Friday, March 15, 2013

Guest Blogger - Lisa Chalmers

I'm so excited to introduce Lisa to you. I've known Lisa on line now for years and we used to get together regularly to talk books, swap stories and generally talk about publishing. One day i hope we'll get to meet but since she's across the pond I'll have to save my pennies.

She has a fabulous new book out so I'm going to let her tell you all about it!

Josh Collins has the perfect life—a beautiful girlfriend and a baby on the way, until an accident takes his life and he’s suddenly forced to fight for everything and everyone he loves.

Alone and pregnant, Avery Rhodes is suddenly faced with a painful new reality. Life without the man she loves is turbulent. Nothing feels the same any more without him and she finds herself facing the unimaginable.

With his newfound guide Gabriel, Josh is forced to learn what happens IF TOMORROW NEVER COMES.

Hi everyone,

First a big thank you to Nell for hosting my first ever guest blog  So happy to be here. It took me awhile to figure out what to talk about, since I’m not quite feeling very ‘published’ and author-like yet.

IF TOMORROW NEVER COMES has had a very, very long journey, and it’s morphed a lot along the way. I originally wrote the first draft about thirteen years ago. It was less than half the size that the story is now. I’m not sure what the original spark of the idea was, although if I went back and read some emails to my writing friends at the time, I could find something to pinpoint it but I do remember listening to the Garth Brooks song of the same name a lot during writing. My original cast of the hero was Nick from the Backstreet Boys. (I do have a weakness for good looking blondes with blue eyes!) and Gabriel his sidekick/guide, well Gabriel really didn’t have a real world counterpart at that point. He was still a bit of a mystery to me as I wrote him. I knew he was around Josh’s height, soft spoken and had a calm to him that he always seemed to want to direct towards Josh. Josh on the other hand, had a bit of a temper, that fire burning inside of him that fuelled his reckless streak that shows up in the book and causes him some trouble.

When I decided two years ago that this could be the first book I’d indie publish, because I didn’t think it would need a lot of reworking (ha,ha), I took another look at Josh. He’d recast himself a little, he’d done a bit of growing up. He still had a bit of Nick in him, but he’d also picked up bits of Josh Duhamel (especially the hair  ) and Heath Ledger too. Gabriel now had an actual inspiration. If you watch the NKOTB video for summertime, the first time I saw Donnie in the white outfit on the sand, well my mind went ‘there’s Gabriel’.

So with that cast in mind, my muse went happily back to work. 

You can get Lisa's book IF TOMORROW NEVER COMES from Amazon.com and from Amazon Uk Smashwords and other etailers following shortly!

For a chance to win a free copy of IF TOMORROW NEVER COMES leave Lisa a comment telling her your teenage boy crush and I'll get her to pick a winner on Monday!

8 comments:

Iris B said...

Congratulations on the release, Lisa! It certainly sounds like a great story!
First boy crush? Yes, it was Limahl, from the band Kajagoogoo :-)Nell, might remember him?

Tonette Joyce said...

Crush ON a teenage boy or are you looking for teenage boys with crushes? I assume on one,huh? I have a pretty good one, I think.
A 17 year old young man of my sister's acquaintance pulled up on a motorcycle next to our family's station wagon .My sister had taken our younger cousin and me to the local teen fast-food hang-out. I thought the boy was THE cutest thing I had ever seen.When my sister said we had to go as it was her sister's birthday, he said "Whose?".(I had been slumped down, giggling in the back seat with our cousin.I popped my head up and he blew me a kiss.I was all of 12 but I left Toyland forever right then...that crush lasted the better part of a year It hurt for a while longer even after I came to my senses!

Nell Dixon said...

Toos shy hi, hush hush i do i - that the one? lol Mine was Woody from the Bay City Rollers!

Iris B said...

Yes, Nell !!!!!! That's him ... the "Neverending Story" :-) LOL

Lisa said...

Thank you, Iris! :)

Oh that's a good one, Tonette! :) Nothing like crushing on an older guy at that age.

jeff7salter said...

As a teenaged boy, I had multiple crushes.
On Movie/TV stars, that list included Barbara Eden (I Dream of Jeannie), Stella Stevens, Natalie Wood, & Jill St. John.
In the real world, I was enamored with the head cheerleader at my high school in the term of 1964-5, Mimi Coates.

Lisa said...

Hi Jeff, good choices. Barbara Eden was so beautiful on I Dream of Jeannie :)

After a random drawing, congratulations Tonette you're the winner of a copy of ITNC. Can you contact me thru the form on my website - http://lisa-chalmers.com/contact-lisa/ and I'll send you the coupon code when its up on smashwords. :)

Thanks again to Nell for hosting me! :)

jeff7salter said...

thanks, Lisa.
And I happen to know that Tonette doesn't realize she won anything here because I've been asking her which blog had this particular thread. I'll notify her to contact you.