Will and Lina Novels On Sale Starting Today!

Just a quick post to let y'all know that both of the Will and Lina books are on sale starting today. I usually have them on sale twice a year (May and December) to correspond with their release dates. I've been so preoccupied with a bunch of stuff that I missed the anniversary sale at the beginning of this month so now you're getting it for my birthday.

Will and Lina: When Two Worlds Collide (1st book) will be on sale from today through May 30th on Amazon through this link only (there are two separate listings for it): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00R6A1DHQ

Will and Lina: London Calling (sequel) will be on sale from May 30th through June 5th through this link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RC56PAK

Just a couple more details about the sale:

• They will be on sale for 99 cents during their promotional dates. After that, they'll go back up to $3.99.
• The sales end at 8 a.m. PST on the last day listed.
• The sale is for the eBooks only. 
• You don't need a Kindle to read them; you can read them on your laptop, phone, tablet, etc. as long as you download the Kindle app from Amazon.
• For the first novel, use that link only. When people search for it, they get the results for the version that Amazon botched up and not the one that I fixed.

Okay, that's it. 

Oh! Wait... disclaimer: my audience is young Catholic women between the ages of 17 and 24 but (thus far) none of the male readers have grumbled too much about them (lol!). I wrote these books in my early to mid-late 20s so don't read them with high expectations; I've grown a lot of a writer since then. You've been warned.

Maybe this sale will be my motivation to finish the third novel before my self-imposed June 20th publication date. Stay tuned. ;)

I hope y'all have a lovely (long) weekend!

As always, thanks for reading and God bless! :D

Free Copy of My First Novel?! Yep!

Photo credit: Danica Clark Photography.

Happy Pentecost, everyone!!

Just a quick blog post to let y'all know that the Kindle version of my first novel -- Will and Lina: When Two Worlds Collide -- will be a free book deal on Amazon on June 5-7. The Kindle version of the sequel, Will and Lina: London Calling, will be on sale for 99 cents June 7-10. I've been told that the books are quick reads so if you're looking to kickstart your summer reading, feel free to try them out.

Special author's note: I wrote the first novel in the early days of my reversion and the sequel years later... and I think you can tell. I grew up along with the characters in the novel so both of these novels have a special place in my heart. And if you're wondering, London Calling is my favorite of the two (for personal reasons).

If you've already read the novels and enjoyed them, thank you! If you read them and didn't like them... I'm really sorry! lol. If you end up reading them and have questions, please check out the following blog posts in which I answered FAQs or gave you some background info (and playlists!) of things mentioned in the novels.

• Readers Want to Know: Will and Lina Q&A: Find out if Will is based on a real person (the most commonly asked question), if Lina is based on me (the second most commonly asked question), and other questions asked by readers.
• Questions about the Will and Lina Series: Find out which characters are based on real people and which aren't.
• Novel Playlists and Sequel News: Listen to the playlists I listened to when I wanted to get into a "character's headspace." edit: language/content warning (if you're sensitive to it) on some of the songs on the first Will playlist and Candace's playlist. You'll understand once you get to know the characters. 
• "This is..." Novel Playlist: Spoiler alert, this playlist is mentioned in the first novel, WTWC.

Since my birthday was on Tuesday, I decided to give myself a writing break -- from the blogging world, from the third novel (which I'm seriously loving right now -- is that weird? That I'm loving what I'm writing?), and most everything else. I hope to return to the blogging and novel-writing world at some point this upcoming week. :)

I hope you are all having a lovely end of the weekend!

As always, thanks for reading and God bless! :D

Both Will and Lina Novels on Sale!

Photo taken by Danica Clark.

First: Happy feast of St. Joseph the Worker!

This is just a quick blog post to let y'all know that the Kindle version of both of the Will and Lina novels are on sale from today through May 8th for only 99 cents. Amazon had never allowed me to do this -- have both of them on sale at the same time -- so I'm glad they're finally giving me a chance to do it. :D

Two years ago When Two Worlds Collide was published and a longtime dream of having a published novel came true. I spent about 5 years writing and rewriting the novels. It was originally going to be a stand alone book but it grew into something bigger. Fun fact that I never told anyone: the original ending as written by a 23 year-old me ended at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico. The final ending written by a 27 year-old me is quite different. Even the characters evolved and were greatly changed... and that's all I'm saying so I don't give away spoilers.

I wrote London Calling in a single month when I was 28. I think that, since I took so many years to write the novels you can tell that I grew up and (hopefully) matured along with the characters I grew to know and love. London Calling is still my favorite book in the series but When Two Worlds Collide still holds a special place in my heart as being in the first novel I ever wrote. And, yes, you need to read it for London Calling to make more sense. Want to know what was based on experience and what wasn't? Why don't you read them and try to guess. ;)

If you want to read When Two Worlds Collide you can go here.

If you want to read London Calling this is the link you'd need.

If, after you read them, you're a bit curious as to whether certain characters were based on anyone I know in real life or if certain experiences happened to me, you can read some of the FAQ answered over on this blog post.

If you have Amazon Unlimited you can read them for free. No, I don't mind if you read them for free as long as it's done through a legal source and, thus far, only Amazon is authorized to sell/lend it.

Anyway, I have a lot to do today ("day of rest"? Huh? lol, I promise everything is necessary and cannot be put off until tomorrow) so I'm going to try to make my to-do list shrink a bit. ;)

I hope (and plan) to post a couple of blog posts this week so keep an eye out for those! :D

I hope you're all having a lovely weekend!

As always, thanks for reading and God bless! :D

Readers Want to Know: Will & Lina Q&A

Hello, my darlings. I'd like to thank those who asked questions regarding the Will and Lina series. I had a lot of fun replying to them and it was fun to see which question was asked the most... mainly by women. I bet you can guess which one it is. ;)

Now, without further ado, the questions... and answers.

Question:
1) I loved Will! Is he based on anyone? Does he exist?!
- I'm sorry to burst bubbles but Will is not based on anyone. You'd be surprised at how often I got this question. lol. My closest friends had a good time trying to figure out who Will was based on during the writing process but no one came close because he doesn't actually exist in real life… or at least I don't know a real life Will. I wish I did but I don't. No, don't cry for me, Argentina… I'll be fine. ;)

2) Lina is based on you, right? She sounds like you!
- Yes and no. Some of Lina's experiences and personality traits were my own because, as a writer, it's easier to write what you know but Lina became her own person during the writing process. I've had friends read both novels and they go “oh, that's so you!” (example: Lina's response to Will's slip up in chapter 12 of When Two Worlds Collide) but there are some obvious differences as well. I'm definitely a lot goofier than Lina. A lot… like, an embarrassing amount. I will dance and sing in the aisles of grocery stores without realizing it until it's too late; Lina would never do that.

3) Were *chapters 4 and 5* (in London Calling) based on your real life experience with your *family member*?
- Yes. I definitely drew from real life experiences to write those chapters. I think they were the most autobiographical chapters in the series. Of course, some things were changed so it's not exactly what I went through but it's very close to what I experienced. They were, surprisingly, not the hardest chapters I had to write though.

4) How long did it take you to write the series?
I started When Two World Collide in 2008 and I finished writing it around early 2013. I worked on it on and off for years because I was in school during the first 4 years of it. I used to put it on hold for months (during the school year). I started London Calling on November 1st, 2013 and finished the rough draft about 27 days later. I fleshed it out and edited it during November 2014, after I quit the SLP program. I pulled all-nighters for that one. :)

5) What inspired you to write the books? Did you draw from your real-life experiences?
- Back when I was 23 (seems like ages ago for me), I was only two years into my reversion but I wanted to write something for young women that wasn't smutty so I thought about writing a novel. The original version of the Will and Lina story was only one novel long and it ended completely different than the series did. Actually, both characters were quite different as well; Will was a huge jerkface and Lina was a lot more reserved and cautious. But as I got older and my faith evolved, so did the characters and the plot. I did draw from real life experiences (those closest to me will know which ones) but a good portion of the plot for both novels were random ideas that popped into my mind that made sense for the story. Except for maybe 4-5 chapters (out of 37), London Calling was entirely made-up by my imagination.

6) Are there any fun facts you can share with us about either of the novels?
- Sure!
For When Two Worlds Collide: Professor Normandy is based on my former English Literature professor, Professor Maria Bates. I arrived at her name this way: Bates --> Norman Bates --> Normandy. I decided to write a character based on her because Prof. Bates was very encouraging of me applying to transfer to Oxford University (yes, THE Oxford) to study English Language and Literature.

For London Calling: Aunt Lizzy is not based on a real person but she is loosely based on Mrs. Bennet from Pride and Prejudice and Mrs. Jennings from Sense and Sensibility. That was my nod to Jane Austen.

7) This isn't series related but are you working on something else right now?
- Yep! I'm working on my first non-Will and Lina related novel right now. I have a couple of sentences written out but I'm mostly brainstorming how I'm going to tackle it at the moment. I can't say much about it except that I may just write it for fun and not publish it. I'm unsure at the moment. We'll see how it's received by friends. ;)

And that's it. Other questions that were asked but not shared on here have been answered privately because of the spoilers. The only spoiler-y question I posted was number 3 because it was asked by a couple of people. I tried to make it as "un-spoiler-y" (oh, hush; I know it's not a word) as possible for the blog post.

Again, thank you to those of you who asked questions. :D If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. I may not post them on here but I will answer them privately for you. :D

That's it for now. I should go try to drink tea and get some rest. While I was working on this blog post, I started feeling a little sick and I think it's related to what I was eating for lunch. Blah. I'll be fine. :)

As always, thanks for reading and God bless! :D