You'll never believe it. I hardly believe it myself. I received an e-mail from someone calling me a troll! I laughed so hard! I took it as a compliment but honestly it would be an offense to real trolls. They were talking about a tweet I made saying R J Ellory got mad at me. Well, he did. Whether you read it that way or not, I could tell he was angry. Maybe it wasn't even about what I said, maybe it was about what happened since he's been shamed in public. I think he was just trying to take his feelings out on someone he could easily access instead of the people he was really angry at. Anyway, the "person" said I was being dishonest and nasty because apparently he was very sweet to me. I laughed again! He was? To be honest, the only person who would even have bothered to send that message was R J Ellory. It was the same style of writing and they didn't identify themselves, something that's become a moniker for Ellory. Whoever it was hid behind veiled insults. Sounds like a troll if you ask me. Anyway, I thought it was too funny. For those of you who need a good laugh, click on the link below.

    On September 9 I wrote on Twitter, "@rjellory It's sad that you felt the need to disgrace yourself and the entire literary community with your deception on Amazon". R J Ellory was caught using a false identity to write positive reviews about his own books and negative reviews about his colleague's books. If you're wondering what I'm talking about, please feel free to check out these links to different articles.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9521564/RJ-Ellory-admits-posting-fake-book-reviews-over-past-10-years.html

http://www.inquisitr.com/320594/crime-writer-rj-ellory-caught-writing-fake-reviews-on-amazon/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/04/rj-ellory-fake-amazon-reviews-caught_n_1854713.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/sep/03/rj-ellory-secret-amazon-reviews

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9518531/RJ-Ellory-fake-book-reviews-are-rife-on-internet-authors-warn.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9515593/RJ-Ellory-detected-crime-writer-who-faked-his-own-glowing-reviews.html

    After I wrote my reaction on Twitter I received a private message on my Facebook account from the author himself. I was initially taken aback since he didn't message me on Twitter and he felt the need to respond privately but now I feel that I should share it with the rest of the world.

    The author admitted to writing the reviews but points fingers at other authors, their families and friends. I thought that was a strange and pathetic defense but I suppose he didn't really have a defense at all. The way I see it, he did shame the literary community. Of course he would disagree because that's a strong accusation but in my humble opinion, that's the way I feel. If you read the articles, I'm not the only one either. It's deceitful. Friends and family members writing rave reviews is bound to happen just as parents brag about children to their friends but it is an entirely different thing to assume a false identity and praise yourself. Then on top of that get angry at a stranger for judging them. Those are the consequences.

    The only reason this came to light was because he got caught. It's true Amazon can't prevent this from happening but I think readers need to learn from this and be more diligent when it comes to choosing a book. I would suggest not reading the reviews at all. You never know where they're coming from.

    Right now I'm preparing my submission to a literary contest and I'm excited! I wrote a ghost story! I've never written a ghost story before. I really hope that I do well. This is my second submission ever. It does make me a little nervous but I think that's good. It means I'm invested in my writing.

    I've never felt so passionate about something before. When I was idealistic I thought I might want to be a psychologist or a lawyer but those dreams seem fainter to me now. Right now I want to be an author. With my perseverance I know I will be.

    I think that whoever said, "do what you love" was right. I love writing and it makes me happy. I spend hours writing. Whether it's working on a poem, short story, my novel or the blog, I love it! I hope to look back someday on these early beginnings and think fondly.

    Do what you love, world. It's the best thing you can do.

    As you've probably figured out, I'm a writer. I've been writing my whole life but it wasn't until recently that I realized that's what I want to be, an author. Now I'm taking charge and being a woman of action!

    Except, right now, I feel like I'm waiting. Why am I waiting? What am I waiting for? Well, I just submitted a short story to a literary magazine and I'm waiting to hear back. It's a little bit nerve wracking when I think about it. So most of the time I work on my other short stories, poems or my novel to keep my mind occupied. Then it hits me, I submitted something I wrote to someone I don't know.

    I haven't shown my writing to a lot of people. Unless of course you insist on counting all of the essays I've written. Essays with long, complicated titles and pages and pages of pedantic nonsense. That's how they made me feel anyway. When I write fiction or poetry, I feel...I feel content. It's exactly what I want to be doing. It feels good.

    Then I think about it again and I think, y'know, they probably won't like it. Don't you hate the little nay-sayer in your head? "No, you can't do that," it hisses cruelly. Then the rational part of me says, even if they don't like it, that's okay. They don't have to like it. What's important to me right now is the fact I put myself out there and tried. You know what else? I'm going to keep trying.

    I think failure is just as important as success. In fact, I know it is. Failure teaches you what not to do so you change it for next time. Although who doesn't enjoy success?

    Here's to crossing my fingers for good news!

     Everyone spends time as an adolescent wondering what they're going to be when they grow up. For many of us they are the same things. When I was 12 I was convinced I wanted to be an astronaut more than anything in the whole world. I wanted to explore outer space and experience weightlessness. I even had a poster of Chris Hadfield in my room, a Canadian astronaut.

    Then I found out that you needed to have perfect vision. I just got my first pair of glasses. I felt completely heartbroken. I wanted to be an astronaut. What else could I do? Then I started to think. If I can't be an astronaut, what can I be? I thought I wanted to be Prime Minister of Canada. Someone who could make changes in my country for the better. My new hero became Lester B. Pearson. Not only was he Prime Minister, he had also been a diplomat. I started to think about the possibilities. I could go to law school, become a diplomat and then later, Prime Minister. I had big plans.

    So I went to university and studied an undergraduate degree. I slowly realized that I might not want to go to law school after all. I graduated and thought, what now? What do I do with my life now?

    Then I came to an answer. I wanted to be writer. I've been writing my whole life. Everything from poetry to short stories to essays. I've written more than my share of essays. Now I want to write something bigger. I want to write a book.

    For the past while that's exactly what I've been doing. I've been writing pages and pages of a book. Someday I hope to get my finished book published.

    I think when we're young we follow our passions, wherever they lie. Sometimes our dreams change but that doesn't mean that our passion has to leave.