About this author
The first question that I always get asked is ‘why Sharlay?’ so, I guess I had better start there! When I was little girl (a very lonnng time ago!) I dreamed of being a FAMOUS singer (that didn’t happen!!!) but anyway me and my mom were talking about what would be my stage name. My mom suggested that a combination of my first and last name would be really cool, so since my first name is Charlene and my second name begins with A, she suggested that I took the Charl from Charlene and the A from my last name, making the name Charl A. I liked the sound of it but hated the look, so I decided to change the C of Charl to an S and add a Y at the end so that people would say it properly and therefore ‘Sharlay’ was born. So, as you obviously know, the singer dream died off but the name stuck, and I decided that the first opportunity I had to use it, I would, and I did and now I am officially ‘Sharlay the author’. So for all those who wonder why I have a single author name, I don’t, it’s actually two in one, you just don’t know it until you read this post! lol
Ok, so how did I get into writing??? Good question. No, I didn’t study writing at college, I did get A’s in English at school but that was *cough* a long time ago. Anywho, I believe that God blesses each and every one of us with special talents and since I spend much of my days dreaming of stories and random people until it gets so overwhelming that I NEED to write it down, I am guessing that that may have been mine, right? I did go to theatre school for 4 years so a lot of the creative sides of making a real life character, I credit to that experience. Now, I only discovered this journey in 2012 when I stumbled across an amazing site called Wattpad (www.wattpad.com check it out). Anywho, I began writing lots of stories that didn’t do very well on wattpad, mainly because I was trying to write for other people instead of myself. One day I decided that I would write a book for me, I wanted it to be a story that I would enjoy. I also decided that if this book didn’t do well then I wouldn’t write again! So, I began writing this love story on Wattpad which I called ‘PRETEND’. A year later and it became a finalist in the sites annual writing contest, has over 6 million reads on the site, is available in paperback and ebook format and has sold over 12,000 copies! So, it is safe to say that I didn’t stop writing! So, that my lovelies is my journey as a growing author and let me tell you, I love it!!
If I can pass on one message, it would be that when you have a dream that makes your heart do back flips don’t let it go and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t!!
The first question that I always get asked is ‘why Sharlay?’ so, I guess I had better start there! When I was little girl (a very lonnng time ago!) I dreamed of being a FAMOUS singer (that didn’t happen!!!) but anyway me and my mom were talking about what would be my stage name. My mom suggested that a combination of my first and last name would be really cool, so since my first name is Charlene and my second name begins with A, she suggested that I took the Charl from Charlene and the A from my last name, making the name Charl A. I liked the sound of it but hated the look, so I decided to change the C of Charl to an S and add a Y at the end so that people would say it properly and therefore ‘Sharlay’ was born. So, as you obviously know, the singer dream died off but the name stuck, and I decided that the first opportunity I had to use it, I would, and I did and now I am officially ‘Sharlay the author’. So for all those who wonder why I have a single author name, I don’t, it’s actually two in one, you just don’t know it until you read this post! lol
Ok, so how did I get into writing??? Good question. No, I didn’t study writing at college, I did get A’s in English at school but that was *cough* a long time ago. Anywho, I believe that God blesses each and every one of us with special talents and since I spend much of my days dreaming of stories and random people until it gets so overwhelming that I NEED to write it down, I am guessing that that may have been mine, right? I did go to theatre school for 4 years so a lot of the creative sides of making a real life character, I credit to that experience. Now, I only discovered this journey in 2012 when I stumbled across an amazing site called Wattpad (www.wattpad.com check it out). Anywho, I began writing lots of stories that didn’t do very well on wattpad, mainly because I was trying to write for other people instead of myself. One day I decided that I would write a book for me, I wanted it to be a story that I would enjoy. I also decided that if this book didn’t do well then I wouldn’t write again! So, I began writing this love story on Wattpad which I called ‘PRETEND’. A year later and it became a finalist in the sites annual writing contest, has over 6 million reads on the site, is available in paperback and ebook format and has sold over 12,000 copies! So, it is safe to say that I didn’t stop writing! So, that my lovelies is my journey as a growing author and let me tell you, I love it!!
If I can pass on one message, it would be that when you have a dream that makes your heart do back flips don’t let it go and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t!!
