Before I get into a topic I’ve been thinking about writing for a long time, let me get some business out of the way.

The Billionaire’s Whim is now available on Apple, Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and AllRomance eBooks. It is the four parts of His Every Whim reworked into a novel with an added bonus chapter. To access the bonus chapter, please visit my Facebook page and look for my newsletter post which has the link etc to access it. I plan on offering my newsletter subscribers more bonuses like this more often so please sign up for my newsletter so you’re not left out!

No Regrets, also known as Deborah’s story, the first spin-off from the His Every Whim universe, will be published soon. The cover had to be redone and once it gets approved and everything is in place, I will be able to hit publish on it, but right now I do not have a date. I know its been quite a delay and because of that I promise to release it at a sale price.

Ok, now that that’s out of the way, let me get a little more personal here.

I regularly get email, comments on my blog, or on Facebook from readers who tell me how much my books have touched them or how they love that I write about plus sized women. Well, as I tell each of them, they have no idea how much that means to me! Each email and comment I receive from you is special to me and I love that you relate to the characters and especially that they make you feel good.

I’ve been wanting to open up more. I tend to be quiet and shy and keep to myself. With the readers I hear from telling me so much about themselves, I felt it was only fair that I share a little more about me and why I write heroines that are big girls.

I am a big girl. Whatever you want to call me–curvy, voluptuous, whatever, except fat. Call me fat and I just might hit you. My size isn’t something I take lightly, its something I live with everyday. Whether I’m in a restaurant and have to navigate my wide hips past tables that are too close, or even if I have to go shopping and I’m stuck with only certain stores that carry plus size. Everyday I’m reminded of my size.

Let’s look at the cover of The Billionaire’s Whim for example. I think the guy on the cover of His Every Whim and His One Desire is HOT! To me, that’s Xander. So when I was looking for an image I could use for the novelization of His Every Whim, I desperately wanted to use that man, but I didn’t want to use an image that had been used before. I found the image I used and fell in love with it.

Look at him–with his hand on her hip, the other delicately touching her arm. His legs parted slightly, his head dropped so he can be closer to her and completely take her in. That’s how Xander treats Ashley.

Now look at the girl. I’ll be honest, when I first saw her I thought “bitch!” 😉  She’s gorgeous, but no, she is not a plus size woman. But by simply being next to her, she’s not thinking about any of her insecurities or her lack of confidence, she’s only thinking about the gorgeous man standing behind her and maybe hoping that his lips will gently graze her bare shoulder and send chills up her spine. When Ashley is with Xander, all her worries about her size melt away and she’s only thinking about him and how good he makes her feel.

I would’ve loved to use a curvy woman on the cover, but unfortunately photographers don’t make that an easy task. And because I wanted Xander on the cover, that made it even harder.

Unfortunately that’s the reality of the curvy girl. We aren’t the star of the show. We’re the funny best friend. We’re the “oh she’d be so pretty if she only lost weight”. And sometimes, we’re even the “really? You’re going to eat that?!?” Its unfair and not right.

Exactly a year ago today, I published a short story called Wanting Him. When I first thought of the idea of this woman who sees a hunky man and begins fantasizing about him, I thought about myself and how I’ve always enjoyed reading about characters I could relate to. I told my closest friend about the storyline and how the main character was going to be a big girl and she told me it would be a waste of my time because no one wanted to read about women like us.

I thought she might be right. After all, this model on the Wanting Him cover was the only one I could find at the time who was curvy and sexy. But I felt so strongly about Emily and her story that I had to be honest and make her a big girl. Wanting Him was supposed to be just a standalone story but because of the response I got, and because I loved Emily so much, I made it into a three part romantic short story series (available as Choosing Him).

It was because I enjoyed writing Wanting Him so much, that I decided my next story would also have a BBW. When I wrote Ashley, I put my own insecurities in there. When Ashley looks at Jackie in the beginning and thinks they look like the before and after of a diet ad, that’s the kind of stuff I think about. When Deborah, in the third part says she likes to put “the girls” on display because then maybe people won’t notice the rest of her, that’s me too.

One thing I was careful about was I didn’t want people to feel sorry for Ashley or Samantha or any of the plus sized women I’ve written. I wanted readers to see that even if you’re overweight, you can still be strong and confident and follow your dreams. Whether you’re dreaming about the sexy man you exchange smiles with at the grocery store, or you’re dreaming about starting your own business, the reality is that unless we do something and follow our stars, we’ll never know how far our dreams can take us and how happy we really can be.

Big or small, size isn’t something that should stop us from enjoying things. And life is too short to deny ourselves the occasional piece of chocolate or whatever it is that brings a smile to your face.

We need to be happy with ourselves. We need to feel that confidence that Xander and Joshua helped Ashley get or that Samantha felt within herself. Even that same confidence that Emily had that let her talk with Ryan.

Each of us is special in some way. Sometimes it takes someone else to point out what that is, and other times we’re able to find it ourselves. But life is too short to live with regrets, because you never know what might happen.

I truly believe this. I honesty believe that anything can happen if we just believe in it  enough. I also believe there is someone out there for everyone, regardless of our size. I believe in that one special person whose soul is out there looking for its match and that’s why I write what I write, because I really believe if we follow our stars, our dreams will come true.

A year ago today I published a cute short story about a chubby girl, because I wanted to be an author and believed that character had something to say. I’m constantly amazed and humbled by the email and comments I get from you. I have the most incredible and brave readers for sharing so much with me! I really love each and every one of you.

Its because of people like you, reading this today, that my dreams came true. I don’t mean to get all sappy about it, but I’m living proof that dreams do come true, even to big girls.

Follow your heart, your stars, and your bliss and have the confidence that you can make your dreams come true because they can. You just need to believe in yourself.

I love you guys! ❤

And if you haven’t read it yet, don’t forget that His Every Whim is FREE!  😀  
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