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Friday, February 13, 2015

Guest: Charity Bradford and Celebrate the Small Things

Today, I'm starting out with a celebration of a wonderful author and blogger, Charity Bradford!
Q's by me, A's by Charity.

1. What's your favorite scene or line from Fade Into Me?

As my daughter would say, “So many, so many!” Here are a couple of lines.

·      I closed my hand to stop her fingers from causing any more damage to my resolve. ~Caedan
·      My inner demons snarled and clawed until the butterflies had been shredded. ~Ryanne
·      Happiness is never a guarantee and it always requires effort. ~Caedan’s mom
·      The collective magical ignorance of the human race compelled the colors to remain motionless. Here (referring to his world) they played like joyful children. ~Caedan
·      All I could think about was following him down the street for a fist to face conversation. ~Caedan
·      In that one moment between blinks, the restlessness disappeared, and I was home. ~Ryanne
·      The entire last chapter. sigh

2. How did Fade Into Me take on a life of its own?

Wow, that’s a great question. I originally planned a sweet romance, that in all truth would have been blah. Then Ryanne took me on the first detour. I was typing and something about scars on her back appeared on the page.

What in the world?

Well, I let it percolate and things became much more complicated. There were so many questions to be explored. The answers brought a lot more depth to Ryanne’s character and helped me realize there was a message I wanted to share with the world.

Bad things happen. They might leave us broken and scarred, but that doesn’t mean we’re unworthy of a love that heals and lifts us to a better world.

3. What prompted you to write about the message of Fade Into Me?

This is a little harder to pin down. Perhaps its just life that led me to this point. I’ve suffered depression, watched my mom/sisters/myself struggle with co-dependent tendencies, spoken with friends who have had very traumatic events in their past, etc. Although our individual experiences were different, we shared many common emotions. “I’m not good enough.” “Why would he love me when he could have someone else?” “It’s my fault so this misery is justified.” “If only I had been better, prettier, something, things would have been different.”

Sadly these are VERY common thoughts in today’s world. And not just with women. In my life one thing has always helped me keep moving forward. Love. Love of family, my sweet husband, my friends. None of us is perfect. Love isn’t even perfect. But it’s worth fighting for and it can make us whole.

So true. Love is worth fighting for! (comment)

Bonus: What's one of your favorite scenes from one of your favorite books?

I have an entire bookshelf of “favorite books”. You know, the ones you can read over and over and never get tired of them? Well, today I’ll share a newer favorite. I think I read Louisiana Longshot by Jana Deleon three times last year. OMGosh this book makes me laugh out loud. I picked it up for free under the romantic suspense kindle section. This year I hope to make enough money selling my books to buy the rest of this series.

Anyway, I love the scene where CIA agent Fortune (whose hiding out from some really bad guys who want her dead in a little back water Louisiana town called Sinful) is trying to get to Gertie’s house (one of the geriatric mafia—seriously you just got to read this book). She’s also trying to avoid the only eligible bachelor in town, Deputy LeBlanc. It’s a really small town and she ends up in his back yard while he’s going in and out to grill out. She’s hiding in a bush trying very hard not to attract the attention of his dog. Well, she get’s Gertie to call him, he leaves and she has to dump the meat off the grill to distract the dog while she jumps the back fence. Unfortunately she leaves behind a few strands of her platinum blonde hair snagged in the bush. He has to wonder if she’s stalking him.

The whole book is filled with laugh out loud fun.




Author Bio:

Charity Bradford has been a voracious reader ever since her 5th grade teacher introduced her to the world of books with the WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS and SUMMER OF THE MONKEYS. She soon lost herself in the worlds created by Card, Bova, Asimov, Bradbury, Nagata and Niven. She lives in Northwest Arkansas with her hubby and four kids that keep her on her toes.



Blurb:
Caeden Frey doesn’t believe humans will evolve to see the magic, much less control it. Even so, he has two months to marry a human or face the wrath of the High Council. Bitter about a responsibility he thinks prevents him marrying for love, he figures any human girl will do. He’s ready to propose when his soul mate stumbles into—and right out of—his arms.

Human, Ryanne Killian might be Caedan’s one shot at happiness while still fulfilling his duty. Unfortunately, she guards a dark secret. She’s determined to push Caedan away to protect him from her past.

Caedan must convince her she’s worthy of his love before a rival family puts an end to his wedding plans. If she can see her own worth, she just might save herself and his people.

Links:
Buy it on Amazon
Watch the Trailer
Read the first 2 chapters

Find Charity at:


Charity is so right! Love is worth it! 


I just have a few other things to celebrate!

1. Two awesome awards - Liebster and Very Inspirational - received and given away earlier this week.

2.  A Jumble of 500+ Writing Prompts is out! (off my desk after 4 years of prep)

3. I have a guest post at M.J. Joachim's Writing Tips blog! The Makings of an Every Day Writer!

4. And, I graduated from the "walking cast boot" aka "boot of evil with good intentions" into brand-new hiking boots. I can now drive our stick shift again, and take small strolls (inside the grocery store, etc). 

Hiking boot rules over "the" boot. 

What are you celebrating today? Do you think love is worth fighting for?  Please say hello to Charity and check out Fade into Me!





35 comments:

  1. Congrats on the blog awards and the "new boot."

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  2. Already visited MJ!
    Charity, love will always pull us through. 'These three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.' (1 Corinthians 13:13)

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  3. Congrats to Charity. Love the line about happiness.

    And congrats on the new boot and being more mobile.

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  4. Congrats to Charity. Love the book title 'Fade Into Me'.

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  5. It's funny how characters can lead you down a different road from what you intended.

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    1. Isn't it wonderful! This is what makes me a discovery writer/pantser. I love when the characters share their story with me instead of me forcing one on them.

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  6. Tyrean, thanks for having me over today. I'm so glad the boot is gone. My neighbor had multiple knee surgeries and I wanted to cry for her every time she showed up at the bus stop with that boot.

    @Alex, truth always comes through, doesn't it.

    Thanks @Natalie! I think people need to be reminded that good things always require work to hold onto. Too many people give up on relationships because they weren't expecting to work at it. It's sad what they miss out on.

    @Rachna, thanks! I was listening to a song with that title by David Cook and realized it summed up my story completely! The song and the title, so I went with it. Now, if the book ever becomes a movie it already has the end credit song. :)

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    1. You're welcome, Charity! I love that you have an end credit song already. :)

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  7. Sounds like you've had a good week! Definitely worth celebrating.

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  8. Charity sounds like a lovely person, and her book sounds intriguing... something I would like. So Tyrean, while you are my hero this week - I'll take Charity for next week (smile).
    Loved this interview!

    Good deal on that boot. You could use it as an umbrella stand. I cannot wait to get my copy of your book!!! Congratulations on those two awards (thanks for mine). Great interview!

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  9. Congratulations to Charity! I've been seeing her book around and it sounds really good.
    And yay for so many great things to celebrate! I've got to look up your jumble book, saw this on Twitter yesterday and it definitely caught my attention.
    Enjoy your weekend!

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    1. Thanks, Julie! I'm glad you saw it on twitter - I'm thankful for all the help with that!

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  10. Glad to hear your foot is improving so you can get around easier. Congrats on those great awards.
    Congratulations to Charity too.

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  11. Great interview with Charity! I completely agree about women being prone to a bad self image and early emotional traumas leading to the belief they aren't worthy of love. I've known a ton of women who fought those demons. It can be hard to learn to love yourself and stand up for your rights. I'm wishing Charity much success with Fade Into Me! :)

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  12. Those are the best kind of bookshelves!
    Wonderful interview.

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  13. Thanks Julie and Suzanne!

    @Lexa for some of us its a life long journey--learning to love ourselves--even when we know better. Thanks for stopping by!

    @Lynda Tyrean asks great questions!

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  14. Glad you're out of the boot. When I had my ankle reconstructed I had to wear one of those for eight weeks. I used to take it off to drive my stick shift. Have a good weekend.

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    1. Eight weeks?! aagh! I'm glad I didn't have to wear it that long.
      Have a great weekend, Susan!

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  15. Great interview! Congratulations to Charity. :) And yay for being out of that boot. Hope you have a lovely weekend!

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    1. Thanks, Christine! I hope you have a lovely weekend, too!

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  16. I enjoyed reading the interview and your guest post. Congrats on the awards, your new book release, and getting the "boot of evil with good intentions" off! (Made me laugh.) Happy Weekend!

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  17. Awesome things to celebrate.. esp for your foot:) Huge congrats to Charity on her book too.

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  18. YAY from getting out of the cast into the boot!! Charity's book sounds wonderful. Happy Valentines Day.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Cathrina! Happy Valentine's Day!

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Thanks for taking time to share your awesomeness!