The blog tour for Guitars and Cages has ended and I just
want to take a moment to thank everyone involved with making it such a fun and
exciting event. It was amazing to get to talk about the book itself, the
characters and my writing process, something I am still a bit shy about doing
face to face. Seeing how many people liked, favorited, and retweeted tour stops
was just humbling and a huge bright spot in each day and every day.
You see, Guitars and Cages was a book that almost wasn’t
written. There was a part of me that was terrified to put Asher’s story out
there for the world to see. The urge was always there to hold back, tone it
down, mold the characters to fit a happily ever after, heck, when I first sat
down to write it, it was with completing a romance in mind.
Each step was a challenge, not to get the words flowing,
they were flowing just fine, but to be true to the characters and tell the
story that they wanted to be have told. I found myself wondering ‘what were
people going to think when they read this chapter? How were they going to judge
me?’ It was an odd feeling, the rebel girl who always bucked convention being
worried about what others might think of her. With as many times as I’ve gone out of my way to shock others with my comments or appearance, one would
think I’d be used to the odd stares or evil glares.
I guess things are different when it’s something you’ve worked
hard to create that is being put out there, not just yourself. Guitars was a
piece I came to love the more I set the characters free to be as flawed and as
real as they needed to be in order to change and grow. Somewhere in all of that,
I realized that they weren’t the only ones changing and evolving.
I stopped hiding what I truly enjoyed reading and writing. I
told my family about my books, the biggest shock coming when I told my
step-father about Guitars and Cages and he still wanted to buy a copy, saying he
was proud of me for doing what I loved. I never realized how happy I was,
talking about my writing, until he told me how much I’d brightened his
day, just hearing how much I was enjoying myself.
Seeing so many talk about the tour and the reviews that have
come through so far for Guitars and Cages makes me want to kick myself for how
worried I was to have Asher’s story published. He’s looking kinda smug right now, the little shit, since he’s the one who kept on encouraging me
to stop being a coward and keep forging ahead on the journey with him.
For those who have been curious, the journey doesn’t end at
the last page of Guitars and Cages, book two is in the works and close to
ninety percent done. This second book will be more focused on all of them
moving forward with their lives, heavy on some tough love and hard times for
Cole. I do have plans to write a third book, focused mostly on Alexia, with
many happy feels and a love interest too. As for Conner’s story, so many have
suggested it that now I’ve got some ideas floating around in my head. So there just might be a forth part to Guitars in the future.
Thank you, everyone, who had a hand in the tour and making it
a success. Thank you to the followers, readers, reviewers, tweeters and those
who left words of encouragement. I’m finally able to live my dream and I owe it
all to you and the wonderful staff at Wayward Ink who made this novel a
reality.
Happy hamster hugs to all!
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