In the midst of the health issues that are plaguing
me I find myself thinking about my first book
I ever published. Why, I don’t really know, but
having a lot of time to think about my forty-six
years, almost forty-seven years in May, I contemplate
why this is happening to me, and what is my purpose
in life? I was born for a reason, and I want to
know why.
I remember growing up loving to read, and then
writing my short stories about romance, my passion,
and two people falling in love and finding their
soul mate under the stars of the rainbow. What
a treat, to know the person you want to spend
the rest of your years with, someone to love and
cherish, grow with, argue with, make love with,
and die with. This is the ingredient of romance
novels, and they are still my obsession.
I Confess was my first baby so to speak.
On my journey to finding publication, I Confess
came to life, and it brought my dreams to the
surface in more ways than one. I am now a published
writer. I don’t feel like one for many reasons,
and maybe this is a good omen for me.
I have many books written since then, but due
to the devil in my existence, I find myself not
thinking about my next book, or focusing on the
other ten that have been written with my blood
and tears. I am a published author/writer, but
again, I don’t feel it. Why?
So spending a lot of time thinking, and sleeping,
and sleeping and then thinking, I find myself
focusing on I Confess, that novel of
electric and magical short stories about the realities
of the world, and the beginning of my writing
dreams. As I fast forward to checking my email
one day, and seeing the letter that has changed
many writers' lives, I thought I was going to
die from the shock. A mild heart attack was on
my surface, and I read this particular email more
than one hundred times because I was literally
in shock. This couldn’t be happening to me. I
had over twenty rejections for I Confess,
so there was no way my dreams were coming true.
My boyfriend at the time was with me when I received
that all-important letter, “I want to publish
your book. I love it,” the editor wrote. My heart
started palpitating out of control, and I felt
faint. I thought I was literally going to die
on the brink of getting my book published. Can
you imagine the thrills and other sensations running
all through my body? It’s like a powerful orgasm,
many of them, as your heart begin to tick like
a time-bomb, and you think this is the end...
I am going to see my mother, father, grandmother,
and plenty of other relatives in heaven, sooner
than later. What a twist of faith!
Anyway, I didn’t die, and my dreams came true,
and I was a writing celebrity as the publishing
process entertained and frustrated me, but in
the end, the most gorgeous book cover, and my
words came onto life on December 14, 2004, and
my writing dreams became a reality. How could
I ever forget such a blessing as that day? What
is literally wrong with me?
I know, the stresses of the world seize us, and
we forget about the things that brought us joy,
along with our trials and tribulations. I
Confess has put a smile on my face as I am
writing this column, and it’s going to continue
to remind me what I accomplished in my life, and
the many journeys I still have in the publishing
industry. I have more stories to tell, and more
books to see published. I can’t let my health
or anything deter me from my heart palpitating
in a very good way.
So I am re-introducing I Confess to
my readers, and hopefully the world, where you
can divulge in something romantic and worth-while
to chase away the headaches that control you when
you’re trying to survive every which way you can.
I Confess is twenty-two short stories
of romance, mixed in with some reality along the
way. So take a ride with me, and my website at
CarolAnnJohnson.net
and sally on to I Confess. I guarantee,
and I promise, you will not be sorry. The short
stories are: "Lies by Association," "Bells and
Butterflies," "Living Large," "The Tease," "The
Ice Beneath the Fire," "The Five Day Separation,"
"I Slept With My Sister’s Husband," "The Religious
Experience," "In Love With An Older Man," "Parting
In Sweet Love," "The Jailbait," "Native New Yorker,"
"Business Love," "I’m A Slave For You," "You Cheating
Dog!," "Exe’s," "Twenty-Two Years Later," "Not
Until I’m Married," "I’m Forty and He’s Eighteen,"
"Emailing Love," "Military Love," and "He Proposed."
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