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Lucy note: I had the pleasure of reading this and it’s a wonderful story!
Summary
EXCERPT
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
GIVEAWAY
PRESENTS. . .
Indivisible Line
by Lorenz Font
Release Date: March 12 , 2015
~~SUMMARY~~
Pre-med student Sarah Jones is back in Beaver, Alaska, for summer vacation. A loyal member of the Gwich’in tribe, she accepts the rules set by her father, the leader of their small town. Raised in a strict household, she learned early on to do what is expected of her and has agreed to an arranged marriage. Despite her reluctance to marry without love, Sarah is unwilling to defy her father’s wishes. She hopes to help usher in an era of independence and stability for the town, but for now, her focus is finishing med school so she can become Beaver’s resident doctor.
Business owner Greg Andrews needs a change of atmosphere, away from his philandering wife and life in general. Leaving New York City to join a hunting expedition in Alaska, Greg’s plans are turned upside down when he is shot on Gwich’in land and ends up on Sarah’s operating table. In the absence of a qualified doctor, Sarah must operate to save his life. She refuses to wait for the consent of their tribal leader, and her father banishes her from the tribal land in punishment.
Grateful for his life, Greg concocts a scheme to help. Plagued by the side effects of her unconventional operation, he convinces Sarah to become his live-in nurse. Without the means to support herself, Sarah agrees to the questionable arrangement, but she soon finds herself in even more trouble. Her new problem is that she is falling in love with this infuriating man, and the choices she now must make are much more difficult than the simple act of saving a man’s life.
Together, Sarah and Greg must both decide whether they can overcome the vast differences between them, or if the indivisible line that separates their worlds will ultimately pull them apart.
~~EXCERPT~~
For the first time since he had been brought in the clinic, Sarah got a good, long look at him. She noted the perfect blond hair that fell on the side of his face—matted but still perfect. His features were rather forbidding, even in his unconscious state. The defined jawline framed well-proportioned lips that were pale and parted slightly. The suggestion of dimples on either cheek made her ache to see him smile. Then there were the long, dark eyelashes and the contoured nose, all coming together to create a striking, attractive package that kept her eyes glued to his face.
Her heart began to race. What is wrong with me? Shaking off another wave of nausea, Sarah closed her eyes and concentrated on breathing. Her knees weakened underneath her, but she kept on inhaling and exhaling. A few more minutes and it would be over.
In her short life, Sarah hadn’t met a man who evoked the well–documented “butterflies-in-the-stomach” phenomenon. Now here she was, staring at a complete stranger with her heart banging against her chest in a frenzy. This man was just too perfect, too beautiful almost. She was even gladder she’d managed to keep him alive. He’d make a woman happy someday, if he hadn’t already. Instinct made her eyes travel to the man’s ring finger, and her heart skipped when she found it bare.
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~~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~~
Lorenz Font discovered her love of writing after reading a celebrated novel that inspired one idea after another. She is currently enjoying the buzz from her vampire novels Hunted, Tormented and Ascension, Books 1-3 of The Gates Legacy Series, Feather Light, an erotic romance and Pieces of Broken Time, a military romance.
Lorenz’s perfect day consists of writing and lounging on her garage couch, aka the office, with a glass of her favorite cabernet while listening to her ever-growing music collection. She enjoys dabbling in different genres, with an intense focus on angst and the redemption of flawed characters. Her fascination with romantic twists is a mainstay in all her stories.
Lorenz lives in California with her husband, children, and two demanding dogs. She divides her time between her full-time job and her busy writing schedule.
~~CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR~~
Looking for well written BDSM books with heart AND depth? My friend, R. E. Hargrave is releasing the final installment of her Divine Trilogy today. I invite you to check her out. Tell her Lucy sent you.
Congratulations, R. E.!
~~~~~~~~~~
Summary:
Confession time…
Although I’ve read all types of romance for over forty years, I’ve yet to read a paranormal. And I’ve only read one shifter novel.
I know, I hear the collective gasps all over the world.
Are you crazy? Do you know what you’re missing?
Um, no. I don’t. They’ve never interested me.
That’s about to change. Yep, Lucy is losing her paranormal virginity to *insert drum roll*
ANN MAYBURN
“Casey’s Warriors” will be my first venture into a new realm. I hope. I heard Ann speak on a panel at Author’s After Dark in Savannah last year. She’s a hoot! Then I read an excerpt of Casey’s Warriors online and it sounded…intriguing. As in, the first of its type where I couldn’t forget the snippet. (Damn good marketing, Ann.)
So off I go to one-click. Let’s see how this goes…
When you are a linear thinker, *raises hand and waves frantically* learning new things takes on a life of their own. You, er, I spend way too much time searching, reading, and studying before settling down to a course of action. (The psychology major in me would call that procrastinating.)
My writing process follows this all too predictable pattern. I started with classes in May of 2013, leaping in with terror and enthusiasm. Surely there had to be a formula writers used?
Yep. There is.
It’s called writing.
Of course, there were other things to learn. Plot, conflict, character development, voice. Not to mention all the details about writing for a specific audience.
*Screech* What?
Once I finished my first book, 42 Rue de Jardin, I thought I knew what the next story would be. There was a logical progression in my mind. But one character (Stoney Carrington) had a different idea and demanded his story be told next. He was so insistent, he talked to me the entire way on a beach vacation trip. Garage Guy suffered through three hours of my dialogue with an imaginary person. Can you picture that scenario?
By the end of our vacation, I had the basic plot for Belle Chene. So I rolled up my sleeves. Outline done, things moved along nicely. Then, BAM. I hit a roadblock. Like an avalanche across the road.
For over two weeks, I stared at the blinking cursor as it mocked me, feeding my insecurities. I knew writers hit snags, so once again, I resorted to my tried and true methods. Remember that whole linear thinking and formulas strategy? Off I went on a tangent.
I’d like to say that this worked, the boulder in my mind cleared and I merrily moved on. Didn’t happen. HUGE frustration. Instead of reaching out for help, I pulled a turtle and withdrew into my shell. Why let others see what an abysmal failure I was at this stuff?
Then I received a phone call from one of my coaches who said she knew there was a problem. (I swear the woman is psychic.) After discussing my book vision, she made suggestions. Go back before the spot where you’re blocked and take it out. Look at where the characters are going. What are they doing? How do they feel?
And it worked. It took me another couple of days to clear out the debris in my head, but the words started flowing again. *happy dance*
So Belle Chene got back on target with a finished first draft.
Lesson learned — To get out of your own way, sometimes we all need a little push (and a large shovel) from someone in our corner.
Well, the universe has expanded to smack me along side the head. Again. Two recent posts from bloggers I follow wielded their respective two-by-four planks to say, “Listen up, Lucy!”
First came Kristen Lamb and a post on perfectionism. Then Marie Forleo talked about confidence with a quote from Lao Tzu that I LOVE:
“Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.”
(By the way, if you are in business or thinking about it and aren’t following these two women, just do it.)
Perfectionism sucks. Let’s just put that out there. It’s tied in to the whole confidence thing. “Do I believe in myself enough to…” whatever it is I’m considering. Or do I change and tweak for wa-a-a-ay too long?
Like this post. Rather than publish the initial draft – which made me cry with its simplicity and emotion – I fussed and messed with the text, placement, fonts. It always has to be more. Better. Perfect.
No. It. Doesn’t.
The world is waiting for the gifts that only YOU can provide. When you wait until you have the confidence it (whatever IT is) is perfect, you deny others the opportunity to share your talents.
Don’t do that.
Life is too short. And it would be a pity for the world to not see your shiny magnificence. This is the one time when distraction by bright shiny objects *ooh squirrel!* is a good thing. Just sayin’.
Hard truth —> With very few exceptions, the reality is that no one else CARES if it’s perfect or not.
Do it.
This perfectionist did. With no prior experience, I took classes, surrounded myself with talented people and am publishing my debut novel on March 7.
Is it perfect? Nope. Never will be. And I’m okay with that.
Am I confident? Not just no, but HELL, no.
And I’m okay with that, too.
Show the world what you’re made of. We’re waiting.
Image courtesy of PANPOTE / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Yep. That’s me. Lucy aka Tyrannosaurus Tessie.
Hello. My name is Lucy and I’m an old fogey. *hangs head*
I’ve come to that conclusion after a string of technology (mis)adventures. Like setting up Twitter and Facebook author accounts, creating a self-hosted website, starting a blog. Oh and writing books using software other than MS Word. Yes, I know, everyone else has been doing this stuff for years. Hey, I never claimed to be current.
So even though I’ve been using a computer since the early 1980’s (when they were practically the size of a refrigerator – remember?), I now admit to making the walk of shame as a technology dinosaur.
The past nine months have seen excessive hair pulling, teeth gnashing, throwing objects, excessive swearing and generally snapping at Garage Guy when he asks what’s wrong. He’s learned to avoid me when there’s a certain look on my face that is obviously not indigestion.
“But Lucy,” you ask, “How can that be? Everyone knows all of those things are intuitive, user friendly, with forums and places to get help.”
To be fair, that’s true for normal people. I have met some incredibly helpful people who have pulled my sorry ass out of the tar pits. (Get it? Dinosaur-tar pit?) LOL
The sad reality is the ol’ Lucy fogey brain doesn’t work like normal people’s. I present the following as evidence…
In 2012, I converted from PC to Mac. It was six months before I could navigate around without my eyes crossing. The poor Apple tech people had their hands full with me. You know, whatever the acronym is for ‘stupid person sitting before the screen’? I know there’s a term for us.
It wasn’t too bad to set up although there are still things I can’t figure out — How do people get pictures in that area of their profile?
It took 2 failed attempts at the Facebook Author page before it finally worked.
OMG. If I could figure it out, I’d insert a video of a screaming banshee here. Assuming I could find one.
Who takes 4 days to transfer their domain name because they can’t find the link that was supposed to make it easy? *Raises hand*
Picking a theme that I just HAVE to modify because I really want to create the brand vision that’s swirling around in my head. Took me six months to figure out.
Designing a sign up form. Arghhh. Still haven’t figured it out. I know what I want and can’t translate it to the screen.
I use Scrivener and it’s jam packed full of so many goodies it’s almost overwhelming. I love it but am intimidated at the same time. It can take my finished book and convert it to all different types of formats. Cool. Problem is I can’t figure out how to get chapter titles to work. *Head/desk*
Ah, the easy part. All I have to do is write. How well is up for debate. But since my audience is comprised of the forty two crickets and three squirrels in my backyard, I write what I want.
Finally something that works. And it makes my old fogey, dinosaur brain happy.
Two of my children are married, two are in relationships. Garage Guy and I have been together forever. Or 210 dog years, it seems like. Plus we both experienced a few “connections” prior to our marriage. So we have some expertise in what makes things tick between two people. Notice I said ‘some’ expertise, not ‘all’. Our life isn’t perfect.
But there are certain things couples should determine if they are considering cohabitation or marriage. All of which I feel would have been helpful before I took the plunge. So, with tongue firmly in cheek, I offer the following pearls of wisdom in no particular order of importance:
Lucy’s Rules for Successful Cohabitation (or How to Share Your Blanket Fort Without Strangling Someone)
1. How much counter space do they require in the bathroom? If there isn’t three inches left for a hairbrush or tube of toothpaste among the products and gadgets, there might be a wee problem with sharing. Or just live in a space with two bathrooms.
2. Staying in the bathroom, there’s the proverbial squeezing of the toothpaste tube. Middle or end squeezer? Again, separate tubes resolve this if it bothers you.
3. Toilet paper. Over or under? We all know the PROPER way, don’t we? LOL Does your future partner/roommate feel the same? If not, be prepared to change it. Often and behind closed doors.
4. General clothing/laundry tidiness. If there’s always dirty jeans, socks, bras and thongs strewn about and clean clothes are never folded, beware if you are a neat freak. It will make you crazy. There are just so many times you can pick them up or treat your partner like they’re five before they throw a temper tantrum.
5. Kitchens. Personally, I cannot go to bed if there are dirty dishes out. Yeah, it’s a personality flaw. Garage Guy doesn’t care. But who wants to get up in the morning to a sink or counter full of used glasses and gravy encrusted plates? Ugh.
6. Watch how they treat someone important to them – parents, siblings, other family members, close friends, business/work associates. It’s a powerful indication how they will treat you. And look at their actions, not just their words. If anything makes you uncomfortable, investigate further. Keep yourself safe.
6.5 In that same light, watch how they treat all the other people. You know, the times where no one is looking and there is nothing to be gained. Powerful revelation about character.
7. Controlling the thermostat. Hot? Cold? Really, do we need to have this talk again? *Oh, sorry, thought I was talking to Garage Guy. Again!* Seriously, I know many couples who argue about this way too much. It still goes back to priorities – comfort vs. money. Unless, of course, you marry a trust fund baby.
8. Money management. You need to have the discussion about personal debt, spending habits and overall financial philosophy. Coupons? No coupons? Saving for long and short term goals or impulsive spending? All of this needs to be out in the open as much as your past sexual history and health. Because it matters.
9. A good balance between talking and listening. Everyone wants to feel important, validated and heard. If your partner doesn’t seem invested in your life and opinions, why subject yourself to a longer term relationship?
Hmm, looking back over this list, Garage Guy and I are doing okay. Well, except for the thermostat issue.
You cannot change someone else. Cold, unvarnished reality. The only truth is to change yourself or your reactions.
Just what I’ve observed over many decades from my little corner of the world.
You’re welcome.
Now I need to go turn the thermostat down. Again.
