Grown in Nebraska Native and Resident-Author Annette Snyder

It took me a long time, but I finally discovered my favorite holiday was Independence Day. Maybe it’s the heat. Anyone who knows me at all knows I’m a winter hater. Mostly The 4th of July is my favorite because of the principle of the holiday. Independence. If I’ve got freedom, what more do I need? Living in a free thinking country, thriving in a community where streets are safe to walk or residing in a home where my phone lines aren’t tapped and no one tells me who, what or when. I know people who feel trapped in situations as those and what they need most is independence.
The free thinking is a big deal for me—though some of my close friends would argue that sometimes I don’t actually think. (And yes, you dweebs, I know you’re reading this and nodding your heads right now but I don’t care!) I used to be a person who let others make decisions for me because I thought it was the right thing to do. I let my past mistakes set the direction for my future and one day I decided that wasn’t the way I wanted to live. I had to start makind decisions for myself or I was going to go insane (Back to my close friends who are now saying, “What do you mean –was going to—aren’t’ you already?’” It’s because I love you and I think for myself that I am the way I am!)
I wrote one of my favorite books, Intimate Flames,  about finding freedom emotionally and physically and it’s set around Independence Day. Intimate Flames was an EPIC Award Finalist for 2011 and the first chapter is available to read for free at http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com/  it’s available for purchase right there too.
Part of my personal freedom is the encouragement of my husband, who argues that my friends are right and I am a little off but he loves me and never stands in my way. (I know he secretly worries I might run right through him on my way to wherever if he stands there.) We share a life in Nebraska with our four kids, now grown but still only a few hours away in every direction. They have beautiful families and lives that tell us we’ve done a pretty good job of passing our good traits on.

And our small town? I grew up here so I knew the advantages but, when my husband and I moved here permanently, I worried if it was too small for a city boy. No pizza delivery. No movie theaters. No traffic lights. (How on earth would he know when to stop at an intersection?) If you ever need to know what decision to make when you’re making a big one, throw caution out the window and make a choice and see what happens. That’s what we did and it worked out—high and low points included but generally, a good decision to move someplace even though the nearest grocery store is twenty minutes away. (Running out of diapers or tampons requires neighborhood intervention. And yard art, like my cannon, causes quite the stir.)

And so I write—you can go to my website at http://annettesnyder.atspace.com/  or to my publisher’s site http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com/  or just Google me and I pop right up. Set this blog as a favorite so you’ll be notified all year about other authors from all over the USA who are also celebrating today.
On this Independence Day, be thankful you have the ability to do what you wish because of the sacrifices others have made and that you have personal freedom to think as you wish because of the sacrifices you’ve made for yourself.

And, if you take the time to comment on my post during my spot, I’ll put your name in a hat and pick a winner for one Ebook copy of one of my novels of your choice. Good Luck! 

As a special treat this week, check back here in July 7th for another Nebraska Author, Toni V. Sweeny. Better yet, follow this blog so you’ll get updates about new posts or check me out on FaceBook—Annette Snyder-Novelist--and you can get new posts sent directly.