Play My Game of Chess

Which chess piece are you?

 

Pawn: Anyone who can be manipulated at anyones will. They are the most disposable and the first on the front lines of the down and dirty reality of jobs. The peons in the world who start out there and then move up or they never stop being a Pawn. Some are unmotivated and painfully aware of how little control they have, though they don’t realize they give up their control. Some are enjoying the nature of the pawn and stay there because it allows them to focus on the now and enjoy life.

Knights: They feel really good about their life. They are loyal and intrigued by new events. They are social and like to be in the “know” of what their interest are. They specialize in the craft of their choice. The only things that hold them back is the circle they often find themselves in (or square). They are roller coasters when it comes to motivation. They want to do well for themselves but they often fail to perform as often as they succeed. Some days they are content with who they are and other days they have doubts.

Bishops: They don’t like rules and they go for the distance. They push others buttons easily as they express their opinion with little thought about how it may affect someone. They tend to be very outgoing and know exactly what they want to do and how they want to do it but often they request it to be at their terms which doesn’t always work out. They hold grudges and concentrate more on the negatives than positives. They are a lot of fun to be around and enjoy the lime light. They are more loyal to themselves but if you are on their side they will move mountains for you.

Rooks: They have their heads in the clouds and shield themselves from people. These introverts prefer seclusion and have little trust in anyone though they often give the benefit of the doubt due to their own guilt of not trusting. They are often long-term  goal-oriented and are often blindsided to others thoughts and interest when reaching their goals. They are often self-less which tends to bring trouble to their life as they find saying No is harder than it sounds. They take conversations analytically and often base their opinions on facts and research. They are not interested in making friends but instead achieving milestones in what they consider to be a well-balanced life.

Queen: They like to be in control inadvertently. Often they make choices by requesting on someone else’s behalf. They are great at making first impressions but often alienate long-term relationships. They are their own island. They are experts in their fields of interest and know all the courses of action and how to lead a team. They are enjoyable to be around but often don’t spend too much time with one person. Not many people get to know the Queen but they are usually fans and feel like they know them without actually knowing anything about them.

King: They are the boss. Or at least they think they are. Often they make decisions based off immediate circumstances and are very dependent on others. They don’t tend to wear the pants but they like to express their opinion and be heard.

 

Winners Are Losers Too

There are a lot more losers than there are winners. That’s why being comfortable with loosing can be so easy because there are so many people who can emphasize. Winning is scary because it is when you often feel most alone. I’m not saying people are losers or winners for none of us win in every category. I’m just stating the moments when we feel like winners or losers. Basically I’m saying please don’t feel offended if you feel like a loser while you read this. We are all losers in some way. I’m a loser in a lot of ways but sometimes I get to be the winner.

I’ve been the loser most times and often fortunate enough to call myself a winner. The trick is finding something you’re good at and looking for the opportunities. It isn’t easy. Even if you are passionate, a hard worker and an innovator you will find that you fail more than you win. I like to think that the good from it means someone out there gets to feel like a winner and maybe they need it more than me.

I think that there are two ways that people don’t generally win. It’s because they don’t have/apply the resources they need to get there or they fear the idea of something new. The first, meaning that they don’t have the training, the will, the care, the need, the overall ambition to get what is done regardless of what they are given. Overall you have people who give in to easy or people who try really hard but something is holding them back. The second group I think contains many people. These people have what it takes to be real winners but they let themselves hold them back. They know what to do and how to do it but something subconsciously keeps them from being their best because they are worried about the weight of winning.

The weight of a winner is a heavy burden. Not as heavy as the ultimate feeling of the bottom loser. You are usually alone, many people are hating and you don’t know what are real compliments from those that cover up their need to be in your place. You feel like a bragger when you talk about things because things are going great in certain areas of your life. More importantly winning means you have to fight to stay there or become a loser again because you can only go so high. Try telling that to a loser when you’re the winner and you just come off as a bragger because there thinking you should be happy even though the worry overcompensated. That’s at least what it is like for me, maybe not you. Maybe winning is simple and you just enjoy it. Either way winning is hard because you know you can’t be the winner all the time.

Today I speak to myself and others with the same dilemma, if you have the skills and resources to be the winner then don’t let the fear keep you from becoming more than you can become.

Compensate or Deteriorate

Entangled and weaved around the fibers that make us who we are there are manipulations of the truth, of reality, that have evaded us through a learned behavioral trait. Born of innocence and corrupted from every point of contact until we finally corrupt ourselves. For many years we’re bounded by the need for another to guide us until we learn to make up our own mind and think for ourselves. With that we become the sole proprietor of emotional damage. As we grow up we’ve been taught a certain way in life and we carry through with those dispositions then we change as our surroundings dictate. While the hope of becoming wiser, stronger and more patient or any other redeeming quality we can also deteriorate to the same extent to become ignorant to one side of the equation, vindictive, and cynical. Life changes us at times, and test us unlike we ever predicted. You can become a victim to raised tendencies or you can be a savior to your realizations.

Anger Management

Anger. Such a standard word for an intoxicating disposition. We all feel it, for most on the daily. This emotion is a nagging feeling that claws from the inside out and some can let it steam up till it burst out while others are quick to the trigger. Anger is harmful not just to the people you direct it at, or yourself, but the future decisions that’ll be based off those moments. Inflections of what you do will stick with people and at times it will tarnish your relationships and bruise your ego/pride/status….

As a young person growing up in this world we aren’t always viewing the proper role models, and perhaps that is the same for generations upon generations. Anger’s represented in many ways: temper tantrums, verbal abuse, physical abuse, ranting/venting, hurtful sarcasm and if you thought of something else please add here ______.

I am known by those closest to me to demonstrate several types of anger management issues, who doesn’t. I don’t enjoy tantrums and I only tolerate verbal or physical abuse if it is just a funny back and forth but I do demonstrate outliers. I use sarcasm as a defense mechanism but I more so am trying to get a laugh. I vent in a very loud shrill voice as I shake a bit and feel everything overwhelming me and most the time I vent to the right people but I’ve learned my lessons.

Recently, in a leadership role for the past few years, I have experienced many altercations whether between me and a coworker or most often through mediation of one coworker to the next. I have learned one valuable lesson that has even changed my personal life.

What do you want the end result to be?

Yelling, screaming and such don’t get anything but resentful feelings and a mess to smooth out.

Learn to focus on what you can control.

If there is a problem think of the possible solutions, that goes back to focusing on what you can control.

I’ve learned that people’s actions have consequences and in order to find justification the best thing to do is stay calm, gather your thoughts, take a step away from the situation if you need time to do this, Then be professional and/ calm to the situation, which depends on the audience. Your goal is not to vent till you feel guilty and have a backstabber stocking your weaknesses. You want someone to understand what went wrong and how you feel about it or how others feel about it. You want to ask them what their thoughts are and give them the time to explain, most of the times things are just a misunderstanding. Then you deliver the consequences in a rational way. You inform them what went wrong and sometimes and then you ask them what we can do to prevent this in the future.

In the end I find that in the personal world you should come to an agreement and/ compromise. In the business world you should explain calmly what the problem is without any personal affliction, and then inform them  what level of corrective action takes place. Your job is not about being angry, it is about holding people accountable and enforcing positivity and being a good role model. Your personal relationships aren’t about subsiding to another’s point or not listening to others input but sharing each others lives and coming to an agreement.

Anger is a wasted feeling that needs to be managed just as one must manage stress. Just like any emotion there is nothing you can do to rid it forever but you can learn to handle it better. None of us are perfect but we can try to be better.

I Would Walk 5 Miles (GA Snowjam 2014)

So it begins. A light dusting of delicate snow drifting from the sky at 11 am on 1/28/14.

Tuesday was a test of character. Down in GA we are not very wise with this thing called snow. I’m a Yankee girl in a southern world but I can never bash Georgians driving conditions in the snow because it just isn’t snow, it’s ice. Well actually I always do but when it comes to snow and ice it’s always a joke because that’s what I do, I joke about things that make me uncomfortable or that I am uneasy about. When snow sticks in GA it is not often for play but instead a perfect death trap for the commuter trying to get home, ironically to safety.

At three p.m. we were told we could close up shop and go home. I thought, cool, snow day. When you graduate from school you think you’ll never see that again. I thought I’ll be home before I was originally supposed to get off work. WRONG! At six p.m. I had moved a mile down the street from work. Going up a slight hill my front tires only shifted as my rear spun without any traction. Several guys saw my issue. I was in the middle of the road for either side of traffic to claim. The team of men pushed and pushed but it only got me so far. It was like watching wolves blow down a brick house. After they thought I was fine and went to assist more ice-logged cars mine stopped dead on again. WHAT TO DO?

I did everything in my power not to act like a child by slamming my fist on the steering wheel or crying. Crying was the harder part for tears slip down needlessly against your will when you feel helpless. I called AAA because what else could I do, just wanted to see if my next thought was rational. I knew that they would tell me that many people were in my same predicament, and that I would wait hours for a tow truck. In fact I knew I would wait much longer because people were abandoning cars left and right, busses and trucks were swerving in stop and go traffic that never went faster than five mph. The only problem was that I was in the midst of chaos. Could I really abandon my car, the thing that got me from point A to point B. Today it was getting me no where. One of the guys came back and the best plan was to back in reverse down the slippery slope and park in a preschool. Thanks to him I didn’t get in a wreck.

At 7:00 pm I had already been walking for over half an hour on what would be a 5 mile hike before I could get to someones car that could move through ice. This road was a trap for the unsuspecting vehicle. Clearly my day was not that bad.

My best chances of getting home that night was to walk. Walk a normally thirty minute drive. So at six p.m. I made my choice. People called constantly telling me they would come and get me but I declined for they would only risk themselves and what good would two abandoned cars be. My boyfriend insisted, being the gentlemen he is, against my stubborn will. Either way I was walking. Conditions were bad,  the roads were a skating rink.

I walked over five miles from road A to B to C. I saw many things and as a writer I treasured my experience in that weird sadistic way that allows me to create characters that mimic such effects. Snow filled in my shoes causing a numbing sensation to cut off my senses until my back legs became ice and my face chapped. Cars drove by and not one stopped to make sure I was okay, to offer a ride to where they were headed. I felt abandoned. After being helped out earlier with the car I was shocked by the decency of people on foot but the cars created a barrier that separated everyone. People drove close to one another and no one bothered to think about the fact that people walking on the streets were not walking by choice. While my ears rang from coldness, my throat ached from holding back my emotions of anger and the constant vibrating of my phone as everyone around me was checking in with one another on group chats, I had one quality really working for me. My stubbornness. My will to say F*** it and keep moving with no care to the feeling that entrenched my feet, my legs, my hands, my face….. At 22 degrees I trudged through slippery wet snow in heels carrying just my clutch, phone, and iPad mini because most of it fit in my pockets. I was lucky to be wearing a jacket with a hood and to have had gloves in my car. (I will for now on keep gloves, a beanie, and boots in my trunk just in case.) I walked up to a gas station in hopes of warmth but they were closed and finally I walked until I met my boyfriend in the midst of traffic after eight p.m.

At 8:30 pm on 1/28/14, 5 miles later i made it to my boyfriends car who was stuck in traffic due to ice-logged streets with rear-wheel drive cars abandoned every where and we waited in traffic for another few hours before getting home.

The best options since he was stuck in traffic, due to stalled out cars ahead, was to jump the median and then we sat in traffic until 9:30 pm moving 100 feet. By then I was so cold, the numbness was wearing off and I could feel how long I had been out there. At that point I wanted to get out of the car and walk the extra five miles home. I was ready to abandon the steel cage I had been encased in for far too long. Finally it cleared and we drove carefully, just careful enough. Taking a very slow turn on an empty back road to avoid hills we veered to the far left toward a median where someone had left their stalled out car. While my bf was 100% sure he wasn’t going to hit it I was 100% sure that luck was not on my side today.

Then again maybe it was. Employees across my district were checking in and when I got home at 10:30pm that night there were still four people stuck in traffic in Atlanta that hadn’t moved for hours and a few more people who also decided to abandon the car. Tuesday was a scary day for mother nature and technology, or lack there of. Corporate america demanded the best from us on a snow storm holiday. I hope everyone out there has been safe in this weather and be careful out there. For I did walk five miles, I would have walked 10 miles home in the snow but let it not be 500 miles, I have limits. (For those who don’t know them, the Proclaimers kept me going today.)

P.S. I have heard such amazing news of people still this day helping others find their way home, bringing them hot drinks, getting them gas. Individuals like them are my heroes.

I Knew…I Thought…But I Didn’t

I just knew that once I published my book I would have even less time then I did when the book was just Microsoft word. I knew that there would be a lot to do when it came into the world. I thought I would be more prepared, but I didn’t expect all the things that I now find as common sense.

Hindsight bias. I learned that theory in most of my psych classes. Right along fulfilling prophecy it is one of those obvious oh yea moments. If I could turn back time I know I would be much more prepared but I can’t so you live and learn.

Things I would recommend doing before you publish the book so you can be ahead of the game (and things I will do before the second book):

• File for a business license. I went to a tax seminar at BookLogix and learned that it was a way to better manager your assets so I filed for one today from LegalZoom. They manage it at a yearly fee and of course their is the whopping almost $300. I got the Tax ID with it. Oh and it will only take 35 days since I didn’t want to pay anymore for it. Once I get the paperwork I will then go open a checking account and then get a credit card and then create a new Paypal for my Paypal reader so my money from my book is completely separated including any future purchases involved with publishing.
• Find your peace with twitter and drive it. It took me a while but I found the best way to get to my audience and I’ve been building up my followers a lot faster, like 1000 followers a month trending. Wish I had realized this 6 months ago because I could be much farther.
• Despite what others may say around you the cover is the MOST important advertising material. Next time I want to get it done ASAP because it is much easier to market something when you have a visual.
• Every night I’ve been going through 10 pages of Amazon Top Reviewers looking for book reviewers to give an ebook in exchange for an honest review. It is very tedious and time-consuming but I am hoping it is worth it. Time will tell. Email them and when you get one inform them that it’ll be sent on that release date. I will be doing this at a minimum of 2 weeks before my next launch.
• Generate a list of book bloggers. Then do the same as the top reviewers. These guys, if interested, will do Author Interviews and Giveaways.
• Email Youtube Bloggers. They are the best. They are exciting and enjoyable to watch. Just watching them talk about books gives you a major inside as to what these fan girls and boys are interested in and what grabs their attention. They can make you a better writer by giving you an insight into what they want from you. People actually get to see the excitement and interest in their face and voice and of course a visual. It’s wonderful not just getting a public visual review to a wider audience but you get to connect in a way that gives you the insight of what a fan is thinking.
• Most importantly get through the stress and write. I wish I could have focused more on book two but I let my pondering of the future get in the way of the future.

All in all things are going better than I expected for a no name artist. I’m very busy lately staring at my computer for almost every reason but writing. Constantly web searching, reading up on people and things, emailing, and emailing and emailing. I have  to stop procrastinating and get back to the second installment of Project E.D.E.N.

 

Project E.D.E.N. in the Market

It has been an amazing month. Outside of the holidays I have been very busy getting used to the idea of having a published book. That means instead of writing I spend hours a day on Twitter, Amazon, Goodreads, Youtube, and Google of course. Why? Because marketing never stops, not when you are passionate about something and you know that your work is just waiting for the right person at the right moment….

Officially I have had a lot of wonderful people purchasing my book. Many of them have already been able to give me feedback and it has been some of the most wonderful and inspiring words. I have had several people respond back to me from YouTube book reviewers to book clubs. Currently I’m in the stagnant process of marketing as far as books go. Books are not like most products. They have to sit for a while because not everyone has a few days in their life to do nothing but disappear into your alternate reality. I’ve had the opportunity for several reviewers accepting my request for an honorable review.

Since my book is now available on Kindle, Nook, and iBooks I’ve been targeting a larger market. When I purchased my website, www.bmauritz.com from wix.com I received $50 in vouchers for Facebook ads. Once the ebooks all became available I found that now was the time to push some advertisement, especially since the expiration date wouldn’t make it past the new year. My first attempt was for a 7 day run where I didn’t exceed a limit of $5. As far as Facebook money goes, this is a fraction of a penny to do some real ad control. I went for the one that clicks your website. Then I spent the last few days on targeting page like ads. I got more physical proof on the second round. Plus the page views meant that people would stay informed with me longer through a like than for one click. Anybody can  click a link and view a website once but it takes someone with a bit more commitment  to like a Facebook page. Next time I decide to run an ad on Facebook I will do the page likes again.

With my triumphs I have found a pattern for my social media life to make it easier to commit day over day. Everyday I know spend half an hour on twitter looking for the right audience, another half hour emailing reviewers and another half hour going through emails, looking at trends, and googling the latest. What I have to remember to do is write. Book two has a few more months before I plan to deliver it to the editor which means I just have to find the time.

On the local front I’ve been handing out my bookmarks like crazy, engaging people in conversation, and walking into the local bookstores. I have one bookstore currently displaying my title and I will be visiting a few more! A friend also got my book at a cafe in SF and in the first day we already found a new Project E.D.E.N. fan!

Sitting on the shelf at Once and Again Books

Visiting Once and Again Books to get a picture of Project E.D.E.N. on the local authors shelf in Marietta, Georgia.

2014 Resolutions & A Glimpse in the Past

2014 Resolutions

2013 was an amazing year! Most of it was spent waiting but it ended with a bang. I was worried for a moment that the book would be pushed to 2014 but we made it and I have had much success with no advertisement! Here is my 2o14 goals! We shall see how it goes.

1. Get back to Weight Watchers diet and lose 15 lbs. This is always going to be a work in progress. I will also be going running with James when the weather is better and playing soccer when he twist my arm.
2. Get a tan. I’m never outside, I used to have a natural tan and I don’t even recognize my face anymore.
3. Make money back from book 1. Finish book 2 by March and put it in the hands of editing.
4. Open up my own business for my book and do as much as I can through my business to make book 2 a success so I am not reliant on systems I can not utilize.
5. Write rough draft of book 3.
6. Pay off HD card and save up for cabinets.
7. Re-evaluate my career in May and decide if I can fit in getting a Masters in Computer Science. Continue looking for career opportunities that will ensure my safety in the workforce.

2013 Resolutions

Not to bad for 2012  resolutions. I didn’t have a direct goal for most because I was just looking for improvement and with that I succeeded. Here are my 2013 resolution goals. Good luck future me!!

1. Get back to the Weight Watchers diet and lose another 15 lbs. Played the reverse game this year. Instead of loosing I gained the weight back, I let life take a toll on me.
2. Pursue my book publishing. Next step is editing then it is printing my own books or finding a publisher. I will be taking this all in as it goes to the long process of editing over the next 6-8 months. Big win!!!! Project E.D.E.N. published late Nov on paperback and is on Nook and Kindle as of Dec 16th!
3. Finish writing the rough draft of the second book in the Project E.D.E.N. series. I’m going to call this a semi-win. I just have a few more chapters on the rough draft but I decided to sit on it longer so instead I skipped ahead to the fourth book, the prequel, so I could learn more history and I wrote 12 chapters before I decided it was time to start the first draft of the second book and find the right ending. I’ve got two options, finish it with my idea or lead up to the idea and save it for the third book…..
4. Pay off the HomeDepot credit card by the end of next year so I can start shopping for kitchen materials. Completed! I then got another 24 month no finace deal with HD and bout tile for the kitchen and for the bathroom and laundry room. James has finished the laundry room and we just want to get a few extra fixtures. Secondary bathroom is almost completed. 
5. Stay a store manager for 6 plus months to earn recognition with my peers and gain valuable experience. Then go back to search of a better lifestyle in corporate based on my skills that I prefer to work with most. Realize that it may take time to find the right job and the right timing to apply. May be a store manager longer then I want but I will soak in all the knowledge I can in the meantime. As I predicted life isn’t easy on finding the right opportunity and sometimes that means waiting and searching for the right opportunity. There have been several possibilities but I was worried about the long-term of the job since corporate jobs are the first to be downsized, where as retail is safe. 

2012 Resolutions

One thing I can’t stand about a resolution for the new year is that I never follow through. The most common resolution has always been to get in shape, a nicer way of saying get up and get going fat a**. So all I can say is possible because who knows if I will follow through.

1. Get in shape. lol Lost 15 lbs this year with Weight Watchers!!

2. Publish my book. Which basically means stop fiddling with it and start querying until all that’s left is self-publishing. I don’t expect to make this happen in a year but I do expect me to have it finished well before the end of the year and to be more invovled on the publishing aspect.

Not where I hoped to be but I still call it a success. I finished the book and have re-edited it myself. With this coming tax return I can go get it professionally edited. Still may query publishers but I’m leaning toward self-publishing so I can have more control. i can always query again later.

3. Price shop the kitchen remodeling  and start buying the material. Got part of it done. Had a great deal at HomeDepot with 2 year financing so I decided to start with small projects. Got everything I need to remodel the laundry room and half bath. Also bought the tile for the kitchen. Once I pay that off I will be looking at pricing on cabinets and granite. 

4. Figure out what I want to do with my current career. Ch-ch-ch-changes. A bunch of new opportunities coming to my company soon which means I will have to consider if I want to go for the next promotion or go into corporate, or find something absolutely different. Yea, I got promoted to Store Manager. Haven’t had the opportunity to apply for any jobs in corporate that appeal to me more than my current position. 

So we will just aim for the goals of all of them and see where I am at by 2013. Good luck future me.

Bleeding Memories

Every once in a while, more often than we want, we recall a memory. For good or worse somehow certain things stay with us. Usually just the big picture but once in a while it is a small detail that really pulls the memory together. Maybe it is the scent that reminds you of someone who once was loved and now is lost. Maybe you remember an intense feeling associated with an outfit that you wore. Perhaps that was the first day of a new school.

Most things that happen in our life, a decade later, become nothing worth remembering. Certain things may seem like a lifetime ago and all at once like yesterday. What makes us remember things or not is a mystery, most having to do with the assimilation of senses and emotions. The most intriguing part to me is the bleeding lines of memories. Memories that you recall for a moment and you know as clear as day what happened and what that moment meant to you but you just can’t place the time period.

A bleeding memory is the epitome of mysteries. You can spend hours contemplating was that before or after that thing happened and changed my world. It’s amazing how I can remember being two years old in a pink onesie carrying a milk bottle but I can’t remember if it was before or after my brother was born. I don’t even remember that happening other than the pictures and videos I have watched. Why do I remember something as ridiculous as wearing a onesie and carrying around a pink bottle of milk. Pink. Amazing how I hated this color so much by the age of 12. Perhaps painting my bedroom pink and getting everything and anything in it became the nauseating thing. Wonder if my breaking point was the pink pepto bismol I had to ingest to get rid of an excruciating earache.

Yes, that’s right. I can remember all the pink horridness but I can’t even remember riding a bike for the first time, most of the years that my parents were together, or saying goodbye to everyone I love in the north. However I do remember the blurry months of devastation that went on for years as I tried to cope with being alone versus being surrounded by family.

Memories. They just seep in sometimes, take over you emotionally, and then you’re like….wait when did that happen. Twenty seven years later and I can truthfully say that I remember less and less about the decade before as time goes on. I wonder if one day I will have trouble differentiating my elementary days with those of teenage angst. Only time will tell.

Selling Project E.D.E.N. Out of My Car

Yesterday was an exciting day. There have been a lot of them lately. I believe that these few months of we are almost published made up for the last several years of self-doubt and self-realization. For a while there I was not competing with the worthiness of my book but rather the worthiness of whether I deserve to be known for it. Ridiculous sounding it may be but as an author you are filled with conflictions of whether you have the right to ask for people to notice and then purchase your work of art.

Today I continued to take charge of my life. In my experience of knowing people it is the one trait that majority of people lack. Everyone claims they want a life to be proud of but at the end of the day no one really puts their foot down and says lets get started. Then there are the others that get started but never finish. For me everything has always been, if your not going to finish then why do it at all.

Finally I am selling my paperback out of my car and I am still agonizingly waiting for the ebook to become available later this month. Finally it feels real. Everything I worked for has come to these moments. My family and friends have all been asking the same questions: “You must be so excited to have your book out!” For most I smile and nod but for those who get me, and usually roll there eyes at me, I give the truth with the following response, “It’s about time. I’m just ready for the next step.”

Perhaps I am skipping over the party stage but that is just who I am. When I moved out of my parents years ago the only celebration I did was setting things up then going back to work. When I bought a house I didn’t throw a house party. Instead I started the project of renovation getting to the point that I didn’t want people to see my house under construction or now too much time has passed. I’m not one to stay in the lime light and ask for a celebration. Once a task is finished I see a dozen more task that need my attention and that becomes more important immediately.

Am I excited about the release of my book? Very much, quietly so. I’ve been getting great reactions from people around me and people I have never met before. People online are reaching out to me and it is very humbling. Now I’m really concerned with getting Book 2 of the Project E.D.E.N. series done. There are two things holding me back from that milestone which is getting myself to focus on editing and selling enough of the first book to pay for the second book to get edited by a real editor and all those lovely fees associated with getting your words on paper.

If you like a scifi/fantasy/romance/dystopian movie please check out Project E.D.E.N. I’ve been told that it is the perfect read for fans of twilight, hunger games, lord of the rings, harry potter…… What it has to offer is a diverse family living in our culture but preparing to change the culture of a government facility housing people like them with abilities. I dare you to fall in love with my main character, Cedric, a 17 year old boy whose been cursed with the ability to walk through people’s dreams. Visit http://www.BMauritz.com to find out more or comment.