I know you must be thinking that’s an overly exaggerated statement. How can a wildly popular fantasy book change somebody’s life? Hear me out.
I’ve always been into reading, writing, and imagination.
I’ve always loved books. I’ve been a voracious reader for most of my life, and I’ve also loved to write ever since I first learned how way back in childhood. I remember locking myself away in my room as a child so I could my read books in peace. My parents would try to get me to come downstairs and watch TV with them, but I would resist because I had two more chapters of the latest Babysitters Club book and I just had to know how it ended. In addition to reading voraciously, I would write stories and poetry in my little notebooks. A proud moment for me was in the 4th grade when a short story I wrote about a group of friends who had a harrowing adventure and had to save one of the group from drowning in a rushing river was ✨published✨ in an anthology of children’s writing. I rode that high for quite some time. I also loved dressing up in costumes and fun outfits and playing pretend as a child. Who didn’t?
As I got older, my focus shifted to books I deemed to be important. I read memoirs of people who had been through harrowing life experiences, Pulitzer Prize winning novels, and books analyzing complicated social issues or historical accounts of wars or times of great upheaval. I went through phases. I went through a Greek mythology phase. And a world war 2 phase. And let’s not forget the understand all the religions of the world phase. But through it all, I also always had a love for fantasy. I started the way many people dip their first toes into fantasy…with Tolkien. He’s still my absolute all-time favorite.
The crushing corporate years…
I went to art school for college because I’ve always been creative. Not just as a writer, but as an artist as well. I thought maybe I could make a career of it somehow. However, after I graduated college and had some pretty enormous student loans to pay off, I ended up working as a designer in some pretty soul-crushing, dead end jobs to survive. My reading during that time shifted to audiobooks I could listen to while I was sitting in traffic, or doing mindless tasks at my desk during the day. I read a lot of dystopian novels, murder mysteries, and a sprinkling of sci-fi as well during those years. And fantasy. Always fantasy.
At some point in my corporate journey, maybe around my mid-30’s, I was feeling tired, burned out, and looking for an escape. Naturally, I turned to writing. At the time, the only thing bringing me a modicum of joy in my life was the time I would take off and go traveling or my weekend adventures around Southern California. For several years, I poured my heart and soul into a travel blog called Art. Travel. Eat. Repeat. in which I wrote post after post about my travel adventures, travel tips, dream destinations, and more. I published guides for how to plan your travels effectively, my recommendations for things to do in various locations I had visited around the world, and tips for how to turn a budget staycation into a memorable weekend reset. I built up quite the following during those years and did collaborations with other travel bloggers and even some travel companies. But at the end of the day, I still had to work in an office full time, and the amount of time I was able to travel wasn’t really enough to sustain a full travel blog. The goal had been to find a way to turn it into a business that would allow me to escape corporate life, but I never quite figured that part out. I’m sure I could have figured something out had I kept with it, but I started to feel like maybe a blog focused entirely on travel wasn’t right for somebody like me who didn’t have the freedom to travel full time. I let the blog go defunct. But I have missed that little community I built over the years and sometimes lament letting it go.
Covid turned us all into shut-ins…
Fast forward to 2020. Covid. Those dreaded years when, for all of us, everything changed once again. All of a sudden, we were all stuck at home all the time. And although I loved being able to work from home and spend more time with my dog and less time commuting, I didn’t love the fact that all fun events were canceled for a very long time. For a while there, I spent my time during covid furiously searching for and applying for jobs in my regular professional life, because my job at the time had decided we were all going to have to go back to the office at some point and I knew I never wanted to go back to that life of sitting in gridlock traffic and getting the flu every other week because somebody at the desk across from me is coughing in my face all while the boss comes out and tells us we’re all a “family” while paying us criminally low wages. I knew I could do better. So I dedicated myself to finding something better. Something remote that paid better. And I found it. I haven’t been back to an office since 2020, apart from the occasional trips to the office once or twice per year.
But…after a while, I started to feel a little empty again. Life was all work, and all the events were still canceled even after a couple years of covid. Nobody was getting together and doing anything, and all the third spaces I used to love had dried up.
I had lost my sense of fun and whimsy.
I was feeling depressed. So, I turned to reading again. I had fallen off the wagon with my reading for a while, but I knew I wanted to read something fun and entertaining, not something heavy and depressing. The world was depressing enough and I wasn’t in the mood for a book that made me sad. I looked around for a book recommendation, and kept seeing A Court of Thorns and Roses recommended everywhere. I’ve always been a big fan of fantasy books, although I hadn’t really read a lot of romance novels prior to this. I figured I’d give it a try.
So, I did. I read ACOTAR. And….I really enjoyed it. I thought, hmm…that was pretty good. I’ll continue the series. So I read the rest of the series (that was out at the time). And then I decided since I enjoyed that, I would read Throne of Glass. Read it, loved it. So I read Crescent City. And Fourth Wing. And the Blood and Ash series. I started mentioning these books to friends of mine and some of them were reading them, too. And I’m not sure if it’s just a matter of being a middle-aged woman in a time of great upheaval in our world and our country, but….a lot of my friends were reading these books. They had recommendations for more. So I read those, too. And started recommending them to friends looking for something to read. I even got my husband to read a few (he liked Fourth Wing and Crescent City, and thought Throne of Glass was ok but didn’t really like Assassin’s Blade).
An Awakening…
Around this time, about a year and a half ago at this point, was when I was approached by a friend who was starting a Romantasy book club and knew I was reading these books so wanted to know if I was interested in joining. I was! So I joined this group of ladies and started reading a book every month with them and meeting at the end of the month to discuss the book. We also have craft nights and occasional outings to bookish or fantasy themed events we go to. Over time, I have gotten to know the ladies in this group and have formed some new friendships with them. Yay!
I’ve had so much fun doing these things that it has reignited passions of mine that had been somewhat dormant during my depressed corporate life. I’ve started writing again. Not only with this blog, but also a novel I’ve been working on writing. I’ve started going to fantasy themed events, renaissance fairs, book conventions, and more. I started a fantasy and book themed Instagram just to have a place to talk about all these things with like-minded people, and it has opened up my world even more because I hear about even more events, and I have a place to connect with the people I’ve met along the way. I joined a community called Whimsy Forge where there are fantasy themed crafts, cosplay inspiration, and workouts, which I have loved. I find myself seeking out more and more opportunities to bring fun and whimsy into my daily life because I’m making new friends, discovering new authors and books I love, going to fun events, and just enjoying it so much. I even have ideas in the works for side businesses on theme with bringing more whimsy and fun into your life (which hopefully will take off and allow me to focus on it full-time, but maybe I’m getting ahead of myself at this point).
All because I decided to pick up ACOTAR. Who knew a silly little book would change my life?
Everyday Enchanted Life 
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