Utah Author Guest Post: Cindy Bennett

Cindy C. Bennett is the author or co-author of a number of books.  She self-published her first novel, Geek Girl, and then sold it to Utah publishing house Cedar Fort.  As Cindy says on her About page, she writes contemporary YA, though she has "a few books which dip a tiny toe into the paranormal." You can find her on her blog, Twitter, Goodreads, and Facebook.  She even has a sometimes-Podcast with her son called Geek Revolution Radio.

And now, here's Cindy:
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From nearly every window in my house, I can look out and see the Wasatch Mountains, the portion of the greater Rocky Mountain range that line the east side of the Salt Lake valley. Even still, after living here my whole life, and looking out these same windows for the past ten years, I never tire of the sight. Not to say that I never take the sight for granted, because I admit that sometimes I do, and then I’ll look up and see them and it will strike me anew how very lucky I am to live in the shadows of such a glorious bit of nature.

The hidden treasure that isn’t as obvious as the imposing mountain range is the vast amount of talented writers and the large number of amazing, supportive bloggers who live here. Even having lived here my entire life and having long held the dream of becoming an author, I had no idea they existed. I naïvely thought that if you wanted to be a successful writer you needed to live somewhere like New York or Los Angeles, or even Key West in a house full of six-toed cats.

It was an eye-opening experience to find, when I finally dared to put my words out for the world to see, that I was surrounded by creativity and support like I didn’t dare dream. At every event or book signing I discovered more of the talent that abounds in our humble little state. I’ve developed relationships with bloggers who are relatively anonymous in their location, only to find out later that they also are fellow Utahns.

So while I may enjoy visiting New York or LA or Hemingway’s home, I’ll always return to my roots in Utah, happy to be the girl who gets to look out her window and see the Rocky Mountains, and who gets to live side-by-side with the talented, kind, helpful and supportive Utah authors and bloggers. What a lucky, blessed girl I am!