On my excruciating journey to find a literary agent, I met Lisa Regan, a struggling author facing the same uphill battles I was fighting through. She had the door slammed in her face quite a few times, but she never gave up hope of getting published. At this moment, she has one published novel available, and another one on the way. I've read her novel, Finding Claire Fletcher, and I can tell you it's a great read.Below is the synopsis for the novel, and then a guest post from Lisa. But...wait...she's saved the best for last! A giveaway! Everyone loves free stuff! So if you're a novel reader, you should check this one out.......
Newly divorced and with his career
in jeopardy, Detective Connor Parks takes solace in the arms of a beautiful
woman he meets at a bar. The next morning, Claire Fletcher is gone, leaving
nothing behind but an address and a decade-old mystery. The address leads to
the Fletcher family home where Claire’s siblings inform Connor that their
fifteen-year-old sister was abducted from a city street ten years ago and is
presumed dead.
During those ten years, Claire
endured the cruel torture and depravity of the man who abducted her. Paralyzed
by fear and too ashamed to return to her family, Claire is resigned to her life
as Lynn, the identity her abductor forced upon her. Every time she attempts
escape or betrays him in the smallest way, someone dies. Even now, her
clandestine run-in with Connor Parks may have put his life at risk, as well as
the lives of her family.
Connor is convinced that not only
is Claire Fletcher alive, but that she is also the woman he met at the bar.
Driven to see her again, he begins his own investigation, off the clock and
without the police department's consent. He is determined to find her and
unravel the mystery of her abduction and odd reemergence. But finding Claire
Fletcher proves more dangerous than he anticipates. In fact, it may be deadly.
You can buy Lisa's book at:
You can buy Lisa's book at:
Lisa's guest post
WHY DO YOU WRITE?
As
writers, we will inevitably be asked the question: why do you write? I’ve been asked this many times. My immediate answer is: because I have to. I
think it is because writing is how I make sense of the world. It’s how I
process things, how I talk myself in and out of things, how I resolve my
issues, how I answer my questions.
As
a child, pretty early on I had a lot of stuff to make sense of--I’m a product
of divorce. Now I don’t want to make it sound like I had it so horribly because
I didn’t, but the fact is that for a young child, divorce is hard. It hurts and
all of a sudden your perfectly ordered world doesn’t make sense anymore, and in
your child’s mind, it never will again. Plus for the rest of your childhood, no
matter where you are, you are missing someone. My husband came from a
not-divorced home and I can never fully explain to him the lifelong sense of
FRACTURE that coming from a bunch of divorces has left me with—how it affects
so many aspects of my life to this day.
Again,
I’m not saying oh-my-life-was-ruined-by-my-parents’-divorce. On the contrary there were great things that
resulted from the divorces. First of all I now have a number of (step/half)
siblings and step parents who are some of the most fascinating, wonderful,
kind-hearted, brilliant people I have ever had the privilege to know. I would never
know them if the divorces and remarriages hadn’t taken place, and my existence
would be much poorer for it. People who made me the person I am today, whose
influences I am grateful for them beyond words. Then there is the double
Christmas/birthday presents, double family vacations, etc. Those are all
awesome things about being from a divorced family.
On
the other hand, when you’re very, very young and all of these relationships and
dynamics are changing around you, it’s hard to make sense of what’s going on in
your world and where you fit. I’m not saying this is the worst thing that could
ever happen to anyone—far from it—I’m just saying for me, the impetus for my
writing came from just being really confused about my world and my place in
it. When the landscape of your life and your role in the lives of everyone
around you is constantly changing, sometimes you just want to get away. I
loved, craved the escape that writing offered. In this world, I controlled
everything. I could do anything I wanted, go anywhere I wanted, be anyone I
wanted. It was a place I could go where I was completely free and where I
always felt good. It was addictive.
The
other thing that it gave me was a constant. The writing never changed. It was
always there, and it was always the same. Good or bad, sloppy or well-written,
long-winded or brief—it was there. Wherever I went, there it was because it was
inside me. It never left me, never made me feel badly about myself, never let
me down, never disappointed me, never frightened me. It always felt good. It
was consistent. It was constant.
When
I had no one to talk to, I wrote. When I needed to cheer up, I wrote. When I
felt confused, I wrote. When I wanted a heady, euphoric rush, I wrote. When
everything in my world was in disarray, I wrote. When I needed a release, I
wrote. When I had questions, I wrote. It’s just the way I’ve always dealt with
life so yeah, I have to write. Plus it feels good. It’s like a really great
drug but it won’t land me in rehab, it won’t upset my stomach, and it won’t
lower my inhibitions and make me do stupid stuff. You can’t beat it.
What
about you? Why do you write?
And now the free stuff!!!
As part of the Finding
Claire Fletcher Blog Tour (12/6/12 through 12/21/12), Lisa Regan will be
giving away the following items:
$25.00 Amazon Gift Card
1 signed copy of the paperback of Finding Claire Fletcher
1 e-book version of Finding Claire Fletcher
All you have to do is visit the Finding Claire Fletcher Blog
Tour & Giveaway page on Lisa’s blog which you can find here
and comment on that page letting Lisa know whose blog you’ve just come
from. Each commenter will be assigned a
number and then the winners will be chosen using random.org. Winners will be announced on 12/24/12!
9 comments:
writing is great therapy...and def a drug that wont land you in prison...ha...true that...nice to meet you
Thank you!!!! This is awesome. I really, really, really appreciate it!!!! :)
Nice to meet you too, Brian!
It was my pleasure, Lisa.
And you are right Brian, writing is definitely a way to escape the everyday life.
It's always fascinating to get a glimpse into the mind of a fellow writer. Thanks for sharing, Lisa and Otin!
Why do I write? I think the most honest answer now is that after doing it for so long I do it out of habit. I get a line that rolls through my head and know if I don't write it down something bad will happen like an ink pen will leak in the pocket of my favorite jacket and it's the only time of day I get to wear my headphones, block out all the noise of the planet and listen to the music I want to listen to.
If Otin says it is good, this is a must for me.
That was awesome! I'll never forget the story you told me about you as a child with your little suitcase. Broke my heart. But at least you got great material from it.
I write because I love working with words... Thanks for letting us meet Lisa, Otin. And thank you, Lisa,for your generosity. Nice relazin read...
This book is already on my list of books to read because I had read about it from one of my many sources of new books that come out. Congratulations to Lisa for her tenacity in getting this book published. So happy for her!
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