Out in the world!

Welcome to my very first blog! I'd like to thank anyone who has decided to take time out of their busy day to read on! The thought that someone outside of immediate family/ friends is reading my words right this very second fills me with a thrill I didn't even know existed until I decided to stick my wet nose out into the world and join the rest of the pack.

My name is Katerina Martinez, and my passion is telling stories. I figured out early in life that I was good at it but routine, family and an unhealthy fear of the unknown had me quickly settled into a desk job and consigned to a life of mind-numbing drudgery at the whims of my employers. The idea that I was meant to do more with myself didn't come until a few years ago when, after a family crisis, I decided to put myself first and stop trying to please everyone else.

Now I'm a girl with a keyboard, a blinking cursor, and the world at her fingertips! It took guts to hit that yellow "Publish" button and take the step from Writer to Author, but I've done it and now I'm ready live in the world of criticisms, reviews, social media, blogs, and of course the ever present word-goal. I've never blogged in my life, but I've noticed that all the blogs (or at least a majority of them) about writing, self-publishing and marketing have been written by people who've "been there" and "done that".

I'm in the thick of it right now.

I'm at that turbulent, nebulous point where I worry about whether or not I'm going to make it, whether I'll be brave enough to ride through the storm and come out on the other side a better person, free from the shackles of mediocrity and free to live and breathe and share the worlds I create. In many ways, I'm that fresh kitten sticking her nose anywhere it'll fit not knowing whether the experience will be positive or negative - only that I have to do it, and then tell people about it.

I'm hoping that others in my situation will read this and be able to at least relate to what I'm saying, or at best find strength in my words. That, to me, would be better than even becoming a best-selling author! However, since I'm a writer and my personal development rests in the hands of people who see my work, I would be grateful for - and indeed encourage - any comments or tips related to writing, self-publishing and marketing books. And if someone decides that they want to read my books and let me know what they think about my writing, I would be absolutely ecstatic!

So anyway, before closing this first blog, I'm going to tell you what genres I'll be writing about/ interested in discussing and end with a link to my first piece of work "Taken In Darkness":

- Horror
- Mystery
- The Paranormal/ Occult
- Romance (Paranormal Romance being, primarily, what I'm most interested in)
- Sci-Fi
- Post-Apocalyptic
- Erotica (though not necessarily as a primary genre)

"Taken In Darkness: 7 Supernatural Shorts" - this is my first piece of work available on Amazon now as an eBook. This book is an Erotic Anthology of 7 short stories touching upon the paranormal (Vampires, Witches, Werewolves, Angels, etc). Why Erotic? Honestly, because being the shy person I've always been in life I thought eroticism in my novels was what I would struggle the most with, and I wanted to not just overcome that hurdle but cut through it in a blaze of glory!

Even though I've only had two reviews on this piece, I'm confident to have succeeded in my task (of both writing it and publishing it) and will use the experience as a font of strength to get me through the rest of the ordeal of working two jobs until I'm free to focus entirely on what I love to do; write stories!

My next piece, a novel called "Midnight Magick" is already coming along, and I can't wait to tell you all about it! But first, please feel free to comment, Tweet or email me! I'd love to hear other people's stories too!

Thanks for reading!

Kat

xoxo