Friday, January 29, 2016

Is it okay to get personal?

Obviously, it's never a good idea to give your life's history on social media. But how personal is it all right to get? Hmmm. That sentence sounded better in my head.

If I didn't need social media to be in contact with readers and network with fellow authors, I can tell you right now, I wouldn't be on there. And not just Facebook. I wouldn't be ANYWHERE. It's not that I don't enjoy a good game of Candy Crush now and then, being on social media is very time consuming. That's time that I could be writing my next book. 

That being said, if you're on places like Facebook often, you tend to get comfortable with people that you regularly interact with. I've seen some pretty gasp worthy overshares in my time. (Posted publicly) LOL I don't mean people you get to know on a personal basis and send private messages to. (Although you have to be careful who you trust with that as well.) I mean people you are casually in touch with.

In my case, I want to be myself. But, that should probably never happen in public. Ha. Ha. Ha. No, really. 

The main group of people that I interact with is my readers. I want them to know me, actually know me. I don't want to be fake or lie about myself in any way. I also don't want to accidentally divulge too much.

Some people might not realize how hard it is to walk that line. Can you imagine never being able to express an opinion? You can NEVER talk about politics and religion, for example. Not that I would. You can never post a controversial news headline. Oh, and never ever talk about reviews. You will be crucified. You are not allowed to have an opinion about what someone said about your life's work, so don't even go there.

All right, you can, but you will always offend someone. When you have any small bit of a public persona, that is never a good thing.

Most readers are amazing, cool people. But then there's the flip side. There are nutters out there. Oh yes, there are nutters. I've come in contact with more than my share. Therefore, even on my personal page, I am censored. I don't share where I live, where I went to school. I don't post pictures of my family. As far as most people know it's just me and my dogs. You can never be too safe. And you can never, ever let your guard down and just be you.

I suppose this rambling post is just to say the struggle is real. I want to know my readers and I want them to know me. But I find that I end up censoring myself so much.

I express my true self in my books through a variety of different characters. I know some people assume that I'm the heroine, but that is rarely ever true. I've even had characters that were writers before. Naturally, that sparked some nasty comments of me writing about myself. Um, no. They are nothing like me. Usually, I'm the villain, or the sarcastic secondary character, or even the hero. 

People who read my books and really enjoy them, they are the ones who actually know me.

I've heard writers say, "Just because you read my books doesn't mean you know me." While that may be true for some, it isn't for me. If you really pay attention to my books, you know me.




Thursday, January 7, 2016

Happy New Year!

I hope the new year is treating everyone well. :) I am happy to say that I've finally finished, "There's No Place." Book 4 still needs to be edited and polished, but the majority of the work is done. I started this story 8 years ago and put it aside. It felt so good to finally write, "The End." For those who haven't heard, "There's No Place" will be released beginning in March of this year. 

I also plan to do more giveaways on my Facebook page soon. 

Visit Tracey's author page.

On a random side note, I'm training for an obstacle course race. So if I sound scatterbrained, that might have something to do with it. LOL

Happy New Year!



Kate thought the hardest part of returning to her hometown would be facing her ex, Gerry. After all, she left him the day before their wedding. Turns out the hardest part was learning that he is now engaged to someone else. Oh, and somewhere in the past six years, he became a werewolf.

As if things weren’t complicated enough, she just broke up with her own fiancĂ©, the man she left with in the first place. 

Jacob Warner has done everything within his power to maintain magical control over Kate, but his hold over her is beginning to lose strength, no matter what he does.


Kate’s heart yearns for the past she cannot reclaim, and the man she left behind. As the expression goes, there’s no place like home.

Warning: This series contains some graphic language, sex, and violence. There will be a happy ending.

There’s No Place - Release Schedule:

Book One – Homecoming - March 2016
Book Two – Embracing the Beast - April 2016
Book Three – Interfering with Destiny - May 2016
Book Four – Claiming the Wolfman - June 2016