Hey guys, welcome back! And hey, welcome to May!! I’m still in shock that we are already five months into this year. It still feels like February to me.

Anywhoo, there has been a lot going on, which explains my staggered posts as of late (sorry) and I missed the year anniversary of when I began writing my current book. Btw, I say ‘current’ since the first one, that needs a ton of editing, was finished a while back. 

So here it is, a year later. Hundreds of thousands of words written and thousands cut and lately it seems I’ve really been making some good progress on it. I think one of the things I’m starting to allow myself to do is take a night off here and there. I started pushing myself so hard to try and get this finished, that I started to lose the spark of the story and it felt more like a chore than anything else. After having to take a few nights off because I wasn’t feeling well, I picked it back up again and suddenly I was able to rework and cut a lot of stuff. After that happened, I realized that there would be nights I just didn’t have it in me to work on the book and told myself that it would be ok if I put it away for the night. The next time I opened it back up again? More progress. So see, there is a reason to take time off from things. To relax and recharge!

Now for some news of the odd persuasion and warning, there will be four letter words coming…in the last couple of weeks, I was suddenly contacted by someone using the name of one of my favorite authors. I will not say which one because I don’t want the real person to have to deal with this, although she has been alerted.

I’ve mentioned before that I have a great love of TikTok. That I’ve met online some wonderful people out there all doing the same things I have. For my small business account, myself and other owners have chatted and learned from each other about suppliers, or tips and tricks that have really come in handy. And on my #booktok account for this website that you’re on now, I’ve followed and am followed by other authors and we’ve had fun commiserating on editing woes and character issues as well as learning about new releases and book recommendations. So imagine my surprise when I got a direct message from one of my favorites!

Yeah it’s not her.

I’m acquainted with several scams on social by those trying to push fake small business help, always starting with messages like, ‘hey I went to your shop and I love your products!’ You know, utter bullshit.

Now I’m not going to lie, the first time I was messaged by ‘fake author’ for half a beat I got hopeful. She/he/whoever it actually was started off strong. ‘I like to talk with other authors’ kind of message. Sure, right? I mean, I talk to others, why can’t it be her? However, without letting out too much, because I don’t want this to be a ‘how to scam 101’ class, it was so blatantly not the real person it was astonishing. 

You may ask, how did I deal with such a person? I had some fun of course. I played the part of uber fan girl. Acting about 30 years younger than I actually am, swooning over said author and making it sound as if I was so honored that they reached out to me. (I had a lot of fun.)

It didn’t take long for the sideways sales pitch to creep in. Without saying too much to me, the questions began. How long have I been working on my book? Who does the marketing? Who is editing? Who is designing the cover? Who designed my website? Who is doing the book launch video? You know, typical things a famous author would ask a complete unknown while oddly, never talking about her own work. Just a barrage of questions sent my way. (Insert eye roll here.)

Let me also tell you this, I follow the real author on her other socials. And the kicker of all of this? Something I wasn’t sure I wanted to make public because again, I don’t want to give this person any tips on how do fake someone’s identity. But it was this…as of this post, the real author? Is not on TikTok. She does the occasional videos for her publishing house, but that’s it.

That’s not to say she won’t in the future, but as of now, she’s not on the platform.

The faker is stealing her graphics though, which really pisses me off. Frankly, the whole thing pisses me off. If you want to scam people, then don’t use someone else’s identity. Especially that of a woman who has worked damned hard to get to where she is now! Scamming leads to reputation hits and some idiots out there ARE going to believe that this is the real woman messaging them. If you do real services such as editing, etc, why pretend to be someone else? Do it legit. Don’t take down someone else because you are too chicken shit to do it the right way. And if you don’t and are just trying to get some unsuspecting person to pay for nonexistent services? Well then that’s just crap. Oh and remember, karma is a bitch.

I did block her so there’s that.

I find it funny. I live my life in the dark hours and in bed 99% of my time and yet, I still have opportunities to live some crazy adventures. And not just in books either!

Yes, always trying to look on the bright side of things, because why not?

And that is where I will leave you for today. Thanks so much for coming back to visit with me and if this is your first time here? Welcome! I hope you’ll  come back again. Oh and be sure to check out the links below the post.

Until next time…cheers!

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To follow my socials including my #booktok and to shop my linktree shop click: HERE

Btw, you can also click the product links around this site as well. You’ll find the blank journals and apparel I designed, as well as book recommendations that yes, I need to update to add lots more.

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Need a gift of jewelry for Mother’s Day, the grad or the bride? Click the eBay tab: HERE

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For my other shops featuring things I’ve designed, click: HERE

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If you’ve made it this far, I greatly appreciate it and will see you soon! 🌸