Friday 17 May 2013

When Life Becomes Stranger Than Fiction – An author’s story (Part II)

A few days before Christmas, I had a dream that my mum would open her eyes on the day I first visited her after the wedding.  By then, my family had succeeded in convincing me to go through with it.  I’d also realised that my mum would be devastated when she learned that I’d cancelled it.  She’d blame herself and feel guilty forever.  It wouldn’t help her recovery.  So the show went on, but because of my emotional state, everyone (apart from me) decided it was best that I didn’t visit the hospital until a few days after I got married.  It wouldn’t be much fun for the guests, or my new in-laws, if the new bride was constantly breaking down with tears.

I tried to be strong.  It was hard but I found that if I kept my head blank of all thoughts and took deep breaths whenever any painful memory invaded it, I could just about make it.  Being blank was the only way I survived those first couple of days after the wedding – it was so overwhelming.  So many new faces, a whole new life, a new routine…  I kept telling myself that I’d feel so much better when I finally saw my mum.  Thankfully, my dream about her waking up came true.  I think I cried non-stop for an hour at her bedside when I saw her eyes, fully open.  They were so warm and you wouldn’t have been able to tell that they had been closed for over a fortnight.  It was also the first time my husband was allowed to visit the hospital, and the first time he saw me cry so much.  It brought us closer together and I’m really glad he was with me.

Things have been very tough ever since and the New Year started with a mix of pain, worry, tears and also some laughter and excitement.  It was the first time in my life that I literally had no free time whatsoever.  If I wasn’t trying to be a good wife, a good daughter-in-law, a good employee at work, I was trying to be a good daughter and visiting mum in hospital every day after work.  She’s been improving slowly.  She still hasn’t regained her speech, mainly because she can’t swallow, and the right side of her body is pretty much paralysed, but things could be a lot worse so we’re extremely thankful that she is still with us.  All we can do is hope and pray that she continues to get better.

Life remains hectic and unpredictable but the pain is bearable because I have a husband who is very supportive and knows how to make me laugh.  I don’t know when I’ll be able to continue with my writing, and I apologise to fans of the Poison Blood series who are eagerly awaiting Book 3.  I promise you all, as soon as I have time to write regularly, I will continue with the vampire romance – hopefully you’ll think that it was worth the wait.

In the meantime however, I am planning to publish my second contemporary romance novel (the first one being my debut Chasing Pavements).  I’d written and edited this forthcoming book a while ago, so there’s not much to do apart from uploading it to Amazon and Smashwords.  I have a summer 2013 launch date in mind for this book, so watch this space.

Thank you for reading this post. If you're interested in my debut novel, click the image below to learn more about it:
 


Like all my other books, it's also available on:
iBooks   |   B&N Nook   |   Kobo |   Smashwords 


Book Details

Length: 110,000 words
Genre: Contemporary Romance / Clean Romance / Diverse Romance / Interracial Romance / Romantic Drama / Women’s Fiction

Mood: Inspirational / Feel Good / Coming of Age / Dark
Content: Sexy but No explicit sex scenes / No erotica
Audience: New Adult & College / Adult / Female Readers

Recommended for: Readers that enjoy romance novels with serious issues and characters with depth. This is a story about life, love, friendship, family, music, art, destiny and soul mates.


And the first two books in my urban fantasy/paranormal romance series, the Poison Blood series, can be downloaded for free via:

Amazon USAmazon UK|   iBooks US & UK   |   B&N Nook Store   |   Smashwords



PB1 Book Details

Length: 29,000 words
Genre: Paranormal Romance / Vampire Romance / Paranormal Fantasy / Urban Fantasy / Science Fiction & Fantasy

Mood: Dark / Humorous / Coming of age
Content: No violence / No explicit sex scenes / No erotica
Audience: Teen / Young Adult / New Adult / Adult
Recommended for: Readers that love all things vampires, slayers and witches!

Sunday 12 May 2013

When Life Becomes Stranger Than Fiction – An author’s story (Part I)

Some authors live amazing lives and share them with the world through their writing.  Others inhabit a quieter existence, but their imagination and creativity creates the most riveting of stories.  Personally, I always thought my life was pretty simple, drama-free.  Yes, I’d had my issues, and recent years have been particularly emotional, but it’s only in the last few months that my life has really been swept up in whirlwind of drama, chaos and pain.

It all started with some exciting news though.  In November of last year, I got engaged.  The wedding was due to take place on Christmas Day 2012, so I had very little time to do anything other than go to work and come home to plan and prepare for the big day.  Time passed too quickly, and before I knew it, it was half-way through December and I’d left ordering my bridal bouquet till the last minute.  Only to be told by the company that they don’t deliver over the festive period!

I thought it was the end of the world, that the wedding was going to be a disaster – when you’re a stressed out bride-to-be, a professional in the financial services industry who is also trying to make it as an independent author, thoughts like these enter your head.  I should have waited a little longer before I let my catastrophic thoughts get the better of me though, because heartbreak would engulf me by the end of the day.

About an hour after I spoke to the bridal bouquet company, I received a call which changed my life forever.  My mum had been taken into emergency brain surgery.  My world turned upside down.  She’d fallen down the stairs and hit her head.  Blood clotted in her brain, squashing it.  The surgeons were able to remove the clot but warned us that she may never recover from the injuries incurred, or worse, never wake up.  It felt like my life was over.  My writing, my upcoming wedding, none of it seemed to matter now.  I might lose my mum, the most important person in my life, I didn’t care whether I wrote another word or got married on Christmas Day, or any other day. 

The two weeks that followed were hell.  Mum was still unconscious.  Machines were breathing for her.  No one knew what was around the corner.  I was falling apart, and also into depression.  I wanted to cancel the wedding.  My family urged me to reconsider.  Everything had been arranged and paid for, not just by me, but by my fiancĂ©’s family too, so it would be unfair to make them suffer such losses.  I understood all this, but I didn’t have the strength to carry on.  I didn’t have the strength to do anything.  Could I go through with the ceremony while my mum was in hospital, fighting for her life?

Continues in Part II here.

Thank you for reading this post. If you're interested in my debut novel, click the image below to learn more about it:
 


Like all my other books, it's also available on:
iBooks   |   B&N Nook   |   Kobo |   Smashwords 


Book Details

Length: 110,000 words
Genre: Contemporary Romance / Clean Romance / Diverse Romance / Interracial Romance / Romantic Drama / Women’s Fiction

Mood: Inspirational / Feel Good / Coming of Age / Dark
Content: Sexy but No explicit sex scenes / No erotica
Audience: New Adult & College / Adult / Female Readers

Recommended for: Readers that enjoy romance novels with serious issues and characters with depth. This is a story about life, love, friendship, family, music, art, destiny and soul mates.


And the first two books in my urban fantasy/paranormal romance series, the Poison Blood series, can be downloaded for free via:

Amazon USAmazon UK|   iBooks US & UK   |   B&N Nook Store   |   Smashwords



PB1 Book Details

Length: 29,000 words
Genre: Paranormal Romance / Vampire Romance / Paranormal Fantasy / Urban Fantasy / Science Fiction & Fantasy

Mood: Dark / Humorous / Coming of age
Content: No violence / No explicit sex scenes / No erotica
Audience: Teen / Young Adult / New Adult / Adult
Recommended for: Readers that love all things vampires, slayers and witches!