, Chris Genovese asked me to help him out with a group he wanted to create the Horror Author Carnival.  I was honest and said I have no clue what I’m doing but if you want me of course. Then in this group, I’ll be damned if I didn’t meet even more people that not ONLY are kickass authors that I love, but they are friends that I adore. Oh, and did I mention a few of them were crazy enough to ask me to be their PA?

So now here I am the lady that always says I’m a Mom of 4 and a Mimi to 5, the one that is scared to death of computers and Snapchat is my nemesis for life.  I now have these fantastic authors, S.E. Rise, J.T. Lozano, Steven Evans, and Sian Claven, that let me have the privilege of being their PA as well as letting me call them a friend.  So there it is, in my wordy way, how I came into this amazing indie community.  Everything I do with the Trouble Maker’s Library Facebook group and blog is my way of giving back just a small piece of what this community has given to me. 3 kickass ladies that on or off Facebook are my true friends and a small group of friends that are my friends for life.

With that, I’ll leave you with my favorite quote.

Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.  — Gone with the Wind

 

Meghann’s Book Journey

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“ Life is worth living as long as there is a laugh in it.” – Anne of Green Gables

My love of reading and books started when I was about twelve years old, and we read Anne of Green Gables in School. I was so captivated by the story and its characters I thought, wow, Is this how amazing it is every time you open a book?

As I got older I read more advanced things like J.R.R. Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings series, which to this day is still an absolute favorite. When I went to high school and we were assigned books to read for assignments, I developed a love for the classics. Pride and Prejudice, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath are some of my all-time favorite classic things to read. I have a special place for the classics. Little Woman is probably my absolute favorite because that’s where my name came from. My mom was a reader too and it was her favorite book, so that’s how my sister and I got our names.

My love for the Romance Novels was introduced by reading Fifty Shades of Grey, then after reading K.C. Lynn’s Men of Honor series I was introduced to a whole new world of a book community. Books are amazing and have helped me through so much in my life. Just by opening a book you can morph into a whole new world.

Betsy’s Book Journey

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The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go. —Dr. Seuss

For as long as I can remember books were a part of my life.  As a child, my mom and dad would read to me every night before bed.  Some I demanded that they read so much that I memorized the words and could recite them as we read them.  So much so I may have convinced one of my grandmothers that I could read because of it.  When I was about eight my godmother sent me one of her special packages.  You see she’d pick up various items for me while vacationing or traveling and I’d get a box at odd times of the year.  Whenever the boxes came I knew there would be amazing treats inside.  In this box, I received a copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.  It was the first book that I wanted to read completely on my own.  Every night before bed I’d read and when my mom would tell me it was time to go to sleep, I just wanted to read a little more.  That was just the start of my love of reading.

In elementary school, I was the kid who wanted to get all the books from the book fair and well, since I was a reader, my mom would often indulge my want way more than she should. Then there were the library visits and my checking out as many books as I could.  I was the kid who was happy about summer reading and always read as many books as I could.  At thriteenish, I may have snuck my mom’s copy of Jackie Collins book Chances out of my mom’s bookshelf.  I was scandalized and thrilled by what I found on the pages.  Throughout school, I read and loved everything that was put in front of me and I was the one who had any books finished before everyone else.

Through the years I found books I loved by Stephen King, Clive Cussler, Thomas Harris, Dean Koontz, and Tom Clancy, often passing books back and forth with my dad.  While my mom read romance books I was firmly in the horror, fiction, action and suspense camp.  It wasn’t until I stumbled upon Lexi Blake and her book The Dom Who Loved Me that I realized romance books could be more than doe-eyed heroines falling instantly in love with a strapping cowboy, farm hand, etc.  With that one book I discovered a world where romance was mixed with suspense. Where I was seeing strong women, who were just as kick-ass as the hero that they fell in love with.  To this day, Lexi Blake is one of my absolute favorite authors and her Masters and Mercenaries series is my top pick every time.

Then in September 2015, I lost my dad.  The grief, pain, and anger caused serious insomnia.  In the months after my dad’s death, I was reading anywhere from one to two books a day just to keep the thoughts of him away.  In mid-2017 I stumbled across Luke Prescott who opened me up to the amazing indie community.  Now a little over a year later I’ve read more amazing authors than I can even count and reignited my passion for genres I hadn’t read in some time.

I look at every book as an adventure, a journey to a place where I would never visit.  Stories that take my mind off the things going on in my life. Stories that make me smile, cry, laugh, cringe, think or even freak me out.  Stories that make me wonder what it would be like to live in the worlds created by the authors I’m reading.  Stories that make me happy that I stumbled across specific authors.  Stories that make me happy that all those years ago my mom and dad instilled a love of reading in me.  Everyone’s reading journey starts with just one book, what was yours?

Antonette’s Book Journey

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Do your thing and don’t care if they like it. ― Tina Fey, Bossypants

I wish I could say that it was the classics that gave me my love of reading. It wasn’t.  For me, reading was always a chore. I could never get into a book, so I never did. If I HAD TO read a book, it was because of school making me do a report or it or something like that. I tried, I really did, but the moment I’d start reading I’d fall asleep. That was until I heard my sister going on and on about some dude named Christian Grey…

Fifty Shades of Grey was the book to start it all for me. That series opened up a whole new world for me. I read those books three times each before I got the bright idea to seek out others like it and boy was I surprised at how many there were. I joined Goodreads and thrust myself into different reader groups to talk about and get recommendations of people’s favorites. I then stumbled upon authors on Facebook and that was all she wrote.

I immersed myself in the book world, making friends with other readers, authors, and PAs. Going to their takeovers, joining Street Teams to help promote their work, and creating teasers has led me to meet more people and network with some of the most talented writers.

The book world embraced me and even gave me the confidence to start up my own graphic design company giving me the opportunity to bring their words to life by way of teasers and book covers and so much more. I have also met some of the most wonderful people who I have the pleasure of calling my friends.