Why did I write, with just one click?

MY BACKGROUND: Whoa...my first blog entry...here we go!  First of all, writing has always felt natural to me...I even went to college for scriptwriting and minored in writing, but never fully developed any of my projects after graduating.  I got married, had two children, and kind've placed my passion for writing on hold...shoved into a closet for "another" day.  Well, THAT day finally came.  I guess I could say the very life I lived and still live in typical suburbia actually inspired me like nothing I'd ever experienced before.


THE STORY: A couple of years ago, I started to hear things about Facebook.  I found the sorted details fascinating, because one day I would hear one thing, then the next week I'd hear something else.  REAL stories, happening to REAL people...all coming from the world of social networking. After awhile, I'd kiddingly say to my husband, "I should write a book about this." Months went on, I heard more stories, and I started to say, "That's going in the book." Finally, after repeatedly "joking" about writing a book, I said, " I'm going to write a book."


BRAINSTORMING:  When I realized I was actually going to do this, I sat down and wrote out an outline for the book.  This was the most important part of writing the novel for me...I knew I wanted to have multiple themes that were relatable but unique in some way.  The most intriguing part of Facebook for me are the relationships...there are so many layers of social networking. I wanted to try to peel back just a few of them to reveal the good, the bad, and the ugly.


with just one click: The title represents the meaning behind the book...there are three women with three very different stories-there's Chloe, friended by an ex who left her standing at seventeen with a note in her hand, there's Morgan, a loyal wife and mother who finds out her husband is friends with a flirtatious and single ex, and there's Brynn, a married, but lonely forty year-old who begins to have an emotional relationship with a friend. Each character has a moment where, with just one click, their life has changed. I'm not saying for the better or worse, that's up to the reader to debate and conclude on their own.
Here's the rundown-Chloe's life will change whether she clicks the button to confirm or ignore her ex-boyfriend...if she accepts, she allows a person back into her life who she hasn't forgotten or fully forgiven.  If she denies the request, the lingering thoughts of,  "what did he really want" or the, "what if's" will always be with her.  Morgan's life is a little bit different, because she doesn't have the control...she didn't click the button.  If her husband didn't choose to confirm his ex, she would've never known anything and their solid marriage would've continued...but by choosing to accept this friend and not tell his wife, his actions cause her to become jealous and paranoid.  Brynn's life is all about her choices...she chooses to accept an old boyfriend back into her life and risks losing her family and marriage.  If she didn't confirm this man as a friend, would she still face the same issues...or did Facebook contribute to her problems?


THE RESULT: After I decided on the central themes in the book, the characters just came to me.  I spent most nights between 9pm to 2am writing this book.  It took me a  year to write the novel...with 180,000 words, I think I could've had three novels, but I did knock that down to roughly 128,000 words.  I felt I needed to give justice to the three main characters and tell their complete story, but there's a reason why they aren't separate--the reader finds out when the time is right!

***This book gave me back something that had long been missing...the one thing that I could call my own...writing is what I love to do, and this novel has made me believe in myself and my dreams again...people always say you should do what you love. I do not know what the future holds, but I know I'm going to give everything I have and try my best.

Tomorrow, I'm going to talk about self-publishing, the risk I'm taking, and why I feel like I have to be "all in"to be taken seriously.

But before I go, let me know if you or anyone you know has faced some of these same situations on Facebook? (without naming names, of course!)