Friday Thoughts and The Weekend Creation Hop

"Your time is limited. Don't waste it living someone else's life."

-Steve Jobs

I don't have an iPad, an iPhone, or an iPod, and I've never owned an Apple computer.  I guess I live in some other century, but I did note the passing of Apple's Steve Jobs and was moved by the quote attributed to him above.

So many people make plans to be something and never get around to actually being that something.  Tomorrow never comes and life gets in the way, so they never climb that mountain, real or metaphorical, and it remains something that was always a plan and nothing else. Or they get lost in the form and function of being whatever they want to be and never actually do much of anything.

So often in life we get trapped in a cycle of actions that we don't even realize are holding us back.  Fear can do that to you, and before you know it you've convinced yourself that a poor substitute for what you want is enough. 

In the spirit of the life Steve Jobs lived, here's to all of us living the life we all dream of. 

This weekend is the last before Destiny Redeemed's release, so I have to send out ARCs to reviewers and make sure the formatting is right before I upload to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. In celebration of the release and my dear friend Shah's Weekend Creation Hop, here's the blurb and an excerpt from the book.

Between fate and destiny stands their love...

Sentenced to spend the rest of his three remaining lifetimes in Nil, Amon Kalins is freed with the help of his Sidhe servant, Gethen, but now he must accept his life is never to be his again as the Council won't rest until he's safely back imprisoned within Nil's cold walls. Broken and nearly dead from his time in prison, Amon is saved by an Aeveren healer named Althea Forester. As a healer, Thea has served her people for 45 lifetimes, never having a destined one and always knowing each lifetime would ultimately end with her alone. But destiny hasn't forgotten her.

Drawn to the seductive Amon, Thea quickly becomes a pawn the Council uses to trap him. Taken prisoner by the sadistic leader of the rebel group, the Soren, Thea must survive the vicious world of the people hellbent on taking her destined one away forever, and Amon must risk everything dear to him to free her from those who would sacrifice her to claim the bigger prize and return him to Nil.

Excerpt: 

Amon looked up at the terrified woman standing in front of him and pity for her washed over him. As she stood frozen, he spoke to her, hoping to calm her fears.

“What’s your name?”

The woman stood as silent as a statue, her gaze fixed on the floor.

“Tell him your name,” Gethen said in a low, menacing voice.

Amon grimaced at his friend’s threatening tone and repeated his question. When she didn’t answer again, he added, “Please don’t be frightened. Gethen won’t hurt you. He’s just worried about me. I promise you’re in no danger in my home.”

Slowly, she lifted her eyes to his right leg. Without a word, she moved to the opposite side of the bed and focused intently on the injury.

Amon watched in apprehension as she stared at the main source of his pain. She seemed to forget anyone but the two of them were in the room. When she moved to touch his leg, he flinched and groaned, “No,” but she seemed oblivious to his refusal.

Gently, she touched just below his knee, and Amon waited for the searing pain to return with a vengeance. Eyes closed, holding his breath, he waited, but only relief came. His pain ebbed away, and when he was convinced it wouldn’t be back at least while she touched him, he allowed himself to exhale fully and slowly opened his eyes.

The left eye was still swollen, but through his right eye he studied the creature that had just taken his pain away. For the first time since she’d entered the room, he noticed how placid her face was. Long blond hair softly framed her face, falling in tendrils toward her waist, and pale blue eyes looked to his leg, as if she were willing him better.

Amon’s study of her was broken only by Gethen’s shifting positions against the door frame as he nervously watched her do as he’d commanded.  The noise interrupted her focus, and she looked up into Amon’s face. He winced expecting the pain to return, and she slowly moved to touch his face near his swollen eye. 

“Thea,” he heard her whisper as she gingerly placed her right hand over his left eye.

Involuntarily, he relaxed and closed both eyes as a sense of calm flowed over him. He wasn’t sure how long he lay there with her soft touch on him, but he felt the loss instantly when she moved away.

He opened his eyes in time to see her sway back toward the wall. He reached out to grab her, but in his weakened condition, he knew he’d only be able to support her for just seconds before she fell to the floor.

“Gethen!”

The man raced around the bed to catch her as she slipped from Amon’s hold. As he held her limp body in his arms, he looked to Amon with a confused look for guidance as to what to do with yet another hurt person.

“Place her next to me here,” he said pointing to the unoccupied half of the king size bed he lay in.

As Gethen did as he requested, he asked, “What happened?”

“Aeveren healers can become overwhelmed if the person they’re healing is severely injured. Considering the amount of pain I had before she touched me and how little I have now in both my leg and my eye, it’s not surprising she found it to be too much.”

Amon inched up into a sitting position and looked down at Thea as she lay motionless next to him. He regretted Markku having to take her against her will and having to hold her there, but the effect of just her brief healing touch was wonderful.

Looking up at Gethen, he whispered, “I’m tired, friend. Dim the lights and let me rest for a while.”

“Do you think that’s wise? She may wake up and hurt you.”

“Gethen, she’s a healer.” 

“Amon, she bit Markku downstairs.”

Smiling, Amon joked, “That’s Markku. She wouldn’t be the first person to want to harm him, and certainly not the first woman. And she had the right to fight back. She’s not here of her own free will.”

Gethen continued, undeterred. “I’m just worried she may try to leave.”

“Then you can remain outside the door, if you’d like. But I’m sure downstairs would be fine and far more comfortable. There’s only one door to the outside, and it’s on the first floor.”

Gethen accepted Amon’s argument and dimmed the ceiling light until the room glowed a pale amber color. He closed the door with one last glance back at him, and Amon listened as he made his way down the stairs.

Sleep began to come over him and he welcomed it like an old friend absent from his life for what seemed like years. For the first time in almost twelve months, he was in a bed and his body didn’t ache so much it would keep him up all night. And for the first time in all those months, he wasn’t alone. He inhaled deeply and let the air out of his lungs slowly, savoring the safety he felt.

Turning to look at the woman next to him, he watched as she lay silently still except for her breathing. Her hands seemed so small until his gaze traveled the length of her body and he saw all of Thea was small. She’d seemed so much larger as she stood over him, but the person he saw beside him now was petite. As he noticed this, sleep took over and his eyelids drooped closed.

Be sure to visit the Weekend Creation Hop to see all the other creative souls there, and don't miss the Celebrating Romance Giveaway Hop that begins tomorrow!

                                            

Weekend Creation Hop and New Excerpt From Masquerade

So it's Labor Day weekend (well, almost) and summer's over. It's been a busy one, hasn't it?  We've got a new month and lots of great things will be happening in the fall, so let's try not to mourn summer too much. 

I'm participating in my dear friend Shah's Weekend Creation Hop, which I mean to do each week but then get wrapped up in all sorts of other things and forget.  Well, not this week! 

And since her hop is a call to creativity, I'm including a new excerpt from Masquerade today.  In this scene, Annelisa is brainstorming with her sister about how to find a way to make the awful Earl of Swindon not want to marry her.

Annelisa lay across her bed, her arm covering her eyes. “Cecile, think. There has to be a way.”

“You don’t think father will do this to me, do you? I couldn’t bear being stuck with an old man!”

“Cecile!” Annelisa sat up and glared at her younger sister.

“I’m sorry! It’s just so awful.”

“That’s exactly why we need to figure out a way to make the honorable earl not want me.”

Cecile sat down beside her sister, puffed her cheeks, and blew the air out in frustration. “What if you became big and fat? Men never like that.”

“In one month? I don’t think even Pippa could make enough pies to achieve that.”

“Could we make you uglier?”

Annelisa leveled her gaze at her sister and squinted her eyes.

“I didn’t mean that you’re already ugly! Don’t look at me like that. You know what I meant!”

“I know, but this isn’t helping. I don’t think Thornton Sutcliffe would care if I got fat or ugly. As far as I can tell, he barely noticed I’m even human.”

Annelisa fell back onto the bed in disgust. Cecile meant well, but they were getting nowhere. She was missing something right under her nose.

“Do you know anything about him? Oh, Anne! How could father do this?”

“I know very little of him, and what I do know, I don’t like a bit.”

“Other than his shortness, stoutness, and surliness, what else do you know that could help you?”

Annelisa buried her face in a pillow. “Cecile, there’s nothing else to know. He’s odious.”

“Oh, don’t cry! There’s got to be something that will make him call off the marriage.”

The two sisters remained silent until Annelisa sat bolt upright. “I’ve got it! I know what I have to do!”

“What? Tell me!”

“You must promise you’ll tell no one, Cecile. No one can know what I’m going to do.”

“I promise! Now tell me!”

“The earl seems to think it’s of vital importance that I’m a virgin. So all I have to do is not be one.”

Cecile leapt to her feet in shock at her sister’s implication. “Annelisa Fielding, you can’t! It’s improper!”

“What’s improper is that in this day and age a woman is still traded like cattle. Relinquishing my maidenhead is a small price to pay for my freedom.”

“I don’t know about this,” Cecile said as she began to wring her hands.

Annelisa rose to face her sister. “I need to know you’ll keep my secret, Cecile.”

Her sister hesitated a moment but then nodded. “I promise I won’t tell another soul as long as I live.”

“Good. Now I just need to decide who will be my comrade in arms. Any suggestions?”

“You can’t do that with any of the men we know. It would be a scandal.”

Pacing, Annelisa nodded in agreement. “I know. There must be someone who would be willing to keep our coupling a secret.”

“Perhaps you can find someone at the Stewarts’ masquerade ball tomorrow night. There are sure to be many possible men attending.”

Annelisa stopped and considered her sister’s idea. The season’s first masquerade ball would be perfect. Everyone would be wearing masks, and if she wore her hair differently, her choice wouldn’t know it was her.

“But most of the guests are from our social circle.”

“Not everyone.”

“Annelisa, who do you have in mind?”

“Someone who is respectable, honorable, and best of all, soon to be leaving Britain.”

Cecile grabbed her sister’s arm to stop her from pacing. “Who?”

A broad smile lit up Annelisa’s face. “He’s perfect. I just hope he’s not too honorable.”

“Annelisa! Who?”

“Count Nikolai Shetkolov.”

“Father’s friend?”

“Yes.” Annelisa saw the shock registered on Cecile’s face. “What’s the problem?”

“Do you even know him?”

“What do I need to know? He’s an appealing man, always charming, obviously intelligent as he’s a diplomat for the Russian Tsar, and if I’m not mistaken, he told Father he would be returning home soon.”

“But isn’t he a bit older than you?”

“Cecile, I’m not choosing a husband. I’m choosing a lover for one night to eliminate the one thing the Earl of Swindon believes is worthwhile about me.”

I hope everyone has a great weekend! 

All Sorts Of Goings On

So much has been going on this week!  It's been such an exciting time here. First, I received a 5 star review for Stolen Destiny from Reading Romances, and she made a videoreview for the book too. That made my day earlier this week.

Then on Thursday my publisher released Stolen Destiny to Amazon. Yay! I can't tell you how happy that makes me. :D

And last night I signed up with Kindlegraph, and now anyone who buys any of my books in Kindle can get an autograph from me sent directly to their Kindle!  How cool is that?  So if you're a Kindle reader of my books, you can request a note and autograph from me. Check it out HERE! I better start thinking of clever things to say. :)

Today I'm expecting my last package of swag to arrive so I can begin assembling a package to send to the event I'm attending in October.  :D  The bookmarks came the other day, and I expect the cover flats and coffee mugs to get here this morning.  I'll be including some swag in the upcoming giveaway hops I'm doing in August and September, but if anyone wants bookmarks, just email  me at gabriellebisset@gmail.com so I can get your address.  They're really great looking, thanks to the incredible work Talina from Bookin' It did on them.  (My photography skills aren't the best, but you can get a much clearer look if you click on the picture.)

I hope everyone has checked out Elaina Lee's To Urn Her Love and Sarah Ballance's Hawthorne this week on my blog.  For $3.00 each, you can get a good read and the chance to help people who really need it.  If you haven't yet, check them out HERE.

I'm at Whipped Cream Reviews this Sunday, July 31, all day celebrating their 4th Anniversary Blog Fest, so click on the banner and stop by to leave a comment to be in the running for these prizes:

GRAND prize: Winner’s choice of either a B&W Nook / WiFi Kindle / $150 Amazon or BN GC
Other prizes: Several small GCs and prizes throughout each day.
Every comment left on the posts earns an entry.

Last, but certainly not least, is the Weekend Creation Blog Hop, hosted by the terrific Shah Wharton. Click on over and check out the creative types who join in each week.  You can find some really interesting blogs.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!  I'm putting my nose to the grindstone to get some things done before August begins.  My vacation is a mere 15 days away!

Remembering Why I Do This

It's Friday! Yippee!  Here at my house, it's shaping up to be a beautiful day.  The sun is shining and the temps are set to climb into the low 80s.  Life is good! 

I've got a number of things going on today, but I want to note something that really touched me the other day.  Laurie, from Bitten By Paranormal Romance, posted her review of Stolen Destiny on Goodreads and what she said about the book brought me back into focus a bit.  When you can see your sales for books at any given time in real time, it can cause you to focus on the numbers.  That's not what it should be about.  The reality is that unless you're a huge name in NY publishing, you're never going to be able to be in this for the money.  Sure, it's possible you'll make some nice cash, but enough to live on?  Well, I guess it depends on how much you need to live.  For me, unless this begins to bring in the money my day job brings in, it will have to be something I do for another reason. 

As I check the sales for all my books each morning, I'm thrilled to see them climb each day.  That's not why I began writing, though.  It isn't why I write now.  I just needed to be reminded of that.  So when I read Laurie's review and saw that Stolen Destiny had stirred her emotions and really stuck with her for days after she read it, I remembered why I wrote that story and why I write everything I write.  Not for the money. No, I write because I want to share a story with readers.  To know that Stolen Destiny touched her like that means I succeeded with that story. That's why I do this. Thanks to her for reminding me of that.  :)

I'm over at the Brazen Broads Book Bash (is that not the coolest name for a book blog?) today talking about POV.  Thanks to those brazen broads for the invitation to stop by again and for the wonderful review they gave Stolen Destiny. 

Finally, I'm hopping around with my dear friend Shah's Weekend Creation Blog Hop.  It's a new linky each week, so I'll be posting that more often from now on.  I love Shah's hop because it's different.  It celebrates creativity, so there are authors, artists, and all kinds of creative types who stop by. 

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!  I'll be finishing Masquerade and writing guest posts and interviews so I can begin to get ready for vacation.  Have a great one!