Sex, Murder & Killer Cupcakes

I was a pretty boring kid. I was also a fairly run-of the-mill teenager. I never snuck out to parties. School sporting events were beyond my understanding. I was constantly lost between the worlds of books and theater. In college I majored in Journalism, which would eventually seal my fate. I wouldn’t realize it for another seven years or so. Like most people in their early 20s, I jacked around quite a bit. Job here. Relationship there. Surely the emergency credit card can be used to purchase shoes, right? I really need nude heels that I can wear twice and then forget about completely. Somewhere in my late 20s I started having honest heart-to-heart conversations with people that I looked up to. I decided to make some huge changes. I quit my well-paying job and started my own business, Curly Q Media. It was not a smart business move but then, I’m not often praised for using the left side of my brain. Somewhere in the middle of that mess, I got the idea in my head to write books. The thought had lingered in the back of my brain for a long time but, you know, 60,000+ words is a serious time commitment. I started the blog ＂365 with a Twist.＂ Basically, I took the typical 365 Project where you take one photo every day for a year and added a short story to it. This led me to write a short story with a couple of characters I loved like they were family. I began to wonder what they did outside of that racy short. I began to lose interest in the remaining several months of my project. So was born my first novel. I wrote it in 32 days. The fact that I wanted to enter it into a first time writer’s competition with a deadline only 33 days away helped significantly. When it was submitted, I was so giddy with pleasure at my accomplishment that I started writing a follow-up. I celebrated the one-year anniversary of my now successful business just two months later. That’s pretty much the story, for now. I still consider myself pretty boring. The only flavoring I use in lattes is vanilla. The only movies I’m willing to watch are those with happy endings. I won’t purchase less, I’ll simply find a way to make more. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, especially those holiday-themed ones with all the extra peanut butter, are my downfall.