A Grateful Heart

When I began my writing career three years ago, I had no idea what the future would bring. My friends A, C, L and S suggested I write, to express what I was thinking and feeling. I shared my first poems with them; they were positive in their comments, and encouraged me to write more. The more I wrote, the more I looked forward to sharing my poems with my friends. They supported me and my writing, and encouraged me to continue.

Months after I began writing, my confidence had grown. One day I asked a friend what he thought about my creating a blog of my writing. He encouraged me to create a blog. With much trepidation, I built my first blog, “Words of Hope.” At first, the blog was private-I only let A, C, L and S read what I had written. I was not confident in my skills as a writer. 

I did not have the courage to share my writing with anyone else. I then had a discussion with my friend L. He asked when I was going to make the blog public. I told him I did not know; I did not feel ready for that. He then said, “What if you could help someone with your writing? What if you could help someone who is going through a similar issue, or hard time in their life?” L was right. I immediately went to the blog and changed the settings to public.

Over the years I continued to write on my blog, in Spanish and English. My blog became more and more popular, and 

I became more confident as a writer. Then the folks here at Blogger created a new feature on their pages, “Translate.” 

I thought that would be a better idea for me, for me to post my poems in English, and then have the website translate the poem for the reader, in their language. I then decided to create a new blog, this blog, “Letters to the Moon.”

In December of 2012 I let my readers know that I was going to be changing blogs with the New Year, and my reasoning for doing so. I shared the link to this blog, so my readers could find me. On my first blog, I averaged 20-30 people a month. I was happy with those numbers; I hoped that people would follow me to my new blog. They followed me alright.

This blog is the most successful thing I have ever done. Since its launch, I have had over 10,000 visitors, from more than 30 countries around the world, including the United States, Peru, Russia, France, Mexico, Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Australia, the Netherlands, Japan, Serbia, Albania, India, Thailand and more. Blog visits average more than 1,200 a month.

When I began writing, I never dreamed that I would start a blog, let alone two. I never dreamed that readers around the globe would be reading my poetry. I never dreamed that readers would have the opportunity to read my words and thoughts in their language. As I opened up my heart and began to write, so did the world.

The journey is just beginning. I have created my own publishing company, La Luna Press, to publish collections of my poetry. I will have two volumes poetry, called “I am Hope” and “The Bigger Picture”, which will be available in Spanish and English. My hope is to have the books ready for purchase by 2014. I am also working on my first novel, “Samantha”, which I hope to have ready by 2015.

I want to thank my family for their continued support, and for helping me to realize my dream. I want to thank my friends A, C, L, S, who first encouraged me to write. I want to thank my friends A, A, X, B, R, M, who continue to sustain me. 

I also want to thank all of the artists I have met around the world, of all art forms, for your friendship, for welcoming me as a fellow artist, for your unwavering support of me and my writing. Thank you especially to C, E, M, E, P, J, D, L, N, E. Your support and friendship mean so much to me. I also want to thank Candice Terry for featuring me as the author day on her blog, and to Everyone Matters for featuring me.

Finally, I want to thank you, the reader, for continuing to read my work. I promise I will continue to write as inspiration comes. Thank you for your continued support. Thank you for reading the words of hope, and the letters to the moon. The support you have shown me means more than you will ever know. I truly write this to you with a humble, thankful, and grateful heart.

Candice Terry: http://youbeenbloggedcram.blogspot.com/

Everyone Matters: http://everyonematters2012.com/

Words of Hope: http://www.esperanzahabla.blogspot.com/

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