Skip to main content

A Year Later, Excitement, Support and Pain

We are just days away from the one year anniversary release date of my debut novel Borrowed Time. For me, this sends a surge of emotions through my body. I waited 9 long years to publish a story I wrote and absolutely adore. I had a ball with learning the ins and outs of self publishing (and now still learning proper marketing techniques). I launched the SommerioBooks.com website to host not just my work, but all authors with the Sommerio surname (maiden included). I've donated paperback copies to local library's all across the Chicagoland area. I spoke at two schools regarding publishing, dream pursuing and the importance of literacy. I had a successful book signing, although my tour was canceled shortly after (more on that in a moment), where the support was nothing less than remarkable. I even dipped into philanthropy and launched a campaign for education giving 100% proceeds of my novel to selected schools in Chicago. But this is just the beginning.

You may have heard me mention this before, but in July 2018 tragedy struck my family hard. As a father and husband I didn't think twice about shelving my dreams (again) to focus on the recovery of my family. It has been hard. The posts stopped, the blogs stopped, the website neglected, the book tour canceled. Just as I had gotten started, my writing career reached a screeching halt.

So where am I going with all this? Well I know you too may have a dream. You may have also faced sorrow, tragedy, and maybe even had to combat health woes both physically and mentally. But please let me tell you to never, ever fucking give up. I am just now starting up again. And it doesn't matter if it's a year later, you know why? Borrowed Time is timeless and my love for writing undefeated. No one can take that away from me. My second novel "The Ki" is currently being written. SommerioBooks.com is receiving updated content. Borrowed Time was accepted as credible reading material for several high schools, has been entered in two literature contests and now being advertised heavily on several platforms!

To close, I simply want to say thank you! If you are reading this, more than likely you have been on this journey with me. And as I said before, it has just begun. On May 26, 2019, head over to SommerioBooks.com for my 1 year Anniversary promotion of free copies of BT on every platform (while they last).

We all want to accomplish something with our dream. And with that said, I'll leave you with one of my many quotes:

“I want my greatest accomplishment to be the footprint I leave in the world, no matter how big or small. And that footprint shall be immortality, via the art of storytelling.”
—A.D. Sommerio

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mental Health Should be Nurtured Not Ignored

If this offends you then it very well may be YOU. Too many times I hear “I’m unhappy with everyone and everything around me.” The key words here are “ I’m unhappy .” Far too many times we want to find fault and blame in those we love and others, when we are unhappy with ourselves. You cannot and  will not  be happy with anyone else if you are unhappy in general. We have to detach ourselves as a people from thinking “It’s not me its everyone else.” Mental health is huge for everyone and it doesn’t matter your ethnicity, moral standing or financial status. Depression is real, PTSD is real, anxiety is real. But what makes it a danger is when you fail to see it happening to YOU and refuse to get help. The narcissism kicks in and everything is everyone else’s defunct and you’re perfect. This leads to brash and poor decision making because you believe you can “fix” your unhappiness but directly dealing with others instead of self. As for heads of household, friends, spouses etc. You
Post a Comment
Read more

I get it 2020 but I'm on to you now and I'm moving forward!

I have come to the realization that 2020 is not going to stop throwing any of us curveballs. That being said, I wanted share this. For a while now, every time there was a tragic event I needed to take a mental break to recoup. I’ve watched cities burn, people dying from Covid-19, myself being stuck in the house almost feeling trapped.     The word “quarantine” becoming so synonymous with our everyday life it was ridiculous. But still it didn’t stop. 2020 refused to let up. Racial injustice, riots, looting and then finally a year of people close to me passing away.    Break 1, break 2, break 3….. and so forth. I found myself literally drowning in what was happening around me and barely living out my own existence and purpose.    So that’s what this is about. FIGHTING! Please, I implore all of you to keep going. Yes, we all need a break but life isn’t letting up. People are going to still pass away when you least expect it. Naysayers are still going to downplay and doubt all you have don
Post a Comment
Read more

A Coincidence to You Maybe, For Me a Message!!!

The day after Christmas and I’m going through my own version of “therapy”. By therapy I mean playing this extremely time consuming and addictive videogame to numb me and take my mind off of the last week’s events. Now this game and I have a serious history and at one point I was playing it so much I began to neglect my responsibilities as a writer. So much in fact, I sold my PS4 so I would no longer play it. Did that work? Yes, actually it did…until I purchased said game for my daughter for Christmas and now have been playing it on  her  system for the lack of my own. But why the relapse? Well Friday December 20 th  2019 I did something I almost never do. I attended a funeral. Now let me backtrack for those of you that don’t know me very well. I don’t do death. I don’t do wakes and I don’t do funerals. This has caused plenty of controversy for years between both sides of my family and myself. It is in no way meant to be a sign of disrespect. And in the past, before I knew I was an
Post a Comment
Read more