Back to the Basics

I’ve been thinking about something lately that needs to be said. A lot needs to change over the next few days. For weeks now I’ve been letting outside influences dictate what I do, what I say, and even how I write. This blog was supposed to be about my life and nothing else. I’ve heard people telling me how I should promote my books on here constantly and how I should always be positive because apparently that’s what people want to hear. Believe it or not, I’m not a machine. I don’t always feel positive or inspired. I don’t always think about books either, so I’m going to let you know who I really am and end the stupid idea that my blog, my Facebook, or my books should be marketed and written in a certain way that supposedly appeals to the majority of people.

Hi, I’m Mitch Grace. I love writing because it’s a safe place for me to hide from a reality that’s anything but what I need it to be. My other comfort is music. I can’t wait for the new #Avenged Sevenfold and #AFI albums to come out later this year. I also love a band that’s not as well-known, named #One Less Reason. If you’re ever going to give a band a chance that you haven’t heard of, that’s who you should listen to. I absolutely love video games, and in general I’m a little bit of a nerd. I would rather be on the computer or playing a game than out with friends at a party or a bar any day of the week. As you can see, I’m not the most social person in the world. As a matter of fact, I find that my personality doesn’t click with most people. What I’m trying to say is that I don’t make friends easy, but if I do like you that probably won’t ever change. I love the #Green Bay Packers, and I used to love SEC football until a collection of idiots turned me off of that. I don’t like unintelligent rivalries like the one between #Mississippi State and #Ole Miss. At the end of the day, I think a rival is someone you should be able to respect even if you don’t like them. I can’t respect the attitude of most football fans where I live. I love basketball also. No, it’s not the most popular sport where I live, but it provides a certain level of excitement that even football fails to do at times. I love the #Boston Celtics, #Indiana Pacers, and #Memphis Grizzlies. I absolutely hate walls. That probably sounds odd, but it’s true. I always hated the inside of classrooms, and at times, I hate the walls in my home. I hate feeling like there’s nowhere to go or that I’m helplessly trapped in the area I was born in. That sounds bad. I’m not running down this area at all. There are some great people here, but there is still a large part of me that wants to see more of the world and experience cultures that I can’t experience here. Here’s another thing you may not know about me. Sometimes I get extremely angry. Yesterday was the perfect example of that. A message board was started without my knowledge on a site online, and some idiots on it made a campaign to apparently try to ruin the work I’ve done on my books. These people had never read my books, and I know that because I looked through my sales. There had been no new ones. Within one hour, they all went through and marked every review I had on my book as unhelpful. I’m not going to be surprised when I start seeing bad reviews popping up from these people. I don’t mind bad reviews if the person has actually read my work. Bad reviews are just an opinion, after all. When you haven’t read what I do and you want to attack me, it makes me angry, however. I know that these people are nothing more than internet trolls, but there’s still such a part of me that wants to find them and make them hurt for trying to ruin something just out of meanness. I’ve never understood people like that, and as wrong as it sounds, I hope that people who rain on others parade just to do it are unsuccessful and unhappy for all of their days. That was another thing I wasn’t supposed to mention. As an author, I’m not supposed to even acknowledge the trolls on the internet, but you know what? That’s just not me. I love music that falls into the rock/emo/and metal genres, I don’t turn the other cheek so easily, I love sports and talking to intelligent fans about them, and most of all, I love writing because it keeps me sane. It allows me to release something that otherwise might kill me.

I guess the whole point of this was to get one message across to everyone who wants to say what I ought to do. That message is that there is no right or wrong way to write a book. You just write what you want to write and be you. Reviews will come when they come, and success will come when it does. There’s no need to hurry, and there’s no need to lie about who you are to try to make it come sooner. For me, what I do is a window into my soul, and from this point forward all people will see is what there is. I’m flawed, sometimes I’m happy, and sometimes I’m sad. I feel love starved, I say the wrong thing more times than not, I’m clumsy, and most of all, what I am changes from day to day. Here’s to being exactly what I am. People can like it or they can’t. I don’t really care because quite frankly I love what I’m doing as long as I’m doing it my way, and from this day forward that’s how it’ll be done, for better or worse.