Feeling Boxed In with Guest Blogger: Chicki Brown

 Meet author Chicki Brown 
today at the Book Boost!

The past ten years have provided me more opportunities to step outside of my comfort zone than I’ve had in my entire life. Let me explain. From the time I graduated from high school, I worked in corporate office support. That means I did everything for everyone else and basically wasn’t allowed to make any decisions. So, my days we filled with carrying out other people’s decisions. As long as they paid me, I stayed within the confines of that box.

In 2001, I started writing merely from on-the-job boredom. Over the next ten years everything about my life changed. I finished that first novel, got laid off from the job, started working from home, joined Georgia Romance Writers (a real stretch for me, because normally I hate meetings), got an agent, started my own local writer’s group, fired my agent, got another agent, wrote eight more novels, made the decision to self-publish, entered the world of social networking, and probably one hundred other things I’d never done before.

I mention all of this to prove that I am qualified to write about stepping out of your comfort zone and trying something completely new. Believe me, the fear you will experience can be a monster, but if there is something you really want to do that scares you silly, you should run toward it not away from it. Conquering a challenge and going to the next level can do more for your self-esteem than hours of expensive counseling.

We all have dreams, some GOAL we want to accomplish, even if those dreams are buried very deep inside. Mine just happened to be the desire to become a published author. Yours might be starting a business, going back to school to get a degree, or opening yourself up to love after heartbreak. Taking any major step is frightening and requires us to step outside of our self-created comfort zones, but the rewards on the other side are so worth pushing through the fear.

Perhaps this is why I always write about characters facing major decisions. In my new short story, divorcee Jan Davis meets Mac Sinclair, a man who is eleven years her junior. Her self-esteem was severely battered after a marriage to an emotionally distant man. Just the idea of going out on a date is enough to paralyze Jan, and the fact that he’s a sexy, younger man terrifies her even more. In addition to her own fears, Jan has to confront the attitudes and opinions of her daughters and, eventually, Mac’s mother.

If you’d like to read a story about a woman that steps outside of her comfort zone and into a new life, I hope you'll pick up a copy of You Make Me Feel Brand New.

A Note from the Book Boost:  I'm glad you took that leap outside the box and I'm sure our readers will love checking our your book.  Thanks for joining us today at the Book Boost


Blurb:

One year ago, personal chef Jan Davis signed her divorce papers after a miserable twenty-five-year marriage. She is single again, and romantic attention is as foreign to her as ancient Carthaginian cuisine.

When she meets her new client, sports management agent Mac Sinclair, who is eleven years younger, Jan’s life takes a complete turnaround. She’s thrilled, but everyone in her life isn’t as pleased.

Want More Chicki?

Visit her on the web here: http://sisterscribbler.blogspot.com/

Pick up a copy of her book today!  Click here.