[Giveaway] Any ebook you want ($10 or under)

Where, oh where did I go?

Anyone who read my latest review of Ferran's Map by T.L. Shreffler may have noticed that I hadn't posted anything in well over a year. If you noticed, you might have wondered where I went. No, I didn't just disappear off the face of the earth. In short my life just plain got in the way. So here's an update on my last year, and what I hope is in the future for Book Nerd Paradise.

In October of 2012 I move to the Quad Cities, which is located along the Mississippi river, straddling the Iowa/Illinois border. I had moved back to the Midwest, where I was born and raised, from Florida to take a job as a copy editor/designer with a local newspaper. Surprisingly, I found that I missed the Midwest and being close to my family and friends. I went from being about 1,200 miles away from my younger brother to just under an hour's drive. It was never easy being that far away from my only sibling. 

A new year, a new do. 

So I moved on to my second job within two years of graduating college. It didn't take me long to realize that two cross-country moves right out of college(on top of student loans), on a journalist's salary was difficult. My budget was so tight I decided the best option was to do nothing other than go to work, sit at home watching my five channels of cable and contributing to my blog. It didn't leave a lot of room for my reading habit either. And as I'm sure almost every one of you will agree, giving up the habit is just not an option. 

I decided I didn't want to live like that anymore. I hadn't made any friends and I wasn't involved in any hobbies or clubs. I couldn't even afford to belong to a gym. For a someone with a restless personality like me, it's pretty soul crushing to not be busy all the time. 

The next step was me getting a second job as a server at a local high-end restaurant. I found that I really enjoyed it, even though it was really stressful. That was over a year ago and I made some lasting friends through the experience and managed to dig my way out of about $17,000 in debt. Yea, you read that right. There's money to be made as a server. Sadly, I still have quite a long way to go. But I'm happy and I've learned a lot of life lessons along the way. 

The unfortunate aspect of this second job was that I worked seven days a week between both jobs. My part time job wasn't really that part time. It was more of a 30 hours a week job, on top of the 40 hours at my day job. So, something had to give and it was my blog that took the hit. I decided to let everything go dark and resume when I was in a better place in my life. 

These two keep me company while I read
and write for Book Nerd Paradise

That brings us to today. I've switched to a different restaurant and cut down my hours way down. Hopefully, I'll be able to quit my second job soon and have more time to dedicate to my own writing projects.

But I still debated whether or not it was a good idea to start up the blog. 

The decision was made for me when T.L. Shreffler contacted me, asking if I would like to participate in her latest blog tour. As the sole author who made me truly appreciate indie authors, I absolutely could not say no. 

Now I'm back in the game, working on my blog and trying not to drown myself in coffee. But as I get back into the swing of things, I wanted to connect with blog readers more and find out what people truly want to see on this blog. Previously, I don't think I did that great of a job interacting with other people on my blog, Twitter and Facebook. 

And that's where this giveaway comes in. Think of it as a bribe for answering all my probing questions. I am giving away an ebook copy of any book ($10 or under) to one lucky winner. All you have to do is answer some questions and follow me on some social sites. I appreciate all of your comments and feedback. 

Happy reading my fellow nerds. 


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