"See, you can write!"

That's what a professor wrote on one of my papers in college. 
Boy did that piss me off! 
On the surface it may seem harmless. But since she’d spent every class period, and paper, prior to that making me feel like an illiterate imbecile, you can imagine my lack of enthusiasm at the comment.  Perhaps it wasn’t her fault, it was her job to make me a better writer, but I’ve never thrived under that kind of mentorship. 
In high school, I had an English Lit teacher who hated me.  I worked my tail off for her and she never gave me anything better than a B.  Meanwhile, some of my classmates didn’t even bother to read the assigned books, and she’d praise them for their thoughts.  Over Thanksgiving break my freshman year in college I ran into that teacher.  Here’s how that went:
Me: “Mrs. George*, I got a B on my first paper in Freshman English at MWC!”
Mrs. George (in a very dry voice): “Did you take it back and find out what you did wrong?”
*Less out of a desire to protect the innocent and more out of fear that she will somehow read this, edit it, critique it, and then force me to fix it, I have changed her name.
With encouragement like that, it’s a wonder that I ever wrote even so much as my name on anything!
Despite the rocky road, I still find myself sitting in front of my computer at all hours of the day and night, banging away at the keys.  I can’t help it.  I have stories that I’d like to share.  I remember writing stories when I was a kid.  I’d lock myself in my room for hours and write page after page of my silly schoolgirl stories.  Sometimes a friend would read them, but usually I just kept them to myself.  That hasn’t really changed. 
As an adult, when I sat down to write my first book, I really had no desire to share it.  A friend helped me when I’d get stuck, and she convinced me to let her read it as I wrote it.  It was fun!  The process was exhilarating.  Anyone who has ever created characters, stories, and places knows that feeling.
I was happy with it all stopping there, but then another book followed.  The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth books just came flying out after that.  Somehow this fun escape from reality had transformed into a compulsion to tell these stories.  My friend, and eventually my family, convinced me that all that effort should be shared with others. 
So now I am sharing.  I have two books currently up for sale on Amazon.  Both are available for the Kindle for a bargain price of $2.99.  Here are the links:
Christmas in Hell
Across the Pond
I would love for you to read them and let me know what you think, even if it’s hard to hear! 
Thank You!