*If you don't know who Erin is go check her out. Her account on wattpad is off the charts, over 60k followers, millions of reads, she's kinda a big deal!

Every time I tell someone that Erin picked me up on craigslist she gets all twitchy, and it usually results in a witty comeback. Anyone who has read anything by Erin knows she's all sorts of witty! I love witty. Probably why I loved Erin right away. Also why I tell people how she "picked me up" any chance I can. (Mad Erin= adorable Erin).

The true unofficial story of How Erin picked me up on Craigslist.

It was early in my writing career, a time were all I could talk about was my stories and characters as if they were real people, and everyone in my life who hates reading or imaginary friends (it's a remarkably large number), looked at me like I was slowly going crazy. Maybe I was. But when I met writing, even though I wasn't very good at first, all I wanted to do was write, to learn about writing, to read, I basically became obsessed with words. (I'm now five years into writing and the obsession hasn't changed much). I was desperate to connect with real people about writing. So where does anyone turn when they're desperate?

Why, craigslist of course.

Erin and I were living in the same town, a small Victorian colony on an island in the West Coast of Canada. It's beautiful here and full of artists, but not many wrote, or at least not many wrote anything but poetry, and while I love poetry I was obsessed with fiction. I scrolled through craigslist community posts on a daily basis looking for anything, book clubs, writing groups--nothing. I was about to give up scrolling when something prompted me to look one page further.

That's when I saw Erin's add. "SWF seeks lover of—"

Ok, that's not how it went, in truth it was something about a writer group and fantasy and I was hyperventilating too hard to read it properly, and I replied! We met the next day for coffee and talked about writing and her book and my book, and I'd finally found someone who was as passionate about imaginary people as I was, and it was so nice!

The true version of our story, the non-risqué craigslist version, is the most special version, that's probably why I don't share it often. Because making a real writer friend meant the world to me. It still does. Even though she lives across the water now, and we don't get to see each other as often, Erin will forever be one of my most cherished people. Which is why I'm at near tears typing this post. Because for the last five years I've seen someone with the same passion and tenacity as me, fighting through the hard and oftentimes discouraging literary world. She's been through some major let downs and some major highs, the entire time she's kept plowing forward. Erin is one of the most determined people I know and I look up to her for that. I look up to the way she never gave up on her dream of holding her own book no matter how much opposition she faced. And trust me her path to today wasn't easy, she's been through things that would waylay the most brave of men. But instead of giving up she worked harder, smarter, and did I mention harder.

Yesterday Erin's debut novel, FROST, a Norse mythology Fantasy was birthed into this world!

If it was in my power I'd make everyone and their dog buy this book because of my love for Erin. But the truth is, I don't need to make anyone—Erin's writing speaks for itself. She is an incredibly talented and hard working author and I implore you to check her out.

Here it is: Buy Frost, support Erin and her fabulous debut.

If you can't afford to buy Erin's book, she's set up an awesome giveaway where you can win one. There's a link in the external link button that will take you to a rafflecopter giveaway, where you can win ebooks/paperbacks and other swag for sharing about Erin and Frost. (I'll also post the link in the comments).

If reading this blog post encouraged you to go buy Erin's book, I'd like to say thank-you for supporting my friend, it means the world to me. I loved this girl enough to get tattooed with her!! My way of saying thank you is by giving back—so anyone who comments bellow or tweets to me (@RebeccaSky) letting me know they're buying Frost and showing me proof of purchase, I will give a one page review. This can be of your blurb/synopsis/novel/whatever, but one page (aprox 500 words).(Even if you're not buying I'd still love to read your comments! No pressure!)

I'll leave you with this really important quote:

"When buying from an artist/maker, you're buying more than just an object/painting. You are buying hundreds of hours of failures and experimentations. You are buying days, weeks and months of frustration and moments of pure joy. You aren't just buying a thing, you're buying a piece of heart, part of a soul, a moment in someone's life. Most importantly, you're buying the artist more time to do something they are passionate about." –unknown

xo-R