Friday, December 13, 2013

Guardian Angel is now available!!!




Jesse, a self-proclaimed playboy and forever bachelor, enjoys having a good time with the female travelers that float through Spring Valley, the historic town where he lives. When a fiery redhead walks into his favorite bar, Jesse instantly sets his sights on her.

Annie is on a journey of self discovery and moves to Spring Valley to be on her own in order to find some direction in her life. Jesse throws a major kink in her plans when he continually pushes her no dating rule. A series of near tragic events keep throwing Jesse and Annie together, making them both reconsider who they thought they were and what they wanted in life.

Can Annie make Jesse want to settle down, and can Jesse point Annie in the direction of who she wants to be?

Read the first chapter here!

I am thrilled to announce the release of my first book! I'm working with Smashwords to also have it available through Sony, Blio, Apple, Diesel, and Kobo, so Guardian Angel should be available to those sites soon!

To purchase it at Amazon (Kindle), go here
To purchase it at Barnes & Noble (Nook), go here.
To purchase it through Smashwords, go here.


Incidentally, did you know you can get an app for your PC so that you can read books from Amazon on your computer? I've been surprised by how many people don't know this, so I'm posting a link for the free download of the app here.

"Great! So what's next?"
I'm currently working on a rewrite of my Queen of Denial book, or... should I say, books. As it looks right now, it will be a trilogy of a story based (sometimes loosely) on a blog story I once did. Some of the same story elements will remain, but as I put the very simple story into book form, I have to flesh it out, adding quite a lot to the story. I find myself enjoying bringing my "new" characters to life, and I hope you all will one day (in the not-too-distant future) enjoy reading about them. I promise to keep you posted on my progress!

Monday, December 9, 2013

Get Ready!!! Get Set!!! ...


The release date is very, very quickly approaching. I'm considering Friday the 13th (for luck hehe) or sometime next week to release the book, at least with Amazon and hopefully with B&N.

Until then, I thought I'd put out the first chapter for you all:



Chapter 1

Jesse Gillespie

     I love Friday nights at Howard's Bar. My small town gets plenty of interstate travelers staying at the historic hotel located just behind the bar, and more than a few of them are lonely women looking for someone who'll soothe their loneliness for a night or two. I consider it my personal mission to make sure these women feel welcome and entertained during their short stay in Spring Valley.
     However, this Friday night isn't giving me the results I'd hoped for when I left work today. I flirted with a blonde for a little while after I got here, but she kept me at arm's length and laughed at me like she thought I was funny or cute. She even called me cute and said my hair made her think of Mufasa in that Disney movie. My boss and best friend Bill chuckled at me because he told me not to go for that one. I figured it was because he wanted her for himself since he prefers blondes.
     Bill and I get along great except when it comes to women. We tried playing the wingman thing, but we discovered that I have ... a bit of a jealous streak. So, I work alone when I decide I want a little female companionship. I don't want to get in a fight with my best friend, certainly not over some chick.
    I look up at the clock on the wooden slats that make up the wall near the front door. For a few seconds, a dancing couple get in my view of it since the dance floor is right there. Ten o'clock, I think when I see what it says and feel disgusted with myself and my lack of luck so far tonight. I stare down at the wooden floorboards and think about my failure with that blonde, and I wonder if I should leave and go home, hoping for better luck tomorrow.
    I lean back to stretch in my corner chair and debate what I should do as I absently run my fingers through my wild mane of shoulder-length hair. Mufasa. Huh, I think with a miffed internal voice. Then I see the door open. Again, a few dancing couples get in my way, making it so I can't see who comes in. I don't suppose it matters anyway. I'm going home.
    As I stand up and reach back behind me for my billfold, I see an unusual shade of red hair in my peripheral vision, and I turn my head to look.
    Hello, I think as I return my wallet to the back pocket of my jeans and sit back down. Maybe tonight won't be a loss after all.
    I watch the newcomer as she sits down at the bar near Eddie and Joe, and the two older men invite her to join their conversation almost immediately. I'm so glad she sat at the far side of the bar because that means she's facing me while I debate my first move.
    A goddess has blessed us with her presence in Spring Valley, and I study her features with an experienced eye. Her red eyebrows stand out on her pale face, and her innocent-looking, deep blue eyes make it hard for me to stay in my seat and not act like an idiot barging in on her while she eats her dinner. I don't want to interrupt. Not yet.
     I sit here, entertained, as I watch her full lips talk and smile, and when she smiles widely, her little nose scrunches up in the most adorable way. She reaches up to tuck her hair behind her ear before she suddenly looks around, almost as if she can feel me watching her. I quickly look down at the table in front of me and casually pick at the wrapping on my mostly-empty beer bottle. Normally, I'd purposefully catch the woman's eye if she'd feel me staring at her, but I meant it when I decided to not intrude on her until after she's finished eating. I can still see her in my peripheral vision, and the way I've already memorized her face allows me to continue to admire her.
      I have to have her.
     One night. I'll have one night before this goddess disappears, I think and wish I had more time. Wait! She's getting up to leave!
    "You're not leaving yet, are you? Please, tell me you're not going to leave just because you're finished eating," I say to her retreating form after I hop up out of my chair and try to catch her before she can make it out the door.
    She slowly turns around to look up at me with a questioning expression. I'm sure to smile warmly down at her. She's little. The top of her head probably only reaches my chin.
    Don't leave.
    "Can I possibly convince you to stay, at least for a dance or something?" I ask since she hasn't said anything.
    "No one's asked me to dance," she replies obstinately in a voice as pretty as her face. She sounds like she's testing me, wondering what I'm going to make of that.
    "Then let me be more direct and ask you. Would you like to dance?" There. Now you can't say no one's asked you, I think with a humorous grin spreading across my face.
    "I'm not much of a dancer," she replies, looking a little uncomfortable. I don't know if it's me or dancing in general that makes her act that way. I start to wonder if she might want to learn. That could be fun.
    "Well, I can teach you if you like," I offer. Just don't leave. Hoping that I can get a yes out of her, I hold out my hand for her to take. She does nothing but wordlessly stare at it.
     Damn it! I can't let her get away, and she looks like she wants to bolt.
     I quickly decide to change my tactic.
   "Please?" I ask, being sure to look a little pitiful. I think it works because the uncomfortable, mistrusting look in her eyes leaves and gets replaced by a more pleasant one.
    "Well, since you asked nicely." Yes! "I suppose I can. I'm warning you; I really have no idea what I'm doing," she says with a small smile as she puts her tiny hand in mine, and I quickly close my fingers around it.
    "Nothing I can't handle," I say smoothly as I spin her once and pull her closer to me than necessary. She acts a little thrown by what I did, and she looks down at the floor nervously.
    Curious, I lean over to the side to better see her, and she takes a tiny step back that I go ahead and allow. She needs to be distracted from being nervous, so I talk about the first thing that crosses my mind, mentioning how I like her sweater. It's not a lie. It's really soft, and I want to run my hands all over her - I mean it.
    She goes on to mention in a rambling way how she likes it because that means she can make short trips to and from her car without needing her coat. Then she looks like she mentally berates herself for rambling. I didn't mind it because that meant I got to watch her mouth up close.
  "It's soft," I go ahead and tell her while I wonder how soft the skin under the sweater is. Compliment. She needs one, I think rapidly. "And the blue in it matches your eyes." Her blue meets my green, and I smile a little before she can look away.
    This is great. I'll have this woman eating out of the palm of my hand in no time.
    "My name's Jesse, by the way," I tell her, wanting to learn her name.
    "Annie," she says to me in a voice that's almost too quiet to hear. Then, to my delight, I see a blush trying to creep up onto her cheeks. I'm dying to know what that's all about, and I plan on finding out sooner rather than later even if I don't plan on asking her right away. There'll be plenty of time for that later tonight.
     I suppose I'd better get with the dancing lesson, I think and start teaching her what I know. She meant it when she said she had no idea what she was doing, and that makes me curious why that is. While I teach her, I also make a little small talk, learning more about her and trying to indirectly figure out what method I should use to get her to take me back to her hotel room. Then she surprises me.
     She just moved here today! I can't believe my luck! There I was wishing that I could have more than just one night, and I find out that she's new in town. Oh, this is perfect!
     I decide to back off a bit and have a little more fun with this one. I want to give her the illusion that I want to date her because in 'dating' her I can get with her multiple times, and I'm going to need multiple nights. And I suppose I can put off finding out why she blushed until later, not that I don't have an idea already - she wants me.

Annie Carter

     Jesse gives me a genuine smile after I tell him I just moved to Spring Valley today. I like the smile on his face now better than the grin he had earlier. That grin made me wonder what was really going on behind those mischievous hazel-green eyes.
     My first impression of him made me think he was a little cocky but adorable. Then, when he pulled me right up to him, I couldn't help but think, Whoa! Why did I think adorable a moment ago? Adorable implies something like a cute, little puppy. There is nothing 'little' about this man! The top of my head barely reaches his chin. You could probably fit two of me inside of him, and he's solid muscle!
     "Since you're new here, do you have a job yet?" he asks me, and I get the feeling he's trying to keep up the small talk we had going while he tried to teach me to dance. I think getting me to learn how to dance is a hopeless cause. My ex didn't like to dance unless it was a slow song, and then we'd only sway back and forth.
     "Yes, at Box O'Books. I start on Monday," I answer him simply. I'm looking forward to having a less-complicated life than what I left, and I think I can find it in this small town.
      Before moving here, I thought I had my life figured out. I had a plan: get a college degree, marry the perfect guy, and live happily ever after with a perfect marriage and beautiful children. Unfortunately, I found out late in the game that I went after a degree I didn't really want, and the 'perfect guy' turned out to be a world-class prick. What else could I do but decide to start over?
     I had to move. I had to get away from him. I let him define a part of me, and once I severed off that part of myself that was the 'Annie' of 'Drew and Annie', I didn't know what I should put in its place. I needed to figure out how to fill this hole in my life without anyone else's help, and I hoped that moving to a new town would help me accomplish that.
     "Well, since it's Friday night, are you free tomorrow?" Jesse asks with a hopeful gleam in his eyes.
     He just asked me out! I think in mute shock.
    In my twenty-two years, I've had only one serious boyfriend: Drew Laramie. Our parents were friends for years, and they continually tried to pair the two of us up. During our middle school years, it really got on our nerves; however, things changed just before our first year in high school when my dad tried again to set up the two of us. He got us in his office by separately telling us to do a bogus errand, and while we were in there alone together, Drew kissed me. After that, we became a couple. We broke up a few times, often over something pointless, but we always got back together.
     "Um ..." I stall. "I don't exactly have any plans ..."
     Plans.
     I planned on helping Drew with his father's company when he would take it over, so the two of us went to college to get our business degrees. My grades during high school were better, so I went to our preferred college while he went to another one for two years. During those two years, we broke up, and I casually dated a few other guys. I never took any of them seriously. Then, Drew transferred into the same college, and we started dating again… until he cheated on me.
     We were renting an apartment together very near the college campus, and one weekend, he thought I went to visit my parents. I'd decided not to at the last minute, and I came home to surprise him when I received the worst kind of surprise. I found him in our bed with some sorority slut.
     "So, is that a 'yes' or a 'no'?" Jesse asks with his eyebrows raised as he looms over me, bringing my mind back to the present. The woodsy smell of him drifts over to me, reminding me of when my dad would take me camping when I was little. Blending perfectly with that is a hint of an intoxicatingly distracting cologne.
     I force myself to focus as I have to ask him, "You mean like a date or something?" I try to keep from fidgeting as I wait for his answer.
     "Yes, Annie, that's exactly what I mean," he answers me with a humorous glint in his eyes before his face breaks out into a wider grin.
     A date? With him? I think frantically, and I imagine the two of us out together. He's gorgeous, I finally admit to myself. So far, I've done my best to ignore that fact. So … no. No, I can't do that yet, I decide, remembering my need to figure out that missing part of myself.
     "Jesse, you're really great, and I had loads of fun learning to dance, but I don't want to date anyone right now," I say in as nice a way as I can manage.
     "Oh," he says and gets a thoughtful expression on his still-smiling face. "Well, it doesn't have to be a date. We could just go hang out or something. I could show you everything in your new town if you'd like." He grins that grin down at me like he thinks he's a genius. Again, there's also something a little playfully devious about that grin that makes me wonder what he's thinking.
     "I don't know…" I let my statement hang.
     "Why can't we just hang out?" he sincerely adds like it's no big deal even though traces of that grin remain in his eyes.
     "Maybe Sunday," I offer.
     "What's wrong with tomorrow?" he asks.
     "What's wrong with Sunday?" I counter.
    "Because you said you had no plans for tomorrow," he reminds me with a more serious look. He casually folds his arms and waits for me to respond to his earlier question.
     "I … might be too tired from unpacking." I lie. I hate myself for lying. I honestly don't know why I decided I don't want to go hang out with him tomorrow. All I know is that right now he's making me incredibly nervous.
     "Oh, okay. I guess that makes sense," he says, buying my lie. He asks me for my phone number, and I give it to him. I can't help but feel like I'm giving him a consolation prize as the bartender starts to close up the bar.
     Driving home with a smile on my face, I think about meeting Jesse tonight. I was a little surprised when he asked me out, but I also can't help but feel flattered as well. I'm happy he didn't push the whole dating thing and that he doesn't have anything against us just being friends.
     And I'll get to see him again day after tomorrow, I think as I pull in my driveway.
     I love my cute little house. I'm renting it, and it's in a clean neighborhood filled with other small houses with fences of various sorts around their backyards. I love my house's simple layout. When I walk in the front door, I'm in a main room that has the living room, small dining area, and a little kitchen that juts a little further back into the house. Past the living room, I have a decent-sized bedroom with a bathroom beside it. The bathroom has entrances from both the bedroom and the kitchen, making it possible to go in circles around the center of the house, something I used to love to do as a child.
     I'm not picky about how the house is decorated. To keep from having to buy all new furniture or bring some things from my parents' house, I decide to pay a little extra to rent what's already in it.

    My lie to Jesse about having to unpack haunts me as I spend most of the next day watching television in my living room. I finished all my unpacking in a matter of hours when I got here yesterday, so I obviously don't have anymore to do today. I didn't bring a bunch of stuff from my parents' house, just some clothes, jewelry, makeup, and pictures of my parents and me. I don't need much else, certainly not reminders of my past with Drew hanging around as I try to dictate my own future.
     By the time late afternoon arrives, I'm really getting sick of terrible TV shows.
    A guy on the show I'm watching says a lame joke, and I groan. Then my phone rings on the coffee table in front of me.
   Mom, I think resolutely, knowing she probably wants to talk my ear off, asking question after question about my safety, whether or not I'm eating right, etc, even though I've only been here a day.
    I don't recognize the number.
    "Hello?" I ask, wondering who it is. There's a lot of background noise, whoever it is.
    "Annie?"
    "Yes, speaking. Who is this?"
    "You've forgotten me already? That's a shame since I've been thinking about you all day." the man says.
    "Jesse?" I ask, guessing.
    "Yay! So you do remember me! That's good," he says the last sentence like a silly sigh of relief.
    I swallow back a laugh because he sounds a tiny bit drunk.
    "Listen. I'm down here at Howard's if you're tired of unpacking and looking for something to do," he offers.
    I swear I can hear him smiling as I picture him in my mind sitting at one of the small tables towards the back of the bar.
    How did he guess I was bored? And he called the next day?! I think happily, ignoring the butterflies in my stomach. I attribute my happy feeling to laughing at him because he sounds a little bit drunk. Also, going to Howard's would be more entertaining than watching lame television shows.
    "Annie?" he asks like he wonders if I hung up.
   "Um. Well, okay. There's nothing decent on television anyway," I finally answer, forgetting I was supposed to be tired and bored from unpacking. Then I hang up, turn off the television, and go change my clothes into something suitable.
    I really like Jesse. I hope meeting him is a good sign that I made the right decision to move here.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Interview



I'm going to work with Smashwords to some extent in order to publish under more companies/sites. They recommend that each author do an interview, and I finished mine today. ☺


"That's great, but how's the book coming?"

The book is coming! I'm waiting on the report from a few of my beta readers before I hit that publish button. Hang in there. It'll be soon!

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Release date coming very soon!

I'm excited to be this close!
Above and below are the finished covers.
I've now set up an account with NOOK Press, so the book will be available through that channel as well as Amazon/Kindle. I'm diligently working on attaining several other sites and hope to have everything set and ready to go for one, big release!



Sunday, September 1, 2013

Guardian Angel in the editing process!



I wrote to the end! 

Now, the book sits in the editing process. I don't know how long this will take, but I feel happy that Guardian Angel is moving along nicely.

I went to AmazonKindle yesterday to use the picture I created in their cover creator, and this is what happened:

I feel very excited to see the image in my head come out very close to what I imagined!

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Working Title: Guardian Angel


Hello out there in Blogger land!


I'm also known as mypalsim1. I chose Erin Lancaster as my pen name since she's a main character in my most-popular story blog, A Story With No Title. Speaking of that blog, I've also taken another character from it, Jesse Gillespie, and wrote a book about him. I've taken him out of the original blog's setting and placed him in a small town with a different cast of characters, wound the situation up, and watched it unravel, writing as I go.

As can happen, coming up with a title for the book can be very tricky. Due to many circumstances, the title 'Guardian Angel' feels like it works so far.

I can see the end of the book in sight, so I thought I'd go ahead and fire up this blog with a little introduction to the characters in the book.

Annie Carter: Annie needs to find herself. She has spent almost all of her teenage and young adult life in an on/off relationship with one guy, Drew Laramie. The whole town of Rosedale thinks of her and him as a single entity so much so that she begins to think of herself as part of Drew. After their latest fight, she has had enough, and they break up for good this time (so she hopes). At this point, she realizes that she doesn't know who she is without him. She moves to the even-smaller town of Spring Valley to figure herself out. Her parents, concerned but supportive, help her to move and get her settled into her charming little house. During Annie's difficult journey of self-discovery, she meets Jesse Gillespie, a womanizer who is happy this fiery redhead has decided to settle in his town.

Jesse Gillespie: Jesse's hometown isn't Spring Valley, but he has lived there for many years now. Even though its population is tiny, the nearby highway brings a small but constant stream of travelers through the little town. Jesse loves to show the choice female travelers a good time. When he first sees Annie, he assumes she's yet another tourist with whom to have a little fun. He feels happily surprised when he discovers that she's a new resident, and he finds himself thinking about her more and more often and no longer wanting to flirt with the women that are only passing through. Soon, his friend and boss, Bill, starts teasing him, saying that he's fallen "head-over-ass" in love with Annie. Jesse doesn't want to believe him, and he often asks himself, "Is Bill right?"