Uzuri Wilkerson Guest Post

Today's guest post is from Uzuri Wilkerson, author of Sweet, a racy vampire novel with a bit of mystery.  Sweet debuts this week.  Take it away, Uzuri:

Life as I’d Like to Know It

Here’s how life will go after my novel, Sweet, is released.

It’ll start off with a guest post on a blog.  From there, people will see how witty and funny and sarcastic I am.  Sweet will instantly go viral.  Everyone will link to the blog and find my website.  They’ll tell friends who’ll tell friends who’ll tell their grandmas.  Facebook and Twitter won’t know what to do with all the buzz.  #Sweetlife will take over the boards.  There will be threads so long, the servers will explode. 

People will wait with bated breath for the release of the Sweet book trailer.  It will sweep the Internets.  Ads will pop up online and in print, publicizing the book.  They’ll pay me to create them. 

Sweet will have a midnight release, on a night where the air will be so fresh and clear.  The lines will stretch on for five city blocks, with people camped out for full days.  Passersby will stare in wonder until they reach the stores, see the signs announcing the release, and then go rushing back to hold their own spot. 

I’ll experience that first trill of excitement when I see someone reading my book on the train or in Starbucks or while walking through the mall, mindlessly bumping into others and stationary objects.  The person will laugh or shake their head amusedly or blush ever so slightly at something they are reading. 

I’ll go, “That’s my book,” with happy tears in the corners of my eyes.  We’ll snap pictures together and post them to the web, both of us equally excited to have met the other.  Journalists and late-night hosts will clamor for an interview.  Author signings will be booked across the country and across the pond.  I’ll stand at podiums in very cute outfits, reading Sweet excerpts in intimate settings, where the lights are drawn and tea and cookies are served.  After, I’ll sit at a table covered by a pretty cloth and sign books and I wouldn’t have any trouble coming up with something to write.  My alma maters will request readings, maybe even guest workshops.  I will be stopped on the street by readers asking for my autograph and I won’t be annoyed in the least, even years after my first release.

A generous movie deal will be put together that affords me very bountiful royalties.  I will star in the movie, as I am a natural ahc-tor.  The Oscar nods will roll in for Best Actress in a Leading Role, as well as Best Actress in a Supporting Role and Best Adapted Screenplay.  Might as well throw in Best Director and Best Film.  Since the movie will need a soundtrack, I also will be nominated for a Grammy.

I will travel around the globe.  I will sample cuisines and wines, learn dance and language, view breathtaking art and landscapes.  Celebrities will call me frequently, each trying to become my next best friend and/or lover. 

Action figures and merchandise will only stay on the shelves a few hours at a time and there will be constant back orders (why won’t they just make double the products next time?).  People will ask others jokingly and sometimes salaciously, “How do you taste?”  Girls will wear their hair curly like Sweet’s main character, Celia, and men will try to replicate her boyfriend, Victor’s, dapper style. 

I’ll create an entire series, my branding will be known worldwide, and I’ll blog for Television without Pity.  They’ll make a reality show that follows my exploits.  There will be articles and books written about my rise to stardom.  I’ll live in a spacious home in a location to be determined (will I still mind the brutal winters of Boston or will I try out San Diego or Atlanta?).  I’ll summer in my villa in the Dominican Republic and winter on a stretch of beach in Bora Bora.  It doesn’t matter where I am; I will find inspiration effortlessly.  Life will be grand.

Now that’s the kind of vivid imagination you need to be a writer.  In reality—you know, on Planet Earth where I actually live—writing will probably be my side hustle.  I will always need a regular 9-5 because I will always have bills.  Writing has always been my outlet, for when I’m feeling down, happy, or just plain bored.  I can only hope that my words will reach farther than my computer screen.  As long as someone out there enjoys the works I conceive in my complicated, random mind, I can be happy with life.

UZURI M. WILKERSON graduated from Wellesley College in 2005.  There, she studied film with a concentration in screenwriting.  After finishing school, she eventually moved back to novels, where she found more freedom for her expression.  Sweet came into fruition after a lifetime love affair with the supernatural.  It was only a matter of time before she took her own stab at the genre.  She currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts.

To learn more about Uzuri Wilkerson and to read more about her upcoming novel Sweet please visit her website. To reserve your autographed copy of her debut novel and to enter for your chance to win a $25 VISA gift card, visit www.azizapublishing.com and learn about the Sweet photo contest.