H - To Be a Writer, You Don't Need...a Home + BONUS

 

When I was thirteen, we lost our home to foreclosure. I still remember getting the news when I came home, packing up my belongings in plastic grocery bags, and running up the moving truck ramp with my arms loaded. A lot of my stuff broke. We were terrified because we thought we had to get out that night and would only be able to bring what we could fit into that one moving truck. Fortunately, we had thirty days to leave. Those thirty days were filled with fear and worry and doubt.

We found a cute home to move into that reminded me of a farmhouse, but I would never forget my childhood home. I would never stop grieving for it. I would never stop disliking or feeling jealous over the new family who moved in.

Our stay at the cute farmhouse-styled home didn’t last long. Two years. Two years in which my parents got a divorce, I had spine surgery, my father moved to Michigan, and things at home became more dangerous and scarier at the hands of my half-brother.

My family moved into an apartment, where that danger and fear escalated. A year later, my sisters got places of their own, and my mom, my two brothers, and myself moved into another apartment, where life became a downright nightmare.

When I couldn’t take it anymore, I lived with one sister for a handful of months, sleeping on an air mattress that would deflate in the middle of the night. That situation was not ideal. I was used and mistreated, so I lived with another sister, sleeping on couch cushions for a few months. During all of those months, I felt displaced, unwanted. My future was in question. What would happen to me?

Finally, my mom and I moved into our first apartment to ourselves, but my fear wouldn’t die, because my half-brother knew where we lived. He would come back during the day, banging on the door, when I was alone and taking care of my nephew.

Due to money issues, over a year later, my mom and I moved in with one of my sisters. Problems arose that had me moving in with my best friend for a few months until my mom and I could move out of the city.

This was an unstable part of my life that lasted maybe three years but felt like a century. Nowhere I lived during that time felt secure, safe, permanent. None of those places were my home. They were locations...someone else’s home where I was allowed to stay.

I started to doubt I would ever have a place to call my own—a true home. But my feeling of displacement didn’t stop me from writing. Everywhere I lived, I continued to write. And I did it with pen and paper.

Writing was my escape, my sanctuary, my home sweet home.

If you are going through something similar, or even more difficult, make your stories your home, too. Go home whenever you write.

BONUS A TO Z

THEME: AVRIANNA HEAVENBORN

H - The Humble Hotel

We don't read about The Humble Hotel in Universal Killer or Cocky Killer, but you will come across this hotel at some point because it's an important location in Avrianna's history. I'll save any spoilers for what this hotel means to Avrianna and provide a little background to it that is shared in Book One.

The Humble Hotel:

The Goliath family came to New Vida, hoping to revive the oil industry, only to discover New Vida didn’t have petroleum beneath its surface. Instead, New Vida was found to be rich in minerals unique to Earth that were ten times stronger than oil. Too bad for the Goliaths, Vidians knew the history of the dangerous mining of Earth’s natural resources and the Justices blocked anyone from drilling and mining on New Vida. With the oil industry going bust, they had to find another way to keep money lining their pockets. They opened the first hotel chain, in time for the tourist boom—The Humble Hotel.

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A - To Be a Writer, You Don't Need...To Be an Adult + BONUS

B - Break Down Your Goals + BONUS

C - To Be a Writer, You Don't Need...a Coach + BONUS

D - To Be a Writer, You Don't Need a Degree + BONUS

E - HappEEEE (Happiness Jar & 100 Happy Days) + BONUS

F - Feng Shui + BONUS

G - To Be a Writer, You Don't Need...To Be a Good Speller + BONUS

H - To Be a Writer, You Don't Need...a Home + BONUS