Are you harboring a big dream? Maybe you’ve told a few people about your amazing idea. Or maybe you haven’t whispered a word to anyone. Writing a novel was my mostly secret big dream that seemed impossibly out of reach for a long time. After I received my first rejection letter in junior high, I convinced myself writing fiction was probably not for me. Fast-forward to college, graduate school and my first years in a career I thought was the ideal job for me..
In reality, that particular career trajectory wasn’t what I was made to do after all.
The Lord was gracious to me. Not only did He bless me with an amazing husband and three healthy children, He patiently waited for me to come to my senses regarding my writing. When I still proved to be ridiculously stubborn, He nudged me until I couldn’t ignore the need to express my creativity any longer. I’ve described it as a craving you can’t satisfy, this need to tell stories and share them with an audience. I stopped making excuses and started letting the words out. Eventually I had written several complete stories, and learned how to pursue both traditional and independent publishing opportunities.
Today my first traditionally published novel, The Firefighter’s Twins, officially hits store shelves. To celebrate, I’m sharing 5 fun facts, sort of a behind-the-scenes look at how the novel came to be.
- In the fall of 2014, I took two of our boys to visit a tobacco farm-turned-pumpkin patch about an hour from our home. On the way, we passed a livery converted into an event venue, and goosebumps shot down my arms. By the end of the day, the stirring within me couldn’t be ignored. A new story was percolating…
- In the spring of 2015, I saw an announcement online for a contest sponsored by Harlequin Love Inspired called Blurb to Book. The entry requirements seemed simple enough: send the opening paragraph plus the back cover copy of a story. Not a problem, right? It was time to use that idea birthed during our pumpkin patch visit. While I didn’t win the contest, I advanced far enough to submit a complete manuscript, and was offered a publishing contract after completing my revisions.
- Natalie McDowell, the heroine in The Firefighter’s Twins, is a sister to characters who appear in my independently published Emerald Cove series. It was fun to create that link between my fictional friends.
- The twin toddlers in the story were inspired by three different sets of identical twin boys in my real life.
- The scene depicted on the book’s cover is one of my favorites.
Thank you for coming along on this journey with me, dear readers. If you have a big dream planted in your heart, I hope you’ll cultivate it and take the first steps toward making that dream a reality. The Firefighter’s Twins is a sweet romance about a man and a woman learning to accept God’s plan for their lives, even when it doesn’t look they way they anticipated.
It’s been a long journey from that visit to the pumpkin patch until today. I’m so excited for you to read Shay and Natalie’s story. Those twin toddlers are totally adorable, too. Early reviewers have given it 5 stars, and several mentioned they had a hard time putting the book down. Wahoo! That’s what we authors like to hear.
Back Cover Blurb:
One single dad plus twin toddlers. A formula for her new family?
Since his wife left, fireman Shay Campbell has focused on work and his twin toddlers. But the lovely Natalie McDowell is making him rethink that decision. She’s great with his boys, and they adore her. But he can’t go through losing someone again. Will a dream job offer win Natalie’s heart, or does it belong to Shay and the twins?
The Firefighter’s Twins is available in paperback today both online and in brick-and-mortar stores such as Barnes & Noble and Walmart. The E-book edition launches June 1, and you can buy and download your copy from various retailers, including Amazon, iBooks, and Harlequin.
Stay tuned for a blog tour, an Instagram takeover, and an incredible giveaway you won’t want to miss from JustRead Tours.
