Forever Yours – Two Year Bookversary
Can you believe on the 26th October 2023, it was two years since the release of Forever Yours? My first book baby.
I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d ever get to publish a book, let alone go on to write ten more. When I first started writing, I didn’t tell anyone, not even my husband. I had no confidence in my writing and did it purely for my own pleasure more than anyone else’s. My first story was a stepbrother romance which will probably never see the light of day haha.
The last two years haven’t been easy. Only me would start their romance writing career with a book that contains cheating. Had I known the negativity and drama this would have caused, maybe I would have done things differently, but regardless this book will always have a special place in my heart.
I will never forget the amazing support I received with this book. After being told by several people that nobody will ever want to read a story about cheating or a plus size, forty-year-old woman who struggles to lose weight, I was ready to forget the whole thing and bin the manuscript. I’d spent the best part of a year writing this and re-writing and shed many tears.
Some even said this isn’t the type of fat representation people want to read. And that only confident plus size characters should be written about, but that wasn’t me. These types of comments—that I still hear today—are triggering for me, making me feel like there’s something wrong with me because I don’t always feel confident in my own skin. But there’s nothing wrong with that and there’s nothing wrong with a character who learns to love her body after years of no confidence. That is my story. Steph is basically me (although I never cheated haha) But her struggles with weight and confidence is what’s real to me. And I felt while she probably made some bad choices, she was relatable none the less. And her story with her weight (my story) deserved to be told.
I just want to say thank you to everyone who believed in me and this book. I wanted to write a story about two normal people who were just both struggling through life and that’s what this is. So after all the tears and critics, I’m still here and this book is still being read today, despite having a rocky start.
Now I have to stop typing about this as I’m getting emotional.
But if you made it this far. Thank you for being here. The giveaway is now closed. Thank you to all that entered and Congrats to Gloria who won the signed paperback.
Going forward, what types of characters do you like to read about? You can let me know in the comments. Do you have your own journey to body acceptance? I’d love to hear about it…
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