(LOGO)
Hellooo, everybody! Before I get started, I just wanted to thank everyone
for all the well wishes over the past week. If you follow me on social media,
you'll know that Cliff had a neuropathy flare up, which is why I didn't post a video last week,
I was taking care of him. Cliff is doing so much better and we both really appreciate all the sweet
messages you sent our way. Onto today's topic. I was tagged by Lily Bloom in ‘The Best Book Related
Memories’ tag. You guys know I am always down for a good tag, but within the writing community,
the tags get kind of repetitive. So I was really excited when Lily tagged me because this one
is totally unique, and kind of adorable. You're awesome Lily. The rule of the tag is simple, list
about three of your favorite or most meaningful book related memories. It can be reading a book,
it can be writing a book, it can be talking about books—whatever. Now before I get into
my favorite book memories, I'm going to address one of the memories that won't be on this list
because it's pretty conspicuous. I think most people would assume that I’d list the release
of my first novel as one of my favorite memories, but unfortunately, that's not the case. I wasn't
super vocal about this, but there was actually a lot going on in my personal life around the time I
released Eve. Most of you know that while writing my first book, I had very little support from the
people closest to me, pretty much the only person who believed in me was Cliff. So there was a lot
of pressure on me to get this right. I really needed the launch to go well, so that none of the
naysayers could say ‘Told you so, you big stoop.’ Additionally, Cliff was in the early stages of his
recovery from spinal surgery. He was in extreme pain, so that was really hard on both of us,
obviously. On top of that, some of you guys know I have clinical depression as well as generalized
anxiety. And around this time, my anxiety was off the charts. I'm talking maximum capacity.
So the release of Eve was really stressful for me, not only because it was my very first book,
but because I was going through a lot of personal stuff that just made everything that much harder.
Fortunately, the release was a big success, and I am so thankful to everyone who helped make
that happen. But I just wanted to explain why this memory isn't on the list. Even though the release
went better than I had expected. There were things going on behind the scenes that prevented
me from enjoying the experience. So now that we dropped that turd in the punchbowl, let's get
to my favorite book memories. My first memorable book moment is when I wrote my very first book,
The Funeral. When I was in the first grade, for one day a week we would spend the first half
of class writing and illustrating our very own books. We would bind them with construction paper,
we would dedicate them to someone, it was super adorable. This is actually the moment I realized
I wanted to be an author. I always looked forward to this day, it was my favorite thing to do. And
I just loved everything about the story creating process. So basically, ever since I was six years
old, I've known that I wanted to be an author, and creating these little construction paper books is
easily my fondest childhood memory. That said, the first book I ever wrote was called The Funeral.
It was about a dead Cat, so there's that. The Funeral, a story by a child who desperately needs
therapy. If you haven't watched my video where I read the story out loud, check it out, I've got
it linked below, it's some fucked up shit. My second memorable book moment is when I finished
reading Ella Enchanted. Like most writers, I grew up an avid reader, but most readers are always
talking about how invested they get into stories, and how connected they are to the characters,
and book hangovers, and all this other crap. This almost never happens to me. I enjoy reading,
but it's very hard for me to get connected to someone else's story. Most of the time I just
spend the entire reading experience thinking about how I would have written it differently. But one
of the only books that left me feeling completely invested was Ella Enchanted. I read Ella Enchanted
maybe in the fifth grade. And I remember being so into it that my mom had to drive me somewhere at
night, and I just kept reading in the pitch black car with the book right up to my face, because I
could not stop. When I finished reading it was both the happiest and most depressing moment,
because I had just gone through this amazing experience, but now it was over. And there
was no one to talk to about it cuz no one gave a shit. But aside from the fact that this is one of
the only books to get me fully invested, this reading experience was particularly memorable
for me because I distinctly recall thinking: this right here is the goal, this is how I wanna make
people feel when they read my work. Obviously not in the same way or with the same kind of story,
but I knew I wanted to make people feel totally wrapped up in whatever I decided to publish. And
I never forgot that feeling. Nowadays a lot of people ask me if I’ll ever reread Ella Enchanted
and the answer is: hell no. If I reread it now, it'll just expose all the faults I didn't notice
as a child, and potentially ruin this really cute memory for me. My third memorable book moment was
when I read Dante's Inferno. We've gone from Cinderella to the depths of hell. When I was a
junior in high school, my English teacher assigned Dante's Inferno as our in class reading. If you're
not familiar, Dante’s Inferno is part of a super long pretentious poem called The Divine Comedy,
and this section follows Dante's journey traveling through hell. Dante’s Inferno was a memorable
reading experience for me because it actually helped with my confidence, oddly enough. For
most of my life, I've been interested in darker themes in art. Like blood, depression, range—the
uplifting stuff. That funeral story is starting to make a lot more sense, isn't it? I like the idea
of taking something ugly, and turning it into something beautiful, like music or a story. Or
using it as a way to connect with people who maybe have experienced that ugliness firsthand, and
feel like no one else can relate. So since I've always been fascinated by this stuff, naturally,
I wanted to input it into my writing. But I was very aware of the fact that people might judge me,
or think I was a freak. I don't give a fuck about people's opinions now, but back in high school,
I cared a lot. So when I read Dante's Inferno, it was kind of an eye opener for me. It was a crazy
poem filled with beautiful words that literally describe torture. Not only that, but this was
something my teacher was making us read. It's considered quality literature. For the record,
I'm not comparing my work to The Inferno, it's just that reading it made me feel a lot less
self conscious about the sort of stuff I wanted to write. It gave me the green light to wave my freak
flag. Lastly, we have bonus memory number four. My all time favorite has been the entire process
of writing The Savior's Champion. I mentioned already that while writing Eve I felt a lot of
pressure because pretty much everyone except for Cliff was rooting for me to fail. After I released
Eve that pressure was immediately lifted. Eve performed well, my youtube channel flourished,
I was basically living my dream. So when I went to work on The Savior's Champion, I didn't have
that nagging voice in the back of my head telling me that I had to prove everyone wrong. I was just
able to focus on what I love to do, and that's writing. I also got validation that I didn't know
I needed. The most common compliments I received about Eve were regarding my absolute favorite
scenes to write, which just so happened to be the scenes I was most insecure about. This was
another weight lifted, because I felt a lot more confident while writing TSC. I wasn't as worried
about whether or not readers would like it. I was just able to trust my instincts and creativity. A
lot of people ask me if writing the second book is harder because there's pressure to outdo yourself,
and this may be the case for some people, but it hasn't been that way for me. I know I've
grown as a writer. I can see it in my work, I can see it in my overall writing process.
And that just makes me even more excited about my book and where it's headed. Basically writing The
Savior's Champion was a complete joy from start to finish. The parts that frustrated me with my
first book didn't frustrate me this time around. I enjoyed outlining, I enjoyed the drafting,
I even enjoyed editing. And I think there will always be some element of pressure,
but that doesn't change the fact that I had a lot of fun writing this book,
and I'm honestly so excited to do it all over again, with my third book . So that's all I got
for you today. A huge thank you to Lily Bloom for tagging me. I'm gonna go ahead and tag writer and
YouTuber Bella Rose Pope. I've got both of their information listed below, get on it. I'm also
gonna tag anyone who feels like participating. This was a super fun and kind of cathartic tag,
consider it cyborg approved. With that said, don't forget to subscribe to my channel. I post new
videos on Wednesdays. And if you wanna be alerted as soon as I upload, click on that little bell.
My book is still available in ebook and paperback on Amazon right now. You can also order a signed
copy, links are listed below. And if you have any questions be sure to tweet me @JennaMoreci! Bye!