Glykós Filos
I’m fortunate … I interact with many people
every day, and a whole lot of them are interesting. I’m thankful for that. My
life is many things. Boring is not one of them.
While I’m in contact with a large group,
my close circle of friends is very small. A couple of these people I’ve known
for a very long time, another few are newer friends, but still, they are
incredibly special and important to me. After a little bit of contemplation, I
decided there was one particular someone I really needed to write about.
Everyone else calls her Samantha Soccorso.
I call her Sammy. I’ve been told I’m the only one allowed to use that name so
if you slip up, just remember, you were warned. I’ve never gotten to meet this
fireball in person. She lives in Mastic Beach, New York, which is, according to
Google maps, 1,868 miles from where I’m at in Colorado. It’s amazing how much
she’s done for me considering just how far away we are from one another.
Oh, how I love this girl.
I don’t remember the exact day I met Sam.
I know that I was busily working on finishing up A Skye Full of Stars, the second book in the Gannon Family series. She’d hosted a lot of release parties that
I’d attended, and we’d gotten friendly. If you know Samantha, you know that’s
not a difficult thing to do. We got to talking a little bit and I told her
about my upcoming novel. She asked me if she could do an interview with me and
I, of course, said yes. It wasn’t too long after the interview came out that
she had a two-day release party for A
Skye Full of Stars, chock full of enthusiastic authors and attendees, all
in place. At this point, I hadn’t even finished writing the book yet.
This girl leaves an impression that’s
nearly impossible to shake.
A
Skye Full of Stars
took longer to write than I’d hoped. It wasn’t because the story wasn’t there.
When I’d written the previous novel, Alabama
Skye, I had no intention of writing a sequel. When I was urged by readers
to continue the story, I had no trouble falling back into it. I realized the
characters had a lot more to share, and I had a great desire to write it once I
started. The reason it took so much longer was that I was dealing with a
serious wrist injury. Most of the people I was in contact with at the time knew
something was going on, that I had some physical issue I was trying to
overcome, but Samantha cared about the details.
I told her the whole story—got emotional
about it more than once—and she listened. She urged me over the finish line,
then became a beta reader when the book was finally written. I made the
deadline Sam and I set. Having that party planned, seeing how many authors she’d
lined up and feeling the energy and excitement she put behind the whole thing
was a huge boost for me. I didn’t want to let either one of us down.
I don’t know many people who possess
Samantha’s level of enthusiasm. Quite honestly, the girl makes me tired just
watching her. She’s a problem solver, a go-getter. She is a formidable force of
positive energy. She’s like that all the time, so maybe you can imagine the way
she puts a party together. I didn’t do much more than sit at my computer for
two days, interacting with the hundreds of people she’d gathered to celebrate
the release of A Skye Full of Stars,
but I was exhausted when Sunday night rolled around and the party came to an
end. I’d never experienced anything like it. And Samantha? New York is two
hours ahead of Colorado. It was late for me, even later for her. She’d done a
ton of work to organize and keep things on track and yet she was still going.
She’s like the Energizer Bunny. She never stops.
Samantha definitely pushed me over the
finish line when it came to that novel. She publicized the hell out of both
books in the Gannon Family series,
and started signing me up for a bunch of takeovers in author events. She worked
hard to make sure readers heard about these stories, and helped me introduce
this cast of characters all over Facebook land.
A few months later, my wrist got worse.
Much worse. I went through a series of cortisone shots and casts. I was working
one handed (my dominant being the one that was injured) and with a lot of pain.
I became very emotional. I felt sad and defeated. This is not my normal. Far
from it. I’m usually irritatingly optimistic, but this was so difficult for me.
I was trying to write Under a Southern
Skye, the third book in the Gannon Family series, but I grew increasingly
frustrated while trying to type with my left hand, and my voice recognition
software made me want to tear my hair out.
Samantha was there for me. She collected
all the teasers I’d made, the games I liked to post for takeovers, my character
photos and everything else I had in my publicity arsenal. She continued to sign
me up for takeovers, but she did them for me. She made it her goal to not only
talk to me every day, but to make me smile and laugh every day. She knew just
how difficult my wrist injury was to deal with. She knew how frustrated and
unhappy I’d become. She got it, and she was there for me.
When I had my first surgery on November 23rd
of last year, it was Samantha who took care of all my writing related things. When
I went in for my second surgery a few weeks later, the one in which they replaced
my wrist joint and part of the ulna bone, she had things under control again. She
knew when I went into surgery, when I came out and how I was doing along the
way. She was my filter, sharing what she knew I’d want her to with my readers.
She did takeovers for me, she was in contact with those wonderful people who
posted on my wall, and she was in constant contact with me. She sent me things
to make me laugh, she checked in with me, she encouraged me. She was a constant
support, and I will probably never find an accurate way of repaying her—but I’ll
continue to try.
It wasn’t until after I’d recovered a bit
that she and I decided to give her the official title of PA. It was a long time
coming, really, and probably ridiculous that we made any sort of issue out of
it at all. She’d been taking care of things for me for months. We had a chat
one day and thought it was past time. She deserves a paycheck. Unfortunately,
all I’ve been able to give her in return for all her support and hard work is
unlimited editing services, signed paperbacks, sneak peeks at all my writing
and lots of photos of her crush, Jamie Dornan.
And I gave her Archer. She loves Archer.
It isn’t much, not when you consider the
fact that she’s invaluable to me and I don’t know what I’d do without her.
There is no doubt that Sammy makes my life
interesting. She set up J.C.’s Wingdom, a street team I didn’t realize I
wanted, and co-admins it with me. (Don’t blame her for the goofy name. I did
that all on my own.) She signed me up for a takeover not long ago, one she
insisted I do myself because it was a collection of my characters that needed
to make an appearance. I thought it would be ridiculous—and maybe it was—but in
the most enjoyable way. She’s involved me in many charity events and contests,
and she’s brought quite a few editing clients to me. She pushes me to do things
I didn’t think I could. She keeps me working toward personal writing goals
while still making sure I’m taking care of myself. She knows I have bad wrist
days. She knows I take on too many projects. She knows the ideas don’t always
come when I want them to. She also knows I need a swift kick in the ass every
so often, and she’s not afraid to be the one to do the kicking.
I’ve known Sam for less than two years—but
it’s been an extraordinary two years. I’ve published two novels with her, and I’m
working on several more (yes—at the same time). I’d hoped to release Brides, Beasts & Baklava, the second
book in the Goddess of Tornado Alley
series, by her birthday in February. I’m not sure I’ll make that deadline, but
I hope to have it ready for betas by then. With her encouragement, I’ll most
likely succeed in that goal.
Like I stated before, my life is anything
but boring. I’m so glad I have the special people in it that I do. And I’m so
glad I have my Sammy.
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