November 21, 2011

Dear Readers,

Recently, I decided to take a look at my personal and professional life to assess where I've been and where I'm going. Unfortunately, there were a lot of "maybe"s and "someday"s and "what if"s. I had gotten to a point where I felt like I wasn't moving forward anymore, which put me in an unhappy place. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know how important it is for me to keep moving forward and keep striving for my dreams. Problem was, I didn't know I was getting in my own way.

After a lot of soul searching, I realized that was exactly my problem, along with not knowing what I really wanted. It took me a few months of serious introspection but I finally came to understand what I really wanted out of life...what my true dream was. And, of course, it was to be an author.

I know many of you realized this for yourselves long ago. I've always been so inspired by your focus and determination and bewildered by my own hesitation. A fear of success was holding me back and I'm so happy to say, I'm no longer scared.

So today begins a new transition in my life. The transition from writer to author. If you've been following me on Twitter and Facebook, you may have already noticed the shift. What you'll see from now on is more focus on my writing. That may mean I'm not online as much but I also hope that means when I am here, I'm sharing something more valuable--more passion for written word (which you'll see in my future posts) and...my writing! Publication is what I have my sights set on but I know I need a lot more practice along the way. I'm so thrilled to be sharing more fiction online while hunkering down on my novels, taking what I learn from your feedback and making them shine.

Along with my new attitude and goals, I'm starting fresh with a new pen name. I always had a hard time feeling like my old one fit so with this new beginning, I decided to take on a name that felt more like me. In fact, I'm using my given first name with a chosen last name that is more searchable. I hope the transition will be smooth enough.

I'm also so excited to finally launch my new website under my new pen name! All the content you know and enjoy is still there, with one exception--WriterDesign will no longer be available on my site. Never fear! I have already found a new home for the posts and will be posting the information for you to access them shortly.

Sadly, StorieStorm along with "Mallory Snow" will be retired with the knowledge of bigger and better things to come!

And now, I give you the new me. I give you a new website with more excitement, more focus and (I hope) more inspiration. If you're ready to trade your "someday"s for "today"s, I hope you'll join me on my journey. I'll be sharing writing craft posts and thoughts about life as a writer along the way. I have so enjoyed getting to know each one of you and I can't wait to continue to support one another every step of the way.

With all my love and support,

Mallory Snow
Jamie Raintree

Website: http://JamieRaintree.com
FictionPress: http://www.fictionpress.com/~jamieraintree
RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/jamieraintree
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jamieraintree
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jamieraintree
Google +: http://gplus.to/jamieraintree