Happy Birthday Lilliah

Alright, today isn’t really Lilliah’s birthday.  The character’s birthday is in October, (although today is the wedding anniversary of our friends Debbie and Gary after whom Lilliah’s parents are named), but today is really the day Lilliah’s story gets shared with the larger public.  The book has been available on the Create Space e-Store and on Amazon for about a week, but today Jennifer is doing a local book signing and selling copies to friends and family in the area who were supportive enough to pre-order copies sight unseen.

The book went on sale online on December 8th, and it was December 8th four years ago that Jennifer wrote the first words.  It has been a long journey from that day.  There have been lots of Saturday writing days and late night edits.  Some highs and plenty of lows.  After each rejection or critical comment, Jennifer was sure she was done.  But in the process, I learned something fantastic about my wife…She doesn’t give up.  She felt like pursuing this book was the right thing to do, so she kept with it. 

After the tears were dried, she would get back to work and make the story better.  It was amazing how well she took the criticism.  Some people would quit, and some would blind themselves to it, but Jennifer was driven to make this story the very best that it could be.  She painstakingly researched, cut scenes, rewrote, changed phrases, and became obsessive about commas.  She read her own work and others’ too so she could know the best way to say what she wanted to say.  So after four years of downs and ups, here is Lilliah; but really, here is Jennifer.  Jen, I love you.  I’m proud of you.  Thanks for letting me come along for the ride, and thanks for letting me guest blog without knowing what I would say. 

We hope that the readers of The Scent of a Soul enjoy the story.  Have a very Merry Christmas, a happy holiday season, and a fantastic New Year.

Travis

Great Things Come To Those Who Wait....

After much ado, I want to stand on my two-story roof and with a mic strapped to a bullhorn shout out to everyone, "The Scent of a Soul is ready!" A resounding thanks to all of you who have been so diligent in asking and checking in with me and this blog and other avenues waiting for the release of my book. As cliched as it sounds, I cannot express how thrilled I am to finally be able to share The Scent of a Soul. Thank you for your patience! 

The cover is perfect due to much toil and work on my sister-in-law's part. She is a fantastic cover designer and did an outstanding job working through all the kinks. I am so excited for you all to see the final product! We are working to get the Kindle version up and running, but with Christmas here and four of my children having their birthdays around the holidays, it might take a while. Bear with me, and the moment it is ready, you will know. However, for those of you who still love to hold a book in your hands, as they say, "Go and get it!" :-) You have all been so great. Thank you!

You can read a review of my story here on Clean Romance Reviews. 

The Waiting Game!

Why is it when you want something to happen, it usually takes its own sweet time? I hate to start with a complaint, so let me follow that one with a resounding thank you to all of you who viewed the book trailer for The Scent of a Soul, and entered the giveaway. Congratulations to Theresa for her win!

I have been waiting on bated breathe for the day I can share The Scent of a Soul with you all. My intial intent had been to release on October 15th, then we set the date for Halloween. But alas, the company I am publishing through, can't seem to get the cover right. It is constantly too dark, no matter how much we tweak and lighten it. It breaks my heart to think that all of you might never get to experience the cover the way my cover designer Julie and I have intended. It is truly outstanding, and my fear is, you will never know how much.   

Enough of setting an actual date, I'm shooting for a month now. My big hope is now to have the book ready sometime in the vicinity of November. So keeping you all posted is at the top of my priority list. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Cara Crabtree, a blogging friend, for sweetly hosting an interview for me. Please check out her blog and the interview here. 

The next time we talk, I hope to have good news. (If I get desperate, I will just start posting my book a chapter at a time.) :-) 

THE SCENT OF A SOUL Book Trailer

I am thrilled to be able to share The Scent of Soul book trailer with everyone! Be sure to enter the Giveaway through the Rafflecopter below for the chance to win an ARC (advanced reader copy) of The Scent of a Soul. I would like to express my special thanks to Emma Daley for her exceptional help and expertise in the making of this book trailer. Nicely done, Emma! You can checkout her blog here. Thanks for viewing. Enjoy!


  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Trailer Soon to Come...

Sometimes life has a way of dictating what it wants us to do. Right now, for me, life is dictating. I had hoped to have The Scent of Soul ready for the public by mid-October. I am now crossing my fingers that it will debut by the end of October/beginning of November. My ARC showed up with the cover way too dark, forcing us to find a solution. Unfortunately, the simple solution isn't always the way it works out. Also, my husband and I, and our five children, are in the throes of the grand adventure of moving. Ugh! For all of you who have moved (that encompasses a vast majority of you, I'm sure), you understand my groan. And, to add insult to injury, my husband decided to get sick. I know, so sweet of him. Love you, honey.

However, I did want to let you all know that the book trailer for The Scent of a Soul is just about complete and ready for viewers. My sweet friend and author of the Propheticus series, Emma Daley, has kindly taken on the project, and has done a wonderful job. I am very excited for you all to see it! (I promise to have more information on the book trailer in the very near future.)

To end with, though, I would like to share a quote that has touched me. Recently, I went to see the movie, The Words. I enjoyed the movie very much, but before I went, I looked it up on the site pluggedinonline.com for a review. The reviewer, Paul Asay, said something that has stuck with me, even weeks later. He said: "For artists and writers and others who long to create something boundless and lasting, they sometimes feel compelled to sublimate everything--wife, kids, lives--to that art. But The Words tells us there's a beauty and nobility in a life lived simply and sincerely, even if the one who lives it never set the world afire."

I could not have said it better. Until later...

BOOK COVER REVEAL

I thought making the decision to conduct a book cover voting would be a fun way to involve all of you in this process. It turned out to be much more than that. I had such an overwhelming response that it literally took me and my art cover designer, Julie, back to the drawing board. The voting itself came out extremely close, but after much internal debating, I knew the decision that had to be made. Not only is this the cover that had the most votes, it is also the cover that speaks to me when I think of The Scent of a Soul. It is The Scent of a Soul, and I could not be more pleased with it. I know many of you voted for this cover, and many of you did not. I hope those of you who did not, will understand how I came to this decision after you have the opportunity to read the book. It is very fitting to Lilliah and Marek's story. I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks to ALL!

The voting on my book cover ended last Thursday, but I would like to heartily thank all of you who participated, either by voting here on my blog or through my e-mail, or some other avenue. It was a completely eye-opening and fun experience! I learned much from it and received many interesting and thought provoking comments. The contest was very close, and the cover winner is being finalized and will be revealed on Wednesday. As an update, last Friday we made the final touches to my manuscript and uploaded it to the publisher, where a loud "Whew!" could be heard from those present. I'm getting closer to being able to share my book with all of you and, for me, it is like waiting for Christmas to come.  See you on Wednesday...    

They're Here!

I am thrilled to present these book covers for your vote! Please vote for your favorite using the poll to the right. Click on a cover to view in greater detail. Thanks for your input and feel free to leave any comments--I always love comments! The final reveal will be posted next Friday. 

Cover A

Cover B

Cover C

Cover Art Design copyrighted Julie Thompson

Book Cover Voting

I was very excited to share my synopsis for THE SCENT OF A SOUL with you last week, and I am even more excited to share the three finalists for its book cover. Please join with me this Friday, September 14, 2012, for the reveal of the three book cover finalists and cast your vote, letting me know what you think. I look forward to your shared opinions. See you then... 

THE SCENT OF A SOUL

The journey of eternity begins with a single Kiss....

Fleeing her recent past, Lilliah Woods finds refuge in the anonymity of the present day inner-city slums. As she settles into the seedy apartment she must now call  home, she meets mysterious Marek Jamison when he materializes in her doorway demanding to know who she is. From that moment, he becomes a guardian and guide as she gradually discovers his hidden world.

As their relationship develops, Lilliah learns of Marek's dark past and of a brothers' quarrel he has been embroiled in for years. The quarrel turns into a larger battle of good and evil, liberty versus tyranny, and the separation of love and lust.

With Lilliah as the ultimate prize, the deadly conflict reaches out to threaten her family, and the outcome of the final battle will determine her fate. Lilliah must embark on an unexpected path that teaches her to trust in the man she has come to love, and give of herself as she never thought she could....

Book Synopsis Reveal

I am so excited to let you know that on Friday, September 7, 2012, I will be posting my first book synopsis reveal. This has been a long time in the coming, and I can hardly wait. I hope you'll join me as I begin this final walk down the road to sharing my book in full. Until Friday...

How it all came about....

I know I'm always interested in how people got their start to writing, so I thought I would share my story. It all came about on a day that I was having a pity party for myself in December of '08. I was being pulled in what seemed a thousand different directions because of the holidays and my childrens' birthdays (the majority of which insanely fall in December). Plus, a family reunion and other responsibilites were playing heavily on me. So I cancelled a meeting I was in charge of and said, "I'm taking the afternoon for myself." (I won't deny we all need to do that, now and then.)

I had the idea for my story bumping around in my head for about fifteen years before I typed out my first sentence. And that afternoon a whole page emerged from my fingertips. (Keep in mind that I would have never considered myself a writer. English was the one class that made my knees knock together in fear, so to actually start writing something was a bit of a stunner for me.) I then put the story away until my children went back to school in January.

In January, I wrote during my childrens' quiet times, and after about two weeks, I broke down and told my husband what I was doing. He read what I had, and then he sweetly gave me nights to write, as well. He was completely amazing in his support (and still is) by putting the children to bed, doing the dishes, etc.

I wrote whenever I could for five months and finished my story at the end of May '09. I thought it was perfect and I was ready to publish it, then and there. Then I checked out the book Publishing for Dummies from the library and it said, "Congratulations, you've written a manuscript...now rewrite it." I clearly remember throwing the book across the bed thinking they were crazy. But here I am, three years later, and my manuscript has been rewritten, revised, and tweaked so much, I can't imagine having published it any sooner than I am now. I am truly pleased with where it's at today and anticipate the moment when I can share it with all of you.

In Love With Love

I'll admit it: I am in love with love. And now, not only do I read about love, I'm writing about it, too.  My debut novel is The Scent of a Soul. You will meet twenty-six year old Lilliah Woods and follow her on her unexpected path to love. Future stories will feature different characters, but each will find love where she least expects it. Please join me on this unexpected path.

 The Scent of a Soul: coming autumn 2012.