Hey, everyone…
Welcome back! Sorry for the delay in getting a post – or few – up over the past couple of weeks, but Joss misspoke when he said I was within fifteen pages of the ‘final’ edits. Technically, it was the last major round of editing/rewrites. I had one important thing left – reading along with Microsoft David – the robotic voice who reads my story to me as I go through the manuscript.
Listening while reading is a bigger help than most people realize. It not only helps to point out where I’ve added words I hadn’t intended to, but where I haven’t added words that should be there. It also helps highlight ‘clunky’ parts of a story.
Then, once I finished (FINISHED!) Quinn’s book, I promptly forgot about the blog. Why? Because I immediately started working on the editing and rewrites for the second installment in the Weko Harbor series. Oops.
Joss isn’t happy with me right now, and I don’t blame him. But I’ve promised to post another of his ‘articles’ next week. I hope that giving him the platform to reach a wider audience isn’t going to his head. All I need is for him to throw a wrench into my plans for the series by leaving for a radio station with a larger listening audience.
Moving on…
Microsoft David and I are currently about thirty pages from ‘The End’ of Weko 2. I suspect I’m going to have to add a couple of more scenes, but am crossing all of my fingers and toes that it will be out before the end of the month.
While I continue working, I thought it was high time you get to meet the heroine of that story … Tara Nelson.
Something people would be surprised to know about you?
That I love to read romance novels. Not just to read, but to imagine myself as the heroine who winds up with her happily-ever-after. Because honestly? Sometimes, I need to pretend that life will get easier. And books provide those brief escapes.
Favorite sport?
If you mean watching sports on television, none. But I do love supporting our local softball and football teams. From the little guys playing T-ball, to the high school’s Weko Harbor Warriors. I don’t get to go to many games these days, but totally enjoy them when I can.
And, continuing in that category, are you good at any kind of sports? If not, which one do you wish you could play?
I wouldn’t say I’m ‘good’ at sports, but I’m not terrible either. I love a good game of volleyball on the beach. Truth be told, I also enjoy playing impromptu softball games when the gang gets together, though that hasn’t happened in so long, I can’t remember the last time.
Worst job you’ve ever had?
I’ve never had a worst job. My first job was working at the Surf ‘n Soda Shack, and Hank Rutledge – along with all of my co-workers – made it a dream job. Then, I went to work for Smitty, and he’s great too! Now I will say that my part-time job at the Super-Mart can be a challenge, both because it makes for a really long day when I’m working there too. But my supervisor, Eileen… Sorry. I can’t go there. Gran is one of those people who live by the Golden Rules, and one of the most important ones is, ‘if you can’t say something nice about a person, don’t say anything at all.’ So, I’m not saying anything more about Eileen.
Besides a human being, and Weko Harbor, what’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?
A heavy snowfall. The kind with big fat flakes of snow, when it’s coming down so hard that houses a few doors down look like they’re kind of blurred out. When the branches of all kinds of trees, but especially pines and blue spruce, look like something from a Thomas Kinkade painting.
Favorite (or least favorite) household chore?
I love folding laundry, especially when it’s warm out of the dryer on cold winter days. I hate dusting. Gran has a ton of knickknacks, and it takes forever. I did convince her to get a couple of curio cabinets a few years ago, so that makes it easier. But Grampa, when he was alive, bought her so many pink things. Bears, owls, blown glass things. And now that he’s gone, she can’t bear to part with any of them. And I wouldn’t ask her to. But dusting them all? I’d rather scrub a toilet, but don’t tell Gran I said that.
If money was no object, what would be the perfect vacation?
I’d love to go to Ireland. I love everything I’ve ever seen and read about it. And the accents? I could listen to Liam Neeson and Colin Farrell talk during interviews forever.
What is your best or worst memory from school?
The bullies would be the worst memory. Kind of like out of any work of fiction you could ever watch or read. There was a group of girls… Again, this would fall under one of Gran’s Golden Rules. Let’s just say they didn’t like me – or any kids who didn’t come from well off families. The best memories? I loved almost everything else about school. I love to read, and to learn. And my friends. Of course, you know they were mostly from the youth group.
If you’d had a say in what you were named, what would we be calling you now?
Gran told me my mother wanted to name me Allison, but my dad loved the name Tara. She said they flipped a coin and Dad won. So, in honor of them, I’d probably just go with what they named me – Tara Allison.
And finally, if you could go back in time to your graduation day, what advice would you offer your younger self?
I don’t know that graduation day advice, even from a hindsight perspective, could be any better than what Hank Rutledge told me after my college plans fell through. “Life isn’t always milkshakes and marshmallows, Tara. Sometimes, it’s liver and lemons. And the good Lord knows you’ve had your fair share of liver and lemons. But, you can face whatever the future holds with a grateful heart – or not. The choice is always up to you.”
And that’s it for this post. Hope you enjoyed getting to know Tara. I know I sure did!
Don’t forget, if you want to get the free Weko Harbor prequel, click here to sign up for my newsletter. And if you want to read book 1 in the series, Loser Wins the Girl, click here for purchase links. That was an affiliate link. Learn more about those here.
Also (affiliate link alert here too): If you haven’t read the first three installments of the Royal Sweethearts series – before Quinn’s book hits the digital shelves – you can pick up your copies of A Prince on the Run, The Physician to the King, and The Princess and the Bodyguard, by clicking here for the purchase links. As soon as Hoopla removes them from their site – soon, I hope – they will be exclusive with Amazon – where you can read them for free with your Kindle Unlimited subscription.
Quinn’s Saving Grace (book 4 in the series) will be available at iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords for 2-4 weeks before joining books 1-3 in Kindle Unlimited.
