As I count down the days to Innocents' release, I don't get much time to stop and breathe. Every day, I'm approached with a new task or responsibility, whether it be editing, promoting, writing, or socializing. Not to mention my day-to-day activities, like raising my kids and feeding my husband. The laundry can only be ignored for so long, and if I don't pay attention to my pup, Dusty, he starts chewing on things.
This is him.
You don't have to be an author to understand that there are not enough hours in the day.
I keep coming to this point where I think to myself, if I get the last of (insert task here) done, I'll have some free time. But that never works out, for some reason.
About a month ago, I spoke to a very dear friend of mine, Debra Anastasia. She often gives me invaluable advice, and on this particular day she said to me, "You need to sign up for guest blog posts to market yourself."
I said, "What the heck are those?"
So she told me, and I was, like, okay ... let's add this to the Never-ending List. But, not only were guest blog posts on the Never-ending List, I wasn't confident anyone would want to feature me on their sites at all. For the sake of the book, I sucked it up and posted on Facebook that I was looking to do some posts on other peoplesâ blogs, and that if they want me, message me.
My inbox filled up!
Alright, so I had (still have) this long list of people who not only wanted to host a post for me, but some wanted interviews, and some wanted me to take over their pages. In theory, this sounded amazing. There I am, first-time publishing author who hasn't (still has not) even published yet, and people wanted (still want) me around!
Only, I had no clue what a guest post was, and how the heck do you take over someone's Facebook page?
I asked around, and the answer was easy as pie.
I needed to write.
Kelly Montgomery was one of the first people who responded to my post about guest posts and such. When I asked her what she wanted me to write about, she said, "Whatever you want."
Translation: she was no help at all.
Frustrated with my inability to get anything right, I shut my computer and pulled out my paper notebook and told myself I was not going to do anything until I had something to write about on Kelly's blog.
The very first thing that popped into my head was all of the amazing help I had received (and still receive) from the writing community.
For many reasons, my first soon-to-be published book, Innocents (Dusty #1), is highly anticipated. It's originally a popular fan fic that only became more popular when it was plagiarized by a well-known author. But the popularity for the published story does not change the fact that I am a brand-new author who is literally roaming around blind. Writing fan fiction is a million ways different than writing an actual book that people (hopefully) are going to buy.
If it were not for all of the authors, blogger, promoters, readers, and everyone else in between who reach out and help me every day, this entire thing would be a huge disaster. My gratitude to these people is something I don't feel like I can ever correctly express. And the knowledge they share with me will stay with me until the end.
So, thank you, writing community for your grace and kindness.
I love you. I really love you.
MARY ELIZABETH
Writing stories about the skeletons hanging in your closets
Author Bio
Mary Elizabeth is an up and coming author who finds words in chaos, writing stories about the skeletons hanging in your closets. Known as The Realist, she is one half of The Elizabethsâa duo brave enough to never hide the truth. Her anticipated co-written debut novel, Innocents (Dusty #1), will be released July 14, 2014. Inspired by the broken lyrics of a single song and the idea that monsters have softer sides, âDustyâ was originally posted for free and had been read over a million and a half times. Working day and night, she hopes that the published edition will be just as loved.
Mary was born and raised in Southern California. She is a wife, mother of four beautiful children, and dog tamer to one enthusiastic Pit Bull and a prissy Chihuahua. Sheâs a hairstylist by day but contemporary fiction, new adult author by night. Mary can often be found finger twirling her hair and chewing on a stick of licorice while writing and rewriting a sentence over and over until itâs perfect. She discovered her talent for tale-telling accidentally, but literature is in her chokehold. And sheâs not letting go until every story is told.
âThe heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.ââJeremiah 17:9
Links
Novels
Innocents (Dusty #1)
The girl with an innocent heart knows all about bad choices, but has yet to make them for herself. Searching for freedom, she finds it in the delinquent down the hall.
The troublemaker with summer-sky blue eyes knows he should stay away but canât resist the blissful wonder who makes his house a home.
Sheâs a hopeless romantic. Heâs just hopeless.
Sheâs his reason, but he might not catch her when she falls.
She loves him. He loves her crazy.
This is what happens when a love made of secrets is kept with rules instead of promises.
The troublemaker with summer-sky blue eyes knows he should stay away but canât resist the blissful wonder who makes his house a home.
Sheâs a hopeless romantic. Heâs just hopeless.
Sheâs his reason, but he might not catch her when she falls.
She loves him. He loves her crazy.
This is what happens when a love made of secrets is kept with rules instead of promises.
Available 7/14/14
Low
Branded: A Bad Boys Anthology
B.L. Wilde, Jeanne McDonald, Jo Matthews, Mary Elizabeth, and Sarah Elizabeth give us five good reasons why good girls love bad boys. The men of Branded are sexy, adventurous, and troubled deep into their souls. There may be no redeeming them, but at the risk of losing everything, these good girls must decide if loving their bad boy is indeed worth the cost.
Available 8/23/2014
Delinquents (Dusty #2)
Available 10/23/2014
Closer
Available 2015
Excerpts
An excerpt from Innocents (Dusty #1)
Dusty leans down and kisses the side of my throat, running his hand up the back of my white dress. He tugs the hair at the nape of my neck. âWhat did you do while I was gone?â he asks, his voice calm as tension rolls through him.
I laugh sorrowfully in his arms. âYou mean, who was I with when you took off for over a month?â
Dusty groans in my ear, pulling my hair a little harder. He tightens his fingers into a fist and presses his nose to my jaw. âI swear to God.â He breathes. âIâll kill him.â
I grip onto his arm and dig my nails into his skin. The bricks stacked higher every night he was gone, and like that, I crumble.
âNo one,â I say, moving my hand underneath his chin. Forcing him to look at me, I hold Dusty by his face.
This isnât the boy I grew up loving; this is a man who brings me along for his ride.
âBecause I love you.â I refuse to allow fear into my voice. âBecause I love you, nobody else will ever touch me. Even though you are constantly touched.â
He closes his eyes, shaking his head with a small smirk. Weâre still pressed near. I can feel his words on my skin. âI havenât been with anyone.â
My heart cracks, and I hate him for this.
His eyes open, and I miss blue.
Dustyâ grip on my hair loosens, but he gathers me completely to his chest. Iâm held until everything Iâve heard and felt, wondered and worried, decided and became in his absence, dissipates. He holds me until there is nothing between us but my dress and his shirt.
Love is fucked-up, but love is all there is.
Dusty flattens his right hand against the small of my back, pressing and keeping me close. He drags his nose slowly up the side of mine and kisses my top lip.
âCome with me,â he whispers.
I breathe in his words, and when I exhale my reply, itâs easy.
âOkay,â I say.
And it doesnât feel a thing like falling.
An excerpt fromLow
Thereâs a choice to make.
I can shelter my mother and little sister for another month, or I can fill the refrigerator with food. White skinned in a mostly black neighborhood, bordered by LAâs dirtiest gang bangers and junkies, living homeless on the streets of Inglewood isnât an option for my girls; theyâre narrowly sheltered from drive-bys and police beatings in the piece of shit house we rent as it is.
With a half-gallon of milk, some frozen burritos, and a pack of Ramen noodles, Mom and Ginny wonât starve in the week until the food stamp card rebalances. Turning over every dime Iâve made, mowing lawns and trimming hedges in the last month, to the impatient landlord is a simple decision.
But Iâm hungry, and I donât want an icy bean and cheese burrito.
âTake the hood off.â
The bell above the swing door jingles as I pass under. Dimly lit by the dusty florescent lights above, the air is thick with the scent of lavender incense and stale tobacco. An older man with dark brown skin and dark black hair eyes me suspiciously under bushy eyebrows from behind the counter.
I do as he requests and push back my hood, exposing my entire face and a head of sweat-sticky blond hair.
âSorry,â I mumble, keeping my head down to avoid eye contact.
The bottom of my worn tennis shoes stick to the tacky linoleum floor. A fly buzzes past my sunburned ear, sending chills down my right arm. I swat at the hovering insect as a bead of warm sweat dips down the back of my overheated neck.
âWhat are you looking for?â the store clerk asks in a thick Mexican accent. A TV on his side of the counter blares some sports game; he turns it down.
âNothing, man,â I say as I walk down a food aisle.
âWe close in two minutes. Hurry up and get what you need.â The volume goes back up.
Bullshit, I think to myself. Itâs summertime, not much past eight oâclock in South Central. This joint will be open all night to serve the whores and hustlers who occupy every corner down Manchester.
Even crooks get thirsty.
Reviews for Innocents (Dusty #1)
Kelly (Perusing Princesses)'s review
Jun 28, 14
5 of 5 stars
Read on June 28, 2014
This book is everything I imagined it would be, and more. A deep portrayal of those first real life experiences that all play a pivotal part and shape who we become. A tale of friendship, family, love, innocence, confusion, bad choices, heartache and everything else in-between.
Dusty Innocents is that step back in time, as we experience all those firsts all over again in the voice of a young girl and an adolescent boy, whom due to a three year age gap hide the escalating feelings they hold for one another. Hormonal, confused and scared, the effects of keeping a secret so tight lead to both characters taking different paths that ultimately still lead back to each other. A fork in the road, one that is selfless and forgiving, the other destructive and dangerous.
Bliss and Dusty are opposites, yet two sides of the same coin. Love is beautiful as much as it is painful and for these two kids, it is certainly never going to be easy.
A beautifully written and deeply compelling story that will have you turning the pages well into the night. A must read!!!
Dusty Innocents is that step back in time, as we experience all those firsts all over again in the voice of a young girl and an adolescent boy, whom due to a three year age gap hide the escalating feelings they hold for one another. Hormonal, confused and scared, the effects of keeping a secret so tight lead to both characters taking different paths that ultimately still lead back to each other. A fork in the road, one that is selfless and forgiving, the other destructive and dangerous.
Bliss and Dusty are opposites, yet two sides of the same coin. Love is beautiful as much as it is painful and for these two kids, it is certainly never going to be easy.
A beautifully written and deeply compelling story that will have you turning the pages well into the night. A must read!!!
Elizabeth (Perusing Princesses)'s review
Jun 29, 14
5 of 5 stars
Read on June 29, 2014
My dear God! This book is just... It's just... Raw, and emotional... And soooooo intense. It's painfully sweet and rash and heartbreakingly beautiful... I loved this... I cannot wait for the next book...
Elizabeth Todd's review
Dec 05, 13
5 of 5 stars
I can't even begin to explain what this story means to me. This story is my childhood, my teenage-hood, and my new found adulthood. I've never felt so strongly about a book before, ever. Innocents being published is going to be one of the best things that happens to me in my life, to love a story this much and to see the authors work so hard to make it a reality is truly something so inspiring that it'll bring you to tears. When I first read this fan fiction, it left me absolutely starry-eyed, I had never cried so hard in my life. Bliss is my inner goddess and I feel like I relate to her so well, and the imagery that the authors create for you will literally feel surreal and you'll find yourself experiencing so many ranges of emotions, you'll be experiencing love through a someone else's mind; It hits you so hard with waves of nostalgia, you'll feel like you'll explode. I have never been so passionate about virtually anything. Dusty was written for me, Dusty was written so everyone could read and understand how precious growing up is, Dusty was written so everyone would understand that Love can easily break you just as much as it can make you feel amazing. I will forever love Dusty, and all that's it about. Most beautiful writing I've ever experienced and my utmost respect to The Elizabeths.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
Brittany Rochelle's review
Jun 28, 14
5 of 5 stars
Read from June 27 to 28, 2014
WOW! WOW! WOW! My mind is blown. I have no words. The writing is beautiful. The story is heart-breaking and brilliant and real. ALL THE FEELS! I'm speechless and I have no clue how the crap I am going to write a full review of this for the blog tour. My heart fucking hurts. It has never hurt this much and I've read my fair share of emotional books.