Eff You, You, and You, Too - What I WISH I Could Say to Internet Trolls

I've bought and sold houses twice.  In each occasion, I learned things. In the spirit of helping others, I decided to write an article/essay on my home-buying experiences.  

However, I was not prepared for how much trolling my article received.  So many individuals insulted my intelligence over it.  Realtors and real estate agents commented on how much they disliked my article (while being sure to leave their contact information in their comments). It incensed me!!  

Thankfully, there are good people out there who stood up for me.  

In any case, here is the very popular essay that I wrote for Military Spouse Magazine online:

http://militaryspouse.com/at-home/10-rookie-mistakes-to-avoid-when-buying-a-house/

Cyndia Rios-Myers

Bringing it Back - The Blog

Hello Folks.

I'll be frank here.  I wasn't in love with my website, so I let it lapse.  So, I thought I would update you all over here.


Updates:

• I have published zero fiction works in the past year.  
• I have published a good number of essays and articles in print and online.  It has been fun.

Facts:

• I have not delivered on some of the publication dates I promised on.  

Gripes:

• Some of my Amazon readers have quickly read and returned my novellas back to Amazon. Can I tell you how uncool that is?  Very.
• Reviews.  I've not been getting them, and that's unfortunate.  Of course, I'd like to not be raked over the coals, but I would like my works to be reviewed.  

New Promises:

• I will publish fiction again.  I will conclude the story of The Wolves sometime.  

Amusements:

• I've been devouring the works of Denise Grover Swank, Camilla Chafer, A. R. Winters, and Meghan Ciana Doidge.  I love series that feature strong heroines, humor, and notes of romance. 
• We cut the cord - the cable cord - here at home.  I miss HGTV something fierce. However, our Roku's been providing just enough entertainment.   

I guess that this is all for now.  I hope that you keep reading and that you keep in touch!

Cyndia Rios-Myers

The Thing About Reviews...

As a writer, good reviews, heck, any reviews matter to me - a lot.  As a reader, they matter too.  However, I have made the mistake of letting myself be swayed by them.  

I was really into the Monique Martin Out of Time series of books.  I loved the husband and wife time of time travelers, working hard to right the wrongs done by evildoers.  However, I got bored of the constant out-of-time living that they were doing; I wanted them to go back to their own time for a while and live their own lives. So, I temporarily stopped reading the series.  

It has six reviews, but they are all pretty good.  That swayed me.  But now I'm done (for the time being).

While reading through The Strand Magazine, I read up on Aimee & David Thurlo, a husband and wife writing team.  They have a series featuring a strong female lead character named Ella Clah, a former FBI agent who becomes part of the Navajo Reservation Police Deparment.  I read the first book and was HOOKED.

When I read the first book, I found that it only had three reviews (now four, thanks to me).  The lack of reviews made me hesitant; I only downloaded the free preview.  But once I read it, I was hooked.

So, the lesson here is read previews, and don't rely on reviews - not all of the time.  (I hope that my readers heed this lesson, too!)