Sammy in Italy (Single Wide Female Travels #2) by Lillianna Blake Read Free Book Online Page B

my chest. All eyes were on me. My lips parted and words began to form. I had no idea what I was saying until I heard it for myself.  
    “Thank you all for being here. I appreciate your support and hope that you can find a little inspiration from this reading.” I turned to the pre-selected page from my book Becoming Zara and began to read. As the words flowed, I actually listened to them. I heard my own voice break through the text before me. The passion, the determination, and the inspiration filled more than just my audience—it filled me as well.
    Yes, there was the Sammy that Max had been referring to. There was the Sammy that I’d been only a few days before.
    When I closed the book and looked out at the audience, I saw a sea of faces. Each one was a little different than the others. It touched me to the core to think that despite their different walks of life, despite being on entirely different paths, they were all gathered together before me because of the book—because they’d found some truth in it, some inspiration in it. Who was I to doubt them?  
    As soon as Isabella announced the question and answer portion of the event, hands flew up into the air.

Chapter 14

    I selected the first woman that I noticed with her hand raised.  
    “Yes, what is your question?”  
    She stood up and clutched her purse nervously. “Hello. It’s so nice to see you in person. I hope you don’t take offense at this question, but I really need to know.”  
    “Please feel free to ask me anything that’s on your mind.” I smiled.  
    “In your book, you make it sound so easy. Zara is so good at everything. Even if she struggles at first she accomplishes all that she sets out to do. Do you think that’s very realistic?” She glanced around at the other people in the audience. A few of the other women were nodding their heads as she spoke.  
    “I understand exactly what you mean. I think that if you were able to meet Zara, you’d see that she’s pretty much just like you and me. We have our good days, and we have our bad days. The important thing is that on our bad days, we focus on our next good day. We remind ourselves that it’s okay to have ups and downs—that it’s just part of how we change and grow.”
    “That’s an interesting point.” The woman smiled. “Thank you.” She sat back down in her chair.
    I called on the next person I saw with her hand up.
    “Yes, do you have a question?”
    “I heard a rumor that this will be an ongoing series. Is that true? Are you afraid that you’ll run out of material?” She looked me in the eye.
    I took a breath and laughed a little. “I doubt that I’ll ever run out of material. Yes, Becoming Zara is the lead-in to my new series called the B.I.G. Girls Club. It’s a bit early to know for sure how long it will be, but I write a lot from my own experiences in life. As long as I’m still experiencing, I can assure you that I’ll have material.”  
    “Great. I’m looking forward to reading everything I can get my hands on.” She sat back down in her chair.
    I pointed to a young man who had his hand raised.  
    “Hi, Samantha. I follow your blog.”  
    “Oh, wonderful. Thank you.”  
    “Yes, it’s great. But I was wondering if you feel that the blog is too personal? I find it difficult to be that open and honest with people in my life. I want to be, but that fear of being mocked is always there. How do you deal with that?”
    His voice was gentle, but his question hit me hard. It reflected my emotions.  
    “To be honest with you, I don’t always handle it well. I handle it better than I used to. But it is easy to slip into old habits. The thing about daring to trust life is that there are risks. I might make a mistake. I might just fall on my face. But at least I will have made the attempt. A fall is usually just an opportunity to get back up. A failure is a chance to learn and grow—to be more successful the next time. If we take our