Please welcome...

Hey guys!!  I've met some amazing and fun people on blogs and forums.  Our guest blogger is Danielle Sibarium :) 

Hi Julia, thank you for having me as a guest on your blog! I am honored to be here.  You wanted to know more about how and why I became an author and what some of my obstacles were.

Why do I write? That’s easy. I write because my soul would shrivel up and die if I didn’t.  It’s that simple. It’s who I am and what I’m about. I can’t not write. I’ve tried to hide all the pens and notebooks, and stifle the trembling fingers in need of a keyboard fix. But then the voices emerge, the characters take form in my mind and keep me from eating, sleeping, or doing anything productive. If I don’t give in and breathe life into the visions in my imagination I have a hard time focusing on anything else.

I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember.  An English assignment my freshman year of college produced a long poem about a cemetery.  Seeing that my words could elicit tears from others filled me with pride. At that point I had no doubt I if I followed I could succeed. 

My greatest obstacle has been time.  I have three amazing children with ages ranging between ten and three. They have boundless energy.  If only I could bottle some of it for myself! Being a full time mother is the most wonderful job imaginable, but it is tiring and at times thankless. And never ending! With limited time to commit to my craft I’ve done freelance work; guest columns, greeting cards, song lyrics and speeches.

 In January of 2011 everything changed. Taking notice of the changing landscape of the publishing industry I began to consider self-publishing.  A couple of agents read For Always. They liked it, but thought it would be difficult to market. An only child of divorced parents I’d been caring for my sick mother. She lived with us for more than a decade and suddenly I wasn’t sure if my mother would make it through the next day, week, or month. Time was running out. I wanted her to see For Always in print. I wanted her to see that I dedicated it to her.  My decision was made. In August while fighting for her life, my mother held the proof of For Always in her hands.  A little more than two weeks later she died.

My greatest obstacle is still time, but I do my best and I know as always, in the end I will overcome! 

To read an excerpt of For Always, or to just stop by and say hi, visit me at www.daniellesibarium.com

For Always is available for the Kindle, Nook and in paperback both at Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com.

Purchase For Always  At Amazon http://www.amazon.com/For-Always-ebook/dp/B006ACBCPO/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&qid=1331261275&sr=1-1

Nook http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/for-always-danielle-sibarium/1106795575?ean=2940013748286&itm=5&usri=for+always

Follow me on Facebook  http://www.facebook.com/#!/foralwaysbook

Follow me on Twitter @sibarium

Follow me on Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5292476.Danielle_Sibarium