My First #Tattoo at 43! The #fullmoon from Silver Lake's cover! #moon #ghost #mystery #romance #paranormal

Love my moon &
first initials tattoo!

I admit it, I definitely have a wild side.  I've always wanted a tattoo, and once every few years I would spend time researching the process and looking for artist recommendations.  But it's such a permanent and personal thing, and the one thing holding me back was: what did I want inked onto my body?

I've read enough to know you don't show up at a tattoo parlor and pick "flash" off the wall.  I wanted something meaningful and significant, like what I gave my hero in Silver Lake.  Jason Lansing had the Japanese symbols for an inspirational statement inked onto the outside of his shoulder right before he took the plunge and opened his own Karate studio.

I decided for sure I would somehow want to incorporate the men in my family: my husband and two sons, the most important people in my life.  But the design I had in mind still felt incomplete, and I was lacking the motivation to actually begin the process with the artist I planned to use.

Silver Lake has earned an
orange #1 Amazon Bestseller
on three different occasions!

Then I got the "call" last winter, a year ago on a cold morning of December 2011.  Silver Lake, the novel I'd worked on for 4 years, had earned a publishing contract!  It was one of the most memorable moments of my life.  My younger son and I danced around the kitchen.

Silver Lake was released in August of 2012 (eta: and ended up hitting #1 on Amazon on several occasions over the years!), and from the moment I saw it available on Amazon a few days early, I didn't sleep for almost a week.  The excitement of the arrival of a day I had been anxiously awaiting, combined with the stress of knowing many of my family and friends were finally reading my words, fueled an insomnia that lingered until those first few reviews came in (eta: Worth it! 😂💙)

Somehow, I wanted to include this huge accomplishment -- and realization of my dream coming true! -- in a subtle way into my tattoo design.  Suddenly I knew exactly what it would look like, and I wanted to get it before 2012 - the year I was first published - was history.  I quickly made a rudimentary mock-up of what I had in mind and made an appointment with the artist.

Surprisingly, it didn't hurt very much.  I did almost faint before we got started, but that's the kind of thing I do around needles.  The end result is a design incorporating the first initials of my guys with the moon from Silver Lake's cover.  I truly love it, and it serves as a reminder that you have to work for your dreams, be patient, stay strong, and never give up!  

Another eta:  In a strange coincidence, last night, July 3rd, 2023, welcomed the first Super Moon of the year...AND, a local TV show we were watching featured Candlewood Lake, which is featured in Silver Lake and has a fascinating history!  The "Silver Lake" in my book is a fictional lake inspired by the very real kettle ponds surrounding the man-made Candlewood Lake.  More on the history and our visit to the area here.