Confessions of an Author

Good Morning! in keeping with my latest theme, I wanted to share another guest post from my book tour with you. This one was originally written for fun blog,  Electively Paige a big thank to her for letting me part of it! 

Confessions of an Author

My name is Mindy Larson and I have a confession to make... I am an addict. I am addicted to books, coffee, chocolate, spicy foods, shoes, and Pinterest!

What are some your guilty pleasures? 

Read on and see if yours are anything like mine!

1-I have over a thousand books. Only a few are on my kindle. I love to hold the book. Smell the books pages. Feel the weight in my hands. I love romances. Thrillers. Inspirational type books. Mysteries. Old books. New books. Some of which I've read. Others sit patiently on the shelf, keeping their secrets to themselves, hoping and waiting I'll choose them next. Some have been waiting days, weeks, months, and a few have even been waiting years! One day, I will read them all. This is a promise. If only I didn't keep adding to my collection, it wouldn't be easier said than done!

2-Coffee and I are close. Everyday I start my day with coffee. I love its earthy scent. The rich creamy taste. The warm liquid perks me up, soothes me, and keeps me going! I couldn't do all the things I do without it. My kids wouldn't get driven to school, help with their homework, or even dinner made for them. The laundry would pile up, up, up! The floors would be sticky. The dog wouldn't get fed let alone walked. My blog would get neglected even more so. My next book wouldn't be on track to be finished up anytime soon. And I probably wouldn't ever get to the gym. You get the idea, I wouldn't be the same accomplished woman without it. 

3-There are times when everything is going fine, I'm chilling with my husband on the couch watching King of Queens, and a voice calls to me. 'You want some chocolate." At first its a whisper, a mere suggestion. Shifting my weight under me, I ignore the pull. A few moments go by, and a little louder this time, I hear, "You need some chocolate." Turning around, I see the bag of chocolates sitting on the counter, waving at me. Winking at me. I am weak and I always give in! I can't seem to go even a single day without it.

4-As much as I love a piece of dark chocolate or two, I love spicy food even more! Indian food. Sushi. Thai. Mexican. And if something isn't spicy already I remedy that with three or ten dashes of hot sauce or some crushed red pepper flakes. And as a side benefit I hear spicy peppers are a natural fat burner and even increases your metabolism!

5-Pinterest, Pinterest, what did I do in my spare moments without you?? You know how it goes, someone is watching something on TV you don't particular care for, or your in a LONG line at the store, maybe you're just waiting in your car for your kids to get out of school.. What to do, what to do?? For me its opening my Pinterest on my phone, and in seconds, I'm visually entertained. Talk about major eye candy! My favorite things to pin are clothes, places to travel, inspiring quotes, and yummy food. Actually, I pin everything! I have boards for everything! All the while I know that most likely I will never make those double fudge peanut butter brownies, buy those floral stiletto heels, or book a trip to Italy. But its ok. I just like to think about them. I like to look at them. I like to pin them. And who know's, maybe one day, I will make those brownies, buy those heels, and book a trip to Italy!

6-Shoes glorious, shoes! I have hundreds of shoes. Heels. Boots. Running shoes. Ballet flats. And for lack of space, some of my shoes have even spilled into my daughters room. My youngest loves playing in my heels anyhow. She is a shoe addict in training! 

Books, coffee, chocolate, spicy food, Pinterest, and shoes make me happy. Really happy. And if anything makes you happy, it can't be a bad thing, right?

Thanks so much for reading! I'd love to hear about some of your guilty pleasures! 

What makes you happy?

            

As my third cup of coffee is kicking in; I stare off for a moment. As usual, I am sitting in the corner of my well worn micro-fiber couch. My dog, Lucy, is snuggled next to me. Our TV is paused on Food network. My boyfriend, Troy, is sitting at his computer not ten feet from me. It makes me happy that he is so close. Briefly, I wonder, what should I write about today? Should I work on my new novel, Thirteen Choices? Should I write a new blog post for my blog? As I contemplate this, I ask myself, what would make me happy?

 Looking up to my right, I see a stunning bouquet of balloons. Pink. Silver. Black.  And in the middle of the delightful floating balloons, is a special Mylar that reads; Happy Sweet Sixteen! Light glitters and sparkles off all twelve of them in a magical way. My daughter, Ashtyn, turned sixteen yesterday.  I am not sure if she appreciates them as much as I do but either way its ok. These balloons make me smile. They make me happy. It’s amazing and surreal to be a parent of a sixteen year old girl. She’s smart. Beautiful inside and out. She plays first chair violin in the orchestra at her high school and has almost all straight A’s. I even adore her friends almost as much as I adore her. I am one of the blessed, lucky parents. Of course I realize that not one parent out there would say otherwise about their kids.

We’re all lucky and blessed.

            

Repeatedly I strive to count my blessing and to do what makes me happy and to choose joy. I tell my loved ones to do what makes you truly happy and feel good, too. Personally I love to write. I love to run. I love to bake and cook. Each and every day I make a point of doing some or even all of my passions. Writing is number one for me. Whether I write a few chapters for my new novel, a blog posts, or even just a quick message to a loved one of Facebook, I write.  

While enjoying the balloons in my living room, I opened up Pinterest on my phone. I am a total Pinterest addict. I love Pinterest. I look at it when I am bored, when I need inspiration, when I am in line at the grocery store, when I want a new way to style my hair, when I want to make something special for dinner, when I need fashion inspiration, when I want to daydream about a vacation to Italy, when there is nothing on TV, and even when I am watching TV. You get the idea; I look at Pinterest all the time. Today a super cure pair of shoes caught my eye. I love shoes. These were, oh my god, I want these shoes! Dusty blue heels with cream lace leather detail on the toe! They make smile. It doesn’t matter that in order for me to purchase them I would have to pay more in the shipping costs than the actual pair of shoes, because for a few brief lovely moments, I am smiling! I envision myself wearing them at a book signing, at a fancy restaurant with my boyfriend, or even just with a pair of rockin’ skinny jeans to go pick up the kids from school and stop off at the grocery store. They make me smile. They make me feel good and there is never anything wrong with that. If you want to check out my shoe board on Pinterest, here's the link 
Mindy's shoe board: Life is short, buy the shoes!

Today, I invite you to pay attention to makes you smile and to remember to do more of what makes you happy. Whether you just stare off at some balloons, enjoy looking at a fabulous pair of shoes, or a fourth cup coffee, do whatever it is that makes you smile and watch your spirits sore!

All about me

My name is Mindy Rae Boyer Larson. I am a thirty six year old writer and a mother to four great kids. I am a big sister to three great brothers. I am daughter. I’ve recently found the love of my life. I am a runner. A baker. A lover. A sister. A friend.

 I have an amazing life.

Some of the highlights and things that stick out as I look back at my life evokes many emotions: happiness, longing, sadness, pain, pleasure. The list could go on. But I really don’t want to dwell on the past. I am so happy in my day to day life that and living in the moment that I rarely want to think about the past at all, but I am who I am today because of everything.

I am not perfect. I am human and I didn’t always make the best choices. Growing up, I was the cliché bad girl. I skipped a lot of school; I hung out with the cool kids and partied. I was pregnant at sixteen. I broke my parents’ hearts but I rose to the occasion. There was no choice. I was going to keep my baby. I loved my son more than anything. I wanted to be the best mom possible. Knowing my schooling would play a role in this; I continued my education. I graduated on time and with my class in 1995. Six months later I was given another choice, and wanting to do what I felt was right at the time, I married my high school boyfriend. He’s not the biological father of my son but raised as his own. I was eighteen. He was twenty.

Being a wife and a mother, forced me into growing up even more so. We were young. We weren’t ready to be married. Early on I was unhappy. He was unhappy. We weren’t a good match. And as a result, our four children suffered. We tried our best and stuck it out until December of last year, 2012. I made the decision of parting ways and divorcing. I wanted to show my kids that I could be a happy, content, and a fulfilled parent. My hopes were that someday they would be able to see a healthy and loving example of how adults could exist together. The very thought gave drove me through difficult times. Parting ways meant I was giving up the security of being married to a successful and wealthy man. I remember even asking myself, 'what are you thinking? You have no job. No job skills. You’re just a stay at home mom for crying out loud! You’re stuck, baby.'

 It was at my lowest point that I reminded myself that I have the ability to make another choice. As difficult as it was. It helped to remind myself of my value and of my talents. I have a good heart. An intelligent mind. A fit and healthy body. I am a good mom. A good writer. I have always been writer. I have written kids books. I could write a novel, a damn good one at that. Daily I pumped myself up, telling myself that I am a great writer and a great mom and that I could do this. It’s going to happen. And I am pleased to say that it did. But it wasn’t easy! And at the time I was beyond scared to consider going out on my own without a dime to my name. But I wanted more and somehow I just knew that things would work out.

                                           

                                           The times they are a changing.

When I signed those final papers a proverbial weight lifted from my petite frame and I was free. It was a very magical time. I went to movies, concerts, I even signed up for 5k running event where I ran 
 through a field of lavender.















I went to Disneyland with my parents and kids. I went to the beach and I was healed and very happy for the first time in a very long time. Every day was like my birthday. I was reborn. Each day I began my day by writing in my gratitude journal. I wrote ten things that I was grateful for and why. It feels amazing to do this. And I highly recommend it! Do it when you’re feeling down to remind yourself of all the great things that are going on and take your focus off the pain.  Or even better, just do it when you’re feeling happy to reinforce more feel good.
 

                                          Just do it. 

Hopefully, I am not getting too over the top here. And I’ll be the first to tell you that not every day was ideal, after all, this is life. We all have ups and downs. To quote Johnny Depp, “The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem.”

In the beginning days when my kids were with their dad I missed them like missing a limb. My hear hurt. I had such anxiety that I literally shook. OK so maybe part of it was because of my coffee addiction. Nothing beats a cup of coffee, a good book, and a closet full of shoes and clothes. Nonetheless I powered through the tough times. Whenever the kids were at their dads, I did things for me. I wrote a lot. I gave myself facials and pedicures. I worked out like crazy. I was in the best shape of my life. Wanting to continue my new positive lifestyle, I quickly abandoned the novel I had been working on, and I began a new novel, This Morning I Woke Up Dead

If you haven't already, check out my facebook page This Morning I Woke Up Dead and  Pinterest Mindy Larson and goodreads.com

In July of 2012, I met the love of my life, Troy Gilbert. We cook together. We clean together. We workout together. We’ve travel. We’ve been to California, Utah, Las Vegas, Arizona, and Wyoming and even have plans to go all over the world. We laugh every day. We are a wonderful team in this crazy thing called life. He makes me feel cherished and special. He has single handedly renewed my faith in love. And by feeling these wonderful magical things I was able to create Hadley and Dominic’s love story in, This Morning I Woke Up Dead.

                             
                 I am happy. I am a writer. I am a good Mom. I am in love. I am me.