Thursday, July 26, 2012

Please Welcome Dana Littlejohn Author of To Have and To Hold

It's great to host you and your book at my blog today. Welcome to all my visitors today. Please feel free to leave a comment. And, a comment is all you need to be entered to win the contest below.


Dana will be awarding five prizes, one randomly chosen commenter at each tour stop will win a prize. All are promo items displaying a different Dana Littlejohn design: 2- t-shirts (size XL), 1 coffee mug, 1 ink pen (black ink) and 1 baseball style hat .









To Have and To Hold
by Dana Littlejohn

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BLURB:

Christian and Andrea Cooper had made many plans on what they would do when their children were finally out of the house. Now that they were gone their plans had hit a snag. Christian had the chance to start his own company and promised to put their plans in motion as soon as it was off the ground. Andrea agreed to those terms, but she had no idea how lonely and neglected she would feel while she waited. On a trip to the city in search of something to do she ran into Raymond Reyes, her first love. Reminiscing with Ray brought back a flood of emotions that she found difficult to ignore. Did she make the right decision by marrying Christian after all? Could Ray convince her that this was their second chance and they were meant to be together?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~




INTERVIEW

1. What or who inspired you to start writing? I have always wanted to write. I can’t remember a time that I didn’t. I was that little kid who said when they grow up they want to be a writer.
2. How did you come up with ideas for your books? Anything can spark an idea for me. A conversation, publisher prompts even a picture.
3. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans? I want one of my novels to become a movie. That is a goal I am working toward that now.
4. If you could be one of the characters from any of your books, who would it be and why? I would love to be Kelley Kingsley! She has her own business, lots of money and she does whatever she wants. As long as it is within the confines of the law, that’s all that matters to her. LOL
5.When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step? For weeks I was telling my husband about the details of all the stories I had in my head. It amazed him that I could keep all the people, places and details separate and together at the same time. One day he came home with 3 notebooks and said to write it all down. This was in 2004, before computers were in everyone’s home. Once I had one completed, he said, “now that it’s out of your head find someone who wants to publish it.” So I did. J
6. What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing) When I first started out an already established author said for me to read the genres I’m trying to write so I know what is being accepted, then push the envelope. Notice the voice of the authors I like and then “find my voice and stay true to it”. That is the same advice I pass to new authors.
7. Do you outline your books or just start writing? Yes, I do an outline making sure to put the highlights I want to add to the story. Even though the highlights make it to the story the characters hardly ever follow the outline that I make.
8.Do you have any hobbies and does the knowledge you've gained from these carry over into your characters or the plot of your books? Yes. I like to crochet, dance and cook exotic foods. A lot of my characters like those things as well.
9. Do you have an all time favorite book? Actually yeah, To Love Again, Bertrice Small. I love it. I swear I read it several times a year just to clear my head of my own stories.
10.           Have you started your next project? If so, can you share a little bit about your book? I am usually writing 2 sometimes 3 books at a time. Right now I am putting finishing touches on a full length novel contemporary romance I call Tri-Romance and my first non-romance. It’s a murder mystery I call Brighton Beach Murders.
11.           What is your favorite reality show? I like Dancing with the Stars and America’s Got Talent.
12.         Who is your favorite actor and actress? Sean Connery is still number one in my book, but I really like Nicolas Cage, too.
13.           Can you tell us a little about the black moment in your book? After being by her husband several times, Andrea fell victim to her desires.
14.           If you were a casting director for the film version of your book, who would play your lead roles? I knew the answer to this as soon as I typed “the end”. LOL Antonio Banderes would play Raymond Reyes, Terence Howard would be Christian and Gabrielle Union would be Andrea.
15.           Anything else you might want to add? Thanks for having me. I invite all your followers to friend me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter. I always do random contests. Keep up with my website for new releases and free reads.
Dana



EXCERPT

“No, no, I was early. You look lovely, Andrea. That color really suits you.”

His words warmed her. “Thank you. Have you ordered?”

He shook his head and called for a waitress. After lunch they stayed a while longer to discuss the book.

“Oh, by the way, I talked to LaTonya and she said it was okay. I can be in your book club,” he said between sips of iced tea.

“That’s good. It should be fun.”

“I agree, and I get to spend more time with you.”

“This is not about me and you, Ray. I’m married. We can only be friends,” she told him firmly.

“I know that. I heard you married not too long after I left.”

“It was long enough.”

“Did you miss me when I left?”

“Miss you? You’re not serious, are you?”

“Yes, I’m serious. I heard it wasn’t even a year before you and that guy from the track team got together.”

“It wasn’t like that.”

“Well, what was it like?”

He continued to push the conversation and the more he pushed the angrier she became.

“Okay, you want to talk about this? Fine! Let’s get it out in the open. When you left you broke my heart, Ray. I cried for over a year wondering what I did that was so wrong that you would do something like that to me.”

“Andrea, I—”

“No, you want me to talk about it so now you listen!”

She watched him look over the booth they sat in and then to his left and right.

“I’m sorry, please continue,” he said in a soft voice.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~



AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Author bio:
Dana Littlejohn was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, but has called Indianapolis, IN her home for over ten years. She works a nine to five at a nearby doctor's office while she pursues her dream of writing. Her writing to-do list grows daily. Stop by Dana's website to see what she's doing next . It's a ride you will not soon forget!

Facebook @ liljohndana
Twitter @ authordanalittlejohn 

Don't forget to leave a comment!

Dana will be awarding five prizes, one randomly chosen commenter at each tour stop will win a prize. All are promo items displaying a different Dana Littlejohn design: 2- t-shirts (size XL), 1 coffee mug, 1 ink pen (black ink) and 1 baseball style hat .

6 comments:

Goddess Fish Promotions said...

Thank you for hosting Dana today

Christine Young said...

Welcome to my blog. I hope you have a great tour.

Mistress of the Red Ink Pen said...

This sounds like a book to put on my 'to be read' list. I'm sure we've ALL wanted to tell one certain someone what we really thought about their selfish actions.

C. L. Kraemer
Dragons Among Us
RoguePhoenixPress

Rosemary Indra said...

Hi. Your book sounds interesting. Good luck with your blog tour.
Rosemary

Genene Valleau, writing as Genie Gabriel said...

Hi, Dana! I have trouble with my characters following my outline too--and I write really detailed plots. LOL! That just makes the process interesting.

Hope you are enjoying your blog tour and your book does well!

Christy McKee said...

Dana,

I enjoyed your excerpt and would love to know how both the h/h respond to each other.

You've caught my interest!

Good luck on your blog tour.

Christy McKee
http://christymckeewriter.blogspot.com