Good Monday, friends. In actuality, I’m on Garfield’s team when it comes to Mondays, but I have to note three Awesome things about this day:

But she loves her kids

1. I get three hours to myself.
2. The sun is out.
3. While walking this morning, my dog did not try assassinating any other dogs.

Finally, I have a giant stack of books on my bedside table. This makes me immensely happy. But, If you’re an avid book reader like me, you’ve probably experienced criticism from reading-deprived persons. You’ve probably been laughed at, called a nerd, accused of being lazy and all sorts of unpleasant comments/treatment, but as we know, books change the world (for a list of some examples, go here).
Story is powerful–Jesus told stories that rocked the world, so there you go, the ultimate authority has, forevermore, made books awesome. And not nerdy.

If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you know that I don’t believe in perpetually staying within the lines. Oh yes, me and my crayons explore the world of color inside and outside of “the rules.”

Do you want to know the truth? Why not? Telling the truth is biblical, right? I don’t have an agent to reign me in, so here it is: I don’t like having to market my books. I love writing, I love people, I love blogging and readers and interacting with readers, but I don’t like following the endless list of do’s and don’ts of marketing. To tell you the truth (and I know of some other authors who agree with me), it feels like self-worship. I don’t worship me. They say don’t make homemade book trailers, in fact, book trailers don’t sell books. Like, at all. But you know what? I’m visual. I like book trailers, and I know from experience that they don’t sell books, but I make them anyway because I like the process and winging around ideas in abstract, maybe even absurd ways. So maybe I wasted several hours making one…but I made one anyway. It’s fun and I enjoyed it.

Watch this (if you want to) without a shred of pressure. And tell us how you break the rules. Tell me I’m not swimming alone out here with my crayons and camera. =)

GO HERE.