| I am a HUGE Raider fan, regardless of where my team calls home these days. My undying love has never waivered despite only making the playoffs once since the turn of the Century. Right about now you may be asking, “K.L., I love you but why are you devoting your second ever blog to football? How does this matter to your work or writing process?” Well, dear reader, I argue being a Raider fan is exactly like being an author. Let me explain. In 2002, my team was flying high. That is, until they decided to trade their all-world coach to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They made the playoffs anyway and steamrolled their way to Super Bowl XXVII against, you guessed it, their old coach John Gruden and the Bucs. On paper, the matchup looked lopsided in favor of the Silver and Black. But the night before the Superbowl, everything changed. Their all-star center had a nervous breakdown and no-showed for the freaking Superbowl. They lost 48-21 and were humiliated in all facets of the game. The organization has never fully recovered from that loss and have only made the playoffs once since 2002, even bringing good ol’ John “Chucky” Gruden back into the fold in 2018 on a 10-year contract. We’re still waiting, but the new season is upon us, so there is hope, right? |
| Being a long suffering Raider fan is like the entire writing experience. We stick with them through all of the bad decisions, trades, choke jobs, and muddling in mediocrity because each new season lets us reset our expectations from disappointment to hopeful that we will finally achieve the success that has so often alluded us. Every year, we Raider fans believe “this is the year” no matter how much we have been through since 2002. Even when the proverbial blown game, bad play, consecutive losses, and missing of the playoffs occurs again, we still pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and don our Raider gear on opening day, ready for the next rollercoaster ride to begin anew. |
| This is the process I went through when writing Hat Trick. I had so many ideas for Alex and Janelle right out the gate. I wrote and wrote and wrote, until I hit that proverbial wall and couldn’t string two sentences together that made a lick of sense. I went deep inside my head and let my insecurities take over so much I almost quit writing. Yet I had no desire to let my own head discourage me from a dream I’ve had since I was a child. I was not going to let my “frightened of feedback” self win again. So, rather than fight it, I let myself go through the journey of feeling inadequate and out of my league in order to purge myself of those emotions that do nothing but hold me back. I cried, yelled, and cursed it all out until I drained all of the power from the monster. While incredibly exhausted, the creativity blocking walls shattered and a fantastic story came fully to life. While there’s a hockey theme to the book, I think Ali and I scored a touchdown with Hat Trick and I feel great about our chances of climbing the lesfic charts thanks to you. |
| Moral of the blog – JFDI – Just Fucking Do It! Every day is a new opportunity. Every word on the page is a gateway to many more if you just let yourself believe that you are good enough. Apply JFDI to what you have always wanted to do, but never let yourself believe you could. YOU. CAN. DO. IT. Don’t forget Hat Trick is out in just 8 more days on Affinity Rainbow Publications and Amazon. I can’t wait for you to read it. |
