This category will contain all posts related to the Now and Forever series since WorlPress won’t let me change the name of the category to Now and Forever. No matter. You all will understand what I mean.
It looks like November 15th is the release date for The Island. That may change since everything so far is going ahead of schedule. I’ll keep you posted!
Thank you all for your support through all of this. It’s been a wild ride so far and I’m looking forward to many more to come!
Brightest Blessings!
Tammy
I was really looking forward to the first round of edits for The Island. Not only did I run through that manuscript multiple times with a critical eye, I wanted to be sure the lessons I learned from editing For the Love of Quinn came through. I didn’t want to see anymore of those little comment balloons pointing out the ever dreaded head hopping. Oh and don’t get me started with my overuse of the ellipses…
See what I mean?
So imagine my surprise when I opened up the file sent back from my publisher and editor to find very few corrections done to the entire thing! Not only that, but the editor gave me such wonderful words of encouragement stating that I handled the shifts between the characters points of view and also the flashbacks “deftly.” She said my story was “seamless.” Yep. SEAMLESS! I can tell you there was a lot of celebrating around our household that evening.
Today I made the few corrections needed and chose and adult and story excerpt to send back to my publisher. The last time they ended up going with a different adult excerpt, but it’s all good. I had trouble picking the story excerpt this time. I wanted to give a teaser without giving too much away right off the bat. Hopefully it will be the one they like too. I’ll let you know when they put the excerpts up on my Siren author page.
There should be one more round of edits, cover art approval and then the final copy approval all within the next few weeks. November is just around the corner!
I’ve been busy working on The Surrender of Julia throughout all of this too. Since that one has scenes that are also in The Island I have to be sure they flow well and that I don’t change anything other than it’s all going to be through Julia’s eyes now.
Watch for updates and teasers from both books over the next few weeks. Once I get the cover, I’ll get started on the video trailer. I have a rough idea of what I want to have in the video, but it has to go along with the cover. I’ve chosen the music. Now to find the “perfect” images to tell Jake and Quinn’s story.
Until next time, my friends. Brightest Blessings!
Yesterday I received wonderful news. My publisher has accepted The Island (Now and Forever 2). They’ve set a tentative November release for the ebook version and April 2013 for the print version. As most of you know, this book started off as a short story “A Christmas Miracle for Jake.” I posted it here on this blog during a blog hop at the end of last year. It was in three parts.
Here are the links to those posts so you can get a little sneak peek at the story.
Of course it’s evolved a lot since then and I’ve developed Julia’s story into her own book too. If I can get that one done and submitted, I may have two new books released before the end of the year. I’m not going to force it. If Julia’s story flows well then so be it. I want to be happy with it before sending it in for consideration. As you know, characters want their story told and they don’t give a rip about deadlines! 😉
To celebrate, I’d like to share the song that I heard in my head when I wrote the love scenes between Quinn and Jacob for The Island.
Enjoy!
Since the last entry here, I actually finished the first “draft” of The Island to my publisher. I got a request to revise it and basically split it into two books. Not that it was too long for one book, I just had too much going on. I needed to focus on one couple at a time so to speak.
Well, I took that advice to heart and now have The Island and The Surrender of Julia as book two and three respectively. I’m so glad I did that! Not only did I get to delve deeper into the world of the wickedly beautiful Julia Santos, I got to spend more time with Jake and Quinn building on their full love story and with both books, I got to bring in more of the paranormal element.
As a Wiccan, I believe in more than just one God or Goddess. I wove that into the story having characters who are also Wiccan, and introducing The Three as basically my version of the Trinity. There is Yeshua the Elder God/brother who is the Creator. The Goddess Fate or Lady Fate as I call her in in charge of Destiny. Then there is the “youngest” Sibling, the God of Trials and Tribulations, better known as Lucius. Without The Three working together there would be Chaos. At times it would seem that Lucius works against his Siblings in order to prove that humans aren’t worthy of the blessings Yeshua has bestowed upon them. In actuality, Lucius puts the humans through the tests in order to be sure they are worthy. It’s up to them to choose the right paths in each life time to get the blessings. If they don’t, then they keep trying life time after life time until they get it right.
Quinn and Jacob are true soul mates. Through each and every life time, they search for each other, but through their own choices, are pulled apart repeatedly. Their hearts cry out to Lady Fate every time and finally she’s had enough. She wants to intervene by way of the Island. She hopes if they get to be together in that paradise, both will finally be able to choose the one path leading them back into each other’s arms. She enlists the help of two guardian angels to help gently nudge and guide them down the right direction.
These same angels will have their hands full. Not only do they have to convince Quinn and Jacob to go back to the Earthly realm to find each other again, they have to watch over several other people. Some have already crossed the path of our fated lovers, and others they have yet to meet.
I believe we are not alone and that other beings are there to help us get through life’s challenges if only we ask. Why should we go through life thinking it’s all just random and chance? Why should my characters? That’s why I wanted to bring in the Gods and the Goddess into Quinn’s story. That’s why I made their guardian angels people they knew: Quinn’s brother Danny and Jacob’s father Michael. Being able to see, hear, and touch their loved ones again, helps to build up their faith in the promise given to them by The Three. This time was in fact their time to be together. Nothing and no one would ever tear them apart again.
In that light, here’s the music that often runs through my head when I think of Jacob and Quinn’s love story. In the first book we got to see just about everything through Quinn’s perspective, but in The Island we get to see a broken man finally find his way back to the one person who could complete him heart and soul.
I had such a great time writing the short story “A Christmas Miracle for Jake” that I have been mulling over in my brain the idea to expand upon it. I was tinkering around with the idea of making it part of the Now and Forever series, but as a prequel. Jacob’s story really needs to be told. How did he become such a broken man unable to trust his own heart?
In For the Love of Quinn, I touched upon his story a bit through conversations between Jake and his brother Eric and other characters. The woman who broke his heart and nearly drove Jake to kill himself keeps coming up in my head. Julia Santos is a piece of work. She is the classic “mean girl” all grown up and even more evil, sort of like Sharon Stone’s character in Basic Instinct. Catherine Tramell was wild, devastatingly beautiful, used to getting what she wanted when she wanted it no matter the costs. For her, murder was not off limits. Would it be for Julia? I think the idea that a man would nearly die in a motorcycle accident because he was so distraught over seeing her with another man would be just the kind of thing to get her juices flowing.
Oh, now my mind is definitely going there!
While Jake is in his coma and on The Island with Quinn, Julia is busy stirring up trouble in the real world for him and his family. Unfortunately for her, she doesn’t know that the Hartley family has two Angels watching over them and Jake. Of course there is Karma and Lady Fate waiting to get their claws into Ms. Santos!
Okay, looks like I got some writing to do! I am going with the title The Island for now. Any other ideas?
Hello folks!
Today I am excited to be a guest on author Gabrielle Evans blog Being Naughty Never Felt So Nice. I am giving away a framed copy of my poem “The Thunder and the Rain” as well as a copy of the poetry ebook that contains it! Since Follow Me: Poetry from the Heart and Soul was released on 12/31/11, just in time for this contest, I am able to offer it as a prize too. Just in case the hyperlink above doesn’t work for you, here it is again all by itself.
http://gabrielleevansromance.blogspot.com/2012/01/lust-and-love-in-las-vegas.html?spref=fb
Another reason to stop in and leave comments on each day’s entry in Gabrielle’s blog: (drum roll please)
For each day you leave a comment, you get another entry in Gabrielle’s contest. At the end of the month, one lucky person will win a brand new Kindle Fire!
Some let’s get those visit numbers up on her blog and leave comments every day!
Hello everyone! This hop was so much fun and I am thrilled with the response I received from my short story “A Christmas Miracle for Jake.” Readers will definitely see more of Daniel and Michael in the future. After all they are watching over all of the couples in the Now and Forever series. I wonder what kind of obstacles they will be up against trying to get these couples together?
Enough of that! I put everyone’s names in a hat for each day your left comments. The winner is….
Stacey Jo Siferd!
I will be sending Stacey an email shortly. She won a copy of For the Love of Quinn in the ebook format of her choice!
Have a great day folks!
Tammy
Join me over on Amber Lea Easton’s blog Kisses, Caresses and Whispers in the Dark. I share an interview with one of my favorite characters in For the Love of Quinn, Anthony Mancouso. As Steve’s best friend and former right hand man, he knows all of the Vegas tycoon’s secrets including some about Quinn. He will make appearances in all of the books in my Now and Forever series and even have a book of his own to tell his story.
Come on over to Amber’s blog and leave a comment. I will be giving away a framed copy of another one of my poems The Thunder and the Rain.
Happy Cyber Monday!
This six is from my new short story A Christmas Miracle for Jake. The entire thing will be posted over the three days of the Stuff Your Stockings Christmas Blog Hop (December 16-18th). In For the Love of Quinn, the reader gets a brief overview of an accident that Jacob had ten years before. The short story covers the time when Jacob was in his coma. Two secondary characters make their first appearance to help nudge Jacob, Quinn and the rest of the people in their lives down certain paths. This group of six is a scene where Jacob and Quinn are together for the very first time on their dream island.
Her breasts were straining against the bodice of her sundress. Jacob flicked his tongue into the deep cleft between him eliciting a moan from Quinn. He held her gaze as he pushed the thin straps of the dress off of her shoulders. He used his teeth to tug at the strings keeping her heaving tits in place. She giggled as her dress slowly opened up to him. The sound tickled his stomach and he wanted to hear her giggle, laugh and so much more.
Stay tuned for the full story!
I was checking out the various sites that I have pages on, making sure that the information is up to date, when I was suddenly taken by surprise. When the screen opened up to the main page for The Romance Reviews, the cover of my book popped up with a review written by author Sam Crescent. Click on the button on the right side of this page and it will take you right to the review but here is a bit that made me smile…a lot!
“If you love a huge story with major hot and lovable characters, tense emotional scenes and people who you would like to go and slap, then this is the book for you.” author Sam Crescent The Romance Reviews http://erotic.theromancereviews.com/viewbooksreview.php?bookid=3815
For the Love of Quinn is available as an ebook from Siren Bookstrand and also on Amazon. The print version is scheduled to release sometime in January. I will keep you posted.
Behind Closed Doors 
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