 I finished writing my Christmas novella that's not due until May (it comes out in late September). And I meant to write the third book in my roadtrip romance series this Feb/Mar. But my muse evidently has other plans.
When I participated in Nanowrimo last November, several others participated, too, and we encouraged each other as we tried to get in our word counts. However, November is a hard month, and several fell short of where they wanted to be. So, someone suggested we try again in February. You know I'm always up for a challenge. Or at least, always challenging myself. And since I'd been thinking of trying to write around then anyway, I jumped on board.
0 Comments
 Have you ever been reading along and wished you could see exactly how a house or plot of land looked that the character lives in. Well, today is your lucky day.
In going through the edits for Writing Home, my editor couldn't picture exactly how everything looked the way I had described it. To make both our lives easier, I sketched out a rough (seriously, super rough with no measuring whatsoever) floor plan of the land Jordan's family lives on (see above) as well as his cabin (see below).  Writing Home releases TOMORROW! Now that you've had a few sneak peeks behind the characters and story, I though you'd like a peek at the first chapter. I've added it below.
In the next few weeks, I'm going to be visiting quite a few other blogs, too, talking more about this book and the different things that inspired it. I hope you love this story as much as I do. Because, so far, it might be one of my favorites. And if you want to make sure and get your copy, it's here!  Let's talk best friends. Because, to be honest, Christiana and Jordan wouldn't have much of a story in Writing Home, if not for Tina.
Tina and Chris grew up down the street from each other in their Nashville suburb, and were almost inseparable until Chris left to go to Huntsville for college. Now, Tina is still at home, and wishes Chris were, too. When Chris asks for a pen pal, Tina immediately thinks of her cousin Jordan, who she used to write in middle and high school. And maybe for a few other reasons, too, but she's not disclosing those yet.  Jordan White, the other main character of my book, Writing Home, lives in Louisiana. Just outside of Shreveport on his family's land, to be exact. He inherited his grandfather's cabin, just down the yard and across the driveway from his parents' house.
Growing up in that part of the world, it's natural for him to love all things outdoors--hiking, fishing, hunting, football. And since they have several acres of wooded area, as well as a pond, he's pretty happy to stay right where he is.  As we gear up to welcome my newest book into the world in a week and a half (not that I'm counting or anything), I wanted to give you a sneak peek at the characters and some other behind-the-scenes tid-bits.
Here's Christiana Jones. She grew up hearing stories of Huntsville from her dad, who went to college there. It became her dream, so she went to school there and stayed. But for some reason, it doesn't feel like home to her. Maybe that's why she hasn't unpacked all of the boxes in her apartment despite having been there almost three years. She's working at a pediatric clinic as one of the receptionists, and is good at her job, but it no longer brings satisfaction.  Happy New Year all! I'm excited about bringing a whole new set of interviews to you this year, and first up is Allison Pearl. She's a sister author with Anaiah Press, and her books sound so good. I've really enjoyed getting to know her, and I think you will, too.
Hey Allison, I notice that all of your books have my favorite food on the cover. :-) What about donuts made you think murder mystery? The murder part was more of an afterthought. First on the brain was doughnuts. I probably would’ve put them in anything, but I can’t do cookbooks, so murder it is. If you had to branch out and write about a different kind of food, what do you think you'd pick? I love a good pie. And they’re not easy either, which would be good in a book. The crusts and filling are finnicky and complicated. They’re hard work, but worth it. There’s got to be a story in there somewhere. Pies are hard, yes. I've never perfected making a crust, so I totally get the analogy. I'm noticing some names like Knightly and Bennet in your book descriptions. Any relation to the beloved characters of Jane Austen or did you just like the names? The names are absolutely Austen inspired. To me, she was the first of us. She wrote amazing stories that kept you turning the pages long after bedtime. And even though the endings were always happy, she didn’t shy away from weaving the real struggles of women in her time into the narrative. Struggles that in some ways we are still dealing with today. Ultimately, I wanted my first published novels to be a nod to the woman who started it all. |
This is a place for me to tell you about what I'm writing, talk about the process or where some of my ideas came from, or even have other authors come in and talk about their books.
Categories
All
Authors I Love to Read (in no particular order)
Archives
October 2024
|
RSS Feed
