Fifty shades of Envy – the stories we tell ourselves
So yesterday was Super Bowl fever and 13 Movie Trailers made their debut during the ad slots – one of them being the infamous “Fifty Shades“. The book sold over 100 million copies and has been translated into 51 languages worldwide and although the trailer aired just yesterday it already has 382 520 hits. E.L. James (the pen name of Erika Leonard) must be loving it. Those stats are awesome and I have to admit that as a writer they make me rather envious!
Photo 1: Green – the colour of Envy
The thing is though that Erika shipped. She started by writing fanfiction and she actually self-published Fifty Shades of Grey as an e-book in 2011. She had to be bold and brave. She had to take her turn. She wrote every day – even on her phone. She says she didn’t do anything else for two years.
Photo 2: Shades of Green
The bestselling author even admits that her writing is not great and that she is stunned by the reaction it got. The entire book has been attributed to her midlife crisis.
So instead of being envious, her story has now inspired me. A suburban mom of two going through a midlife crisis who doesn’t have exceptional writing talent gets to write an international blockbuster!
What is your story?