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By: Sawyer Bennett
It should be no surprise to any of you that “I GOT JAY BYARS FOR THE COVER OF OFF THE RECORD!” I mean, it’s not something I’ve been too quiet about over the last two weeks. And what could be any cooler than getting Jay for the cover? Well…Jay giving me an exclusive interview! Oh, yeah…beyond the heights of cool, I know!
I talked to Jay via phone, sitting up at my law office, while my staff peered through the glass door. They were excited, too! Why? I’m not sure, but it beats the doldrums of practicing law I guess.
First, let me tell you some words to describe Jay. He’s down to earth, humble and sweet. Not what you would expect from a model, right? But Jay Byars is more than just a pretty face. It’s true (and sorry if that embarrasses you, Jay…but your face is quite pretty, hence the reason you are on my book cover!)
Jay hails from Gaffney, South Carolina, an area I am very familiar with since I went to college for two years at Converse, which is just a hop, skip and a jump away from his hometown. Like a true southern man, his accent is endearing. In fact, my own southern accent started getting more of a drawl the more we talked.
After high school, Jay moved to Orlando, Florida to attend the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute and he raced Motocross competitively for eight years.
If you watch this video, it will come as no shock to you that Jay has broken his collarbone in two places, his wrist in two places with tendon and ligament damage requiring surgery and he has two compressed vertebrae at L4 and L5. So when it came time to decide whether to pursue modeling or Motocross, Jay believed he needed to give up the dangerous sport. Plus, it probably ultimately averted his mother having a heart attack as she has seen him take a few gnarly crashes! Here’s a photo Jay shared with me that is frankly incredible. Pretty awesome, right?
Jay eventually left Orlando and moved back home to attend Limestone College where he was active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. They approached Jay to put on Motocross camps for kids which in turn led him to became involved with Impact Sports. This assuaged Jay’s desire to help others. He has been on four mission trips to Brazil, China, Africa and Malaysia to use sports as a bridge to help teach the gospel in these countries. He’s also done volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity and The Boys and Girls Clubs. Always on the lookout for a volunteer opportunity, Jay plans on doing further mission trips and I look forward to hearing more about his great work because volunteerism is so important to me!
What I loved most about talking to Jay was learning about his deep faith in God, a relationship that became very important to him once he moved away from home. While he and his brother attended church with their mom while growing up, it wasn’t until he moved away from home that he realized he had a void in his life. He made a conscious decision to forge a stronger relationship with God and you can tell by talking to him that this is part of what part of makes him the genuine man that he is.
Discovered by a local photographer in South Carolina, Jay concentrated on his modeling career and was ultimately signed with Major Model Management NYC. He has modeled for labels Hugo Boss, Fruit of the Loom, 2(x)ist, Belk, JosABank, Tacori Jewelry, Cadillac and now for Sawyer Bennett!
Jay and I talked about his career. He is quite the traveling man…a nomad so to speak. In 2012, he spent six months out of the year traveling across the U.S. for his modeling work, hitting up the major cities like New York, L.A., Atlanta and Dallas. He is doing more and more commercial work and his ultimate goal is to get into films. He’s taken some improv classes and hopes to make L.A. his home within the next few months. When I asked Jay if he would miss South Carolina, he said he was ready to move on but that “my family is just a plane trip away”. Currently, he keeps a bag of clothes at his mom’s house in South Carolina, and a bag at his dad’s house in Atlanta, and in between, he is very familiar with the couches of his friends’ pads in New York City and L.A.
So let’s talk about fitness! I know all of you have Googled Jay Byars, and once you did, you saw that he’s fairly *ahem* ripped. He started training at a local gym to bulk up for Survivor (we’ll talk about that later) and really clicked with the owner, Olly Pierce. They became best friends and after the show, they partnered up to open Jay Byars Fitness. Jay’s concept was to target a niche market which includes helping women to tone up for pageants and weddings, among other things. Olly pretty much runs the gym because Jay travels so much with his modeling, but he always finds time to devote to this business when he is back home in between his travels.
Now, as much as I loved talking to Jay about his career, I was most excited to talk to him about Survivor, because I’m a huge Survivor-Freak-Of-A-Fan. Next to The Walking Dead, it’s the only thing I watch on TV (besides my beloved Steelers, Penguins and Buckeyes). For those of you who watched Survivor One World, premiering on February 15, 2012, you may remember this was the season that brought you the antics of Colton Cumbie (misunderstood? I don’t know) and Kim Spradlin did some major ass-kicking on behalf of the female gender, winning the title of sole survivor. It was also the season that saw Jay make it to day 25, only to get voted out after he stepped down from an immunity challenge for some chicken wings. I know Jay had been asked about that probably a gazillion times and although we talked about it, what I really wanted to know was what the heck the contestants do out there with all that free time and no books to keep them busy!
Jay told me the twelve to fourteen hours of daylight with nothing to do was definitely the hardest part of the game for him. As a big outdoors person and someone that is constantly on the go, Jay said, “Watching the sun slowly come up and slowly go down, with nothing to do in between but gather firewood was incredibly difficult.” He said you didn’t want to venture out because everybody was talking about everybody else. You are in a constant state of paranoia and while you try to relax, you do nothing but think how things will play out. He said you are constantly over planning, probably over thinking but you really do nothing but “hurry up and wait”.
Going in, Jay had to determine did he want to play the game like Russel Hanz or Tom Westman (who was one of my favorite players and won Survivor: Palau). What he figured out was that once it was all said and done, “Who you are is the way you play. When you’re in that extreme environment, who you are just comes out naturally.” At the end of the day, all Jay could do was be who he was and play the game as hard as he could. Despite his demise, he played fantastically because making it to day 25 in one of the most competitively physical and mental games anywhere is quite an amazing feat.
I had to ask if Jay would go back on Survivor if asked and his one word answer? “Absolutely!”
I ended my interview with a set of fun questions for Jay, some of which my fans wanted me to ask. So here they go, in no particular order:
Do you like to read and who is your favorite author?
Jay was a creative writing major in college, so he jokingly told me that he got burned out on reading for a while. But in all seriousness, one of his favorite authors is also one of mine…C.S. Lewis. This tickled me to no end because at one point, my Amazon author ranking was right below C.S. Lewis. Now I’m sure Jay is adding Sawyer Bennett as one of his favorite authors, since we were ranking buddies in the past!
Regarding Lewis’ writing, Jay said, “You can chew on one of his paragraphs for days.”
Are you dating anyone and what do you look for in a woman?
This one had my cheeks burning but Jay was a good sport. No, he is not dating anyone right now, mainly because his travel schedule isn’t exactly relationship-friendly. And while he admits he works with a lot of beautiful women, and attraction is important, he said, “I would like someone that is down to earth and I would like her to love Jesus. Someone that doesn’t take herself too seriously, who is spontaneous and has a good head on her shoulders. Someone that has a good grasp of who she is and who is comfortable in her own skin. Obviously, I would choose someone I’m physically attracted to, because that’s just nature, but I want someone that is as hot on the inside as she is on the outside.”
Okay, you may sigh now!
This question was from me and I told Jay he couldn’t fool me because I was a southern girl, but I wanted to know what three things make southern men different than any other man in the world?
Jay’s answers were awesome.
First, he said it was hard to escape his southern accent, and I can tell you…Jay has one! But, as a southern girl, I can tell you it is beyond charming!
Second, he said manners are ingrained in southern men. He said, “My dad would always thump me in the back of the head if I failed to say ‘yes ma’am or no ma’am’.” And yes, ladies, he does hold to doors open for you!
Finally, Jay feels like being from the south makes you more rooted in family, which is something I can definitely relate to.
Jay received an A+ on this impromptu test, and bonus points for his dad thumping him on the back of the head. I’ve had my share of those as well when my manners slipped!
Do you have a particular role model and how do they inspire you?
Jay doesn’t have any one particular person he looks to, rather he finds inspiration from a variety of people that he has met in life. He said it could be people he works with in the industry, family members or maybe it is a pastor that has influenced him.
Jay said, “I try to pick qualities and attributes that I admire and figure out how I can apply them in my life.”
This question was awesome and came from a fan. Is this your first book cover and how do you feel to be on the front of a book where thousands of women may ogle you? (Yes, I used the word ‘ogle’ and thankfully Jay laughed at my word choice).
“I was in the middle of a shoot when I got an email about the cover, and I was like wow…how did they find me? I feel extremely blessed and yes, this is my first cover. I’m really excited about it and can’t wait for it to come out.” Jay told me that he is still trying to get used to being in the public eye and that he hopes, “I never get too big for my britches”. (Love that southern saying!)
Where do you see yourself ten years from now?
Jay hopes to be doing consistent work in movies although he doesn’t feel he is done with Motocross. He would one day like to be secure enough that he could start an extreme sports camp for kids.
Quick Question and Answer.
Me: “Dogs or Cats?”
Jay: “Dogs.”
Me: *who loves all things that are furry and bark* “Do you have a dog?”
Jay: “Not technically but I’ve claimed one as mine. She’s a Boxer.”
Me: *admiration points for Jay just went up by about a million*
Me: “Health food or junk food?”
Jay: “Health food.” *with no hesitation*
Me: *glad I was munching on kale chips the previous night but guilty I was eyeing the Dunkin’ Donuts that someone brought into the office that morning*
Me: “Action or drama movies?”
Jay: “Um…mixture.”
Me: “Tuxedo or t-shirt and jeans?”
Jay: “Did you say Speedo?”
Me: *laughing hysterically* “Um…no…Tux-eee-doh!”
Jay: *laughing, thankfully, and not hanging up on me* “Definitely t-shirt and jeans anyday!”
Me: “Baseball cap or beanie?”
Jay: “Beanie.”
Me: “Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter?”
Jay: “That’s a hard one. I hate cold weather.”
Me: “Phillip Sheppard or Brandon Hanz?”
Jay: *no hesitation* “Phillip Sheppard. In fact, I was walking the streets of Santa Monica last week and ran into Phillip and got to meet him.”
Me: “So did we see the real Phillip Sheppard on TV?”
Jay: “No, I don’t believe so. He seemed a lot more normal to me than he did on TV.”
Our interview wrapped up and we said our goodbyes. All I can say is that I am beyond thrilled with the way the cover turned out. When you are reading Off The Record, you will see that I described Linc Caldwell as an exact physical duplicate of Jay. But it’s amazing how eerily similar their personalities are, and you have to remember, I wrote Linc’s character well before I talked to Jay.
What I came away with from this interview is that yes, Jay Byars is more than just a pretty face. He has tremendous depth of character and I expect he will be a shining star in his career. I hope one day I can get him on another cover! Maybe a character who races Motocross?
Take a moment and check out these two organizations that are extremely important to Jay. Impact Sports and the International Justice Mission. I’ve combed both of these sites and their work is amazing!
From the bottom of my heart, thank you, Jay for being my muse, giving me the best possible book cover a girl could want, and for an amazing conversation. If you want to tell Jay how much you liked the cover, you can tweet him @_jaybyars. Or leave a comment at the end and let me know what you think!!!
And now…please enjoy the cover of Off The Record.
We have reached 1500 Likes on Facebook. In celebration, enter to win a chance at one 8×10 color cover print of Off The Record, signed by author Sawyer Bennett and cover model, Jay Byars.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. For those of you who read Off Limits, you know that the main character, Nix Caldwell, suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and received psychiatric help. I have been so blessed that this book has touched a few people, two in particular who reached out to me because suicide has impacted their lives.
Darlene Avery lost her son, Matt to in 2010 and Denise Milano Sprung from over at Shh Mom’s Reading lost her brother, Keith Milano in 2004. Because of these two ladies who so bravely talk about suicide, I started learning more about it. I’ve also had a lot of discussions with my husband, Shawn who has his Masters and Ph.D. in psychology. The problem we face is that mental health disease has such a negative stigma attached to it, we tend to sweep it under the rug. The mere fact that Darlene and Denise are so open about it, gives me such hope that mental disease can be fought and defeated.
To honor Matt and Keith, and their brave family members for calling attention to suicide, I’m going to be donating a portion of my profits from Off Limits to the Keith Milano Memorial Fund, which was set up to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
There are a few other authors who are doing the same, and you can find links to their books on Keith’s Facebook Page.
Click here if you want to make a direct donation to Keith’s fund.
To learn more about suicide prevention, visit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
When I start out to write a novel, the first thing I do is search the internet and find pictures of who I think my main hero and heroine would look like. Then I write my descriptions of them based on the photo.
When I set out to write Off The Record, my lazy internet searching brought me to a picture of model, Jay Byars. I immediately knew that he would be the perfect, Linc Caldwell, who you all came to lust after when he was introduced in Off Limits as Nix Caldwell’s younger brother and star goalie for the New York Rangers.
When it came time to create the cover for Off The Record, I searched and searched through hundreds of images to find the perfect representation of my book. But nothing was striking my fancy! So I thought to myself…I wonder if I could get Jay Byars for the cover. I thought it was a long shot but I also figured, “nothing ventured, nothing gained”.
I shot off a hesitant email to Jay’s agent, Tom Winslow at Major Model Management in NYC. Tom responded promptly and led me through the process. After I pitched the book, Tom put me in touch with Rick Day Photography, who shot the photo I was interested in. And before you know it…BOOM…I had a lovely high res photo of Jay in my hands to use for my cover. *happy dance*
In the days coming up to the cover reveal, which said cover I’m happy to say is FREAKIN’ AWESOME, I’m going to be posting some comparison facts between Jay and Linc. You’d be surprised how eerily similar the two men are. There may even be a few more photos of Jay…I mean Linc…I mean Jay…
Stay tuned…
*please note: this photo above (by Scott Hoover Photography) is not the photo for the cover. You won’t see that until May 23rd during the Cover Reveal.
I am so psyched to have been asked by my friend and wonderful author, A.M. Hargrove to participate in The Next Big Thing. A.M. is a wonderful writer of young adult and adult romances. You can visit her website or check out her Amazon author page. I can personally highly recommend her newest release, Kissing Fire.
Without further ado…. (and what does “ado” mean anyway?)
1.What is the working title of your next book?
I am getting ready to release the third book in the “Off Series”. It’s called Off The Record and it will be available 6/11/13 on Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Smashwords and iTunes.
2.Where did the idea come from for the book?
The idea was spawned after a lot of my fans wrote me after reading Off Limits, telling me that they wanted a story about Nix Caldwell’s brother, Linc. They asked, I answered.
3.What genre does your book fall under?
Contemporary Romance, New Adult
4.What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
This is an easy one since I always start with photos of what I envision the main characters would look like. Here are the two muses I used for Linc Caldwell and Ever Montgomery.
5.What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Boy meets girl, who pisses him off causing him to seek revenge, yet their mutual attraction sort of gets in the way!
6.Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
Self-published.
7.How long did/will it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
I wrote the first draft in about ten days. It takes a lot longer, though, to do my read through, additions, edits, etc.
8.What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Oh, gosh. Nothing is coming to mind. I would have to say I compare it to the other Off books (Off Sides and Off Limits) because my writing style for New Adult is pretty set in stone. It’s much different than my paranormals.
9.Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Again, my fans asked for a book about Linc. I honestly had not thought much about him when I wrote him into Off Limits, but he had some appeal apparently. I’ve amped that appeal up a lot in Off The Record.
10.What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
Well, it’s written from the POV of both main characters. It’s the same style I employed with the other Off Books. It let’s you get into both of their heads so you can see how they are reacting to the same situations. It also takes place in three different settings. New York, Wyoming and North Carolina.
This past week, I have been consumed with the release of Off Limits. I’ve been obsessively checking my sales, and my Amazon rankings. I’ve been reading reviews while holding my breath and checking FB and Twitter about a million times a day. Then yesterday morning, an amazingly wonderful woman contacted me by email to let me know that she had just finished reading Off Limits and it had been a major balm to a very rough day she was having. You see, 3 years ago, she lost her son and she had been saving up to be able to lay his headstone, which they were doing yesterday. She wanted to let me know that Off Limits had really helped her, particularly Nix’s tattoo messages of inspiration. Since then, we’ve been emailing and she’s shared pictures of her son, Matt with me. She made me realize that numbers are just numbers. In the grand scheme of thing, there was something far more important to my writing than how well I’m doing in the rankings. I just want her to know that she impacted me as much as my writing impacted her, and I can’t thank her enough for that. She’s given me some fresh perspective that will guide me from here on out…
In appreciation for all of the fans that have joined my Facebook page, I’m running a giveaway from April 23, 2013 through May 1, 2013. I’ll be giving away four prizes which include three individual Amazon Gift Cards for $25.00 a piece, and the fourth prize will be a $25.00 Amazon Gift Card plus a sterling silver and amethyst necklace designed and created by Sawyer Bennett. Check out Off Limits, Released 4/16/13 4.9 out of 5 star reviews.
Off Sides is on sale for $.99 in celebration of the upcoming release of Off Limits.
Two years ago, Emily Burnham, had an epiphany about the shallowness of her life. And she made it her mission to become a different person…a better woman. Out from under the controlling thumb of her mother, Emily is tasting the real world for the first time. And she likes it.
Nixon Caldwell has served his time in the Marine Corps, surviving two brutal tours in Afghanistan. He is back home, surrounded by what he likes best…isolation. It’s certainly the easiest way to avoid confrontation of the consuming guilt that is weighing him down.
When an accident brings Emily and Nix together, he soon learns he is not the master of his own fate. Struggling with his own pain, Nix tries to guard himself against Emily’s charms. He wants her in his bed, but he doesn’t want her in his heart.
Having grabbed life by the horns, Emily wants it all. But is she willing to accept just the small part of himself that Nix is offering? Or can she reach the part of his soul that he has deemed to be Off Limits?
Click here to add Off Limits to your Goodreads list.
I have no clue what that slow dance of passion was.
I think many women would coin that to be “love making”.
There wasn’t love involved but it was without a doubt the most sexually charged, softly passionate experience of my existence.
I know I’ve never come harder in my life.
I know I will probably never replicate that moment again. Ever.
I know that Emily has just become so much more to me than she was just this side of ten minutes ago. – Nix Caldwell
When Seraphina was younger, she healed her best friend’s injured hand. Terrified by the inexplicable cure, the girl shunned her. From that day on, Seraphina found herself without friends, a freak and an oddity. And so she obeyed her mother’s rule to refrain from using her innate ability, heeded her mother’s warning that its use could land her in the local mental health facility alongside her aunt and grandmother.
But when sixteen-year-old Seraphina finds a mysterious, wounded boy hiding in the hollow in the woods behind her house, she can’t hold out against the overpowering urge to help him. She is drawn to him each night, and as they come to know one another, their irresistible attraction blooms.
She longs to uncover his secrets — where he comes from and why he’s hiding and how he came to be so wounded — and to share her own, though she knows it’s forbidden. And while her healing touch seems to be helping him, it’s hurting her. When the symptoms of psychosis — experienced by the women in her bloodline who used their powers — begin to plague Seraphina, she is faced with the unbearable choice of saving her sanity or the boy she’s come to love.
Giveaway on my Facebook Page. Leave a comment on the Hell’s Hollow post and you’ll be entered. Drawing will be on Wednesday, March 20, 2013.
“There is a vulnerability there, hovering just below the surface. And I want to pick at it until I expose it. Then I want to kiss it.”
COMING SOON – OFF LIMITS
Join us at my Facebook page for more teasers, talk and sighing over pictures of hot men. I’ve promised to dye my hair purple like Danny’s if I get 1000 Facebook likes before I release Off Limits.
Second Chance will be offered FREE on Amazon on March 7th and 8th, 2013. If you haven’t tried paranormal romance, it’s time to take it for a spin. Vyronas is a magical universe that co-exists right on modern day Earth. Ava Clairmont has been living a peaceful but lonely existence in Wyoming, completely unaware that she is actually heir to a Kingdom in Vyronas. When her former fiance and the man who betrayed her four years earlier shows up to return her home, the sparks begin to fly. Carrick Dunne is an amazingly scrumptious Alpha male who wants Ava again, but doesn’t think he deserves her after his betrayal. While Ava immediately sees Carrick ultimately acted in her best interests, trying to convince him to give their relationship a Second Chance is going to be difficult. This book is intended for readers 18 years of age or older.
Stolen Heart will be offered FREE on Amazon on March 9th and 10th, 2013. This book is a spin-off to Second Chance but can be read as a stand alone novel. Kieran Dunne is hot, hot, hot and has no room in his life for anything but fun and adventure. Certainly no room for a relationship. But when he gets thrown together with NYC nightclub owner, Annika Foss, whoa does the heat ratchet up about a thousand degrees. As a team, they must recover a stolen magical artifact that was taken from Vyronas. What what happens when two stubbornly, independent people realize that it’s okay to depend on someone else. Warning…Chapter Four is so hot you may need a bucket of ice to cool you down. This book is intended for readers 18 years of age or older.
EPILOGUE
15 Months Later
Ryan
I wake up and glance at the alarm clock.
5:52 a.m.
It’s going to go off in eight minutes and I groan inwardly. Freakin’ early mornings. Reaching over, I flip the switch to turn it off. Then I roll over to the soft bundle sleeping next to me. My Danny.
She’s laying on her right side with her back to me. Her left arm is tucked to her chest, her fist resting under her chin. She’s snoring softly—a fact I learned she did quite frequently after we moved in together, but I think it’s adorable. I slide over and press the front of my body to her back then wrap my arm around her to pull her even closer. She lets out a little sigh then resumes snoring. I smile to myself and bury my nose in her neck. She smells like sunshine to me. Always sunshine.
I place a kiss on her shoulder —so gentle —I’ll be the only one to ever know it was there.
Reluctantly, I slide out of bed. There’s nothing more I would rather do than roll Danny under me and bury myself in her but she was up late last night studying and she needs the sleep.
As I pad into the bathroom, I smile thinking about her. She re-enrolled in Julliard and will graduate this coming spring. She has been studying hard and playing her violin even harder. Her delicate finger tips are now hard with callouses, but they still make me shiver when she drags them across my skin. I am so proud of her and of course, we are both incredibly lucky that I signed to play hockey with the New York Rangers. I honestly don’t know what I would have done if I couldn’t join a New York team so that I could be near Danny. For me, it was out of the question that Danny would go anywhere but Julliard. I would accept nothing less.
Turning on the shower, I strip out of my boxers. I go ahead and shave while the shower is heating up, grinning at the lucky fool staring back at me in the mirror. Danny and I had many discussions, and some heated fights, about her music career. She insisted she could go to school anywhere and thus could be with me wherever I ended up playing hockey. That didn’t set well with me. Danny is so talented…she deserves to be at Julliard. By some miracle, the New York Rangers wanted me and Julliard gladly accepted Danny back.
So here we are, living in Manhattan, in a small two-bedroom apartment that conveniently sits almost smack dab in the middle of Julliard and Madison Square Garden. And my life is almost perfect.
Almost.
***
I finished a short run this morning just to get my muscles loose. I have a team meeting in a few hours to prepare for tonight’s game. The fantastic hockey I’ve been playing has earned me a spot on the Rangers’ second line and it’s a dream come true for me. Almost as good as having Danny in my life.
Bundled up in a fuzzy yellow robe, Danny softly walks into the living room while I’m watching ESPN Sports Center. I set my coffee down and open my arms. She has that sleepy look in her eyes and she crawls onto my lap to snuggle in.
“Did you get some good sleep?” I ask.
“Mmmm. Hmmmm,” she purrs as she nods her head up and down against my chest. I reach my hand up and smooth some of the tangles in her hair.
“I’m glad. You’ve been burning the midnight oil quite a bit, baby.”
As if to just prove my point, she stretches her arms out and gives a loud yawn. Then she tucks back in to my body. I turn my attention back to Sports Center, trying to get up to speed on all the highlights. It seems to be the only time I can get to find out what is going on in the sports world.
Danny tilts her head up and places a soft kiss on the edge of my jaw. “Did you hear back from your parents yet?”
I clench my teeth and just shake my head at her. I invited my parents to the game tonight as my father is giving a speech in New York tomorrow. I didn’t really expect them to accept the invite, because hey, they’ve declined all of the other invitations Danny and I have extended to them. My mother is still staunchly against my relationship with Danny and my father does whatever my mother tells him to do. I would never have invited them at all, but Danny’s big heart keeps pushing me to do it. She has faith that, with time, my mother will come around. I wish I could be more like Danny. Her unwavering belief in the human spirit is boundless.
She doesn’t say anything more nor does she try to push the subject. I hold her gently while watching TV and before long, I’ve forgotten all about my parents.
Just as the Sports Center episode is finishing, there is a knock at our door. I look down at my watch.
Right on time.
“Do you mind getting the door, honey?” I ask her as I stand up from the couch, dislodging her from my lap. “I’ll start making some breakfast.”
I smile as Danny grumbles at me but she gets up and walks to the door. I stand just outside the kitchen, my body leaning up against the wall and I watch her. She unlocks the deadbolt and swings the door open. I watch as stunned disbelief slides over her face. Standing on the other side of the threshold is her best friend, Paula. I flew her in from Boston to spend the weekend as a surprise for Danny.
Danny finally comes to her senses and lets out a piercing shriek. Paula answers her with an equally loud squawk of her own. I wince. These two women both put nails on a chalkboard to shame.
Now they are hugging each other and rocking back and forth with joy. It’s been almost six months since we moved here and I know Danny misses Paula a lot.
Before I realize it, Danny is releasing Paula and hurtling across the room to me. She jumps in my arms, locking those gorgeous legs around my waist and hugs me tight. Lust shoots through me having her pressed up against my groin and I try to think of something gross to prevent me from getting a hard-on while Paula stands there and watches us. Slugs, vomit, snot. Yup. That works.
“You are such a sneak, Ryan Burnham,” Danny accuses me. “How did you pull this off without me knowing it?”
I chuckle and kiss her lightly, squeezing her ass because…well, I can and she’s all mine. “I hate to tell you, babe, you’re not that observant. It was easy enough arranging this.”
I let Danny slide to the floor and then Paula gives me a big hug. She doesn’t scare me as much as she used to. We’ve sort of bonded over our mutual love of and need to protect Danny. I turn and leave them to their reunion and head to the kitchen to make us all breakfast.
Danny
I love Madison Square Garden. There’s an actual vibrating buzz of excitement in the air as over 17,000 fans wait for the game to start. Paula is sitting next to me, happily chewing on a hot dog. I still can’t believe Ryan flew her here for the weekend. Just when I didn’t think it was possible to love him anymore, he goes and does this crap. He’s impossible and he’s mine.
Normally, when I come to Ryan’s home games, I sit further up in the stands, but I guess Ryan wanted to make it special with Paula being here. Tonight, our seats are on the ice, just to the side of the Rangers’ bench. Now I can get a close up view of my honey at work.
We’re still waiting on Ryan’s sister, Emily. She usually goes with me to every home game. She’s in her first year at Columbia and totally loves New York. I don’t see her ever leaving it. And it’s amazing how much our relationship has grown. Those girlfriend/sister lunch dates I had once fantasized about have come true. I mean, Emily still has her issues, and she’s actually trying to break away a bit from her mother’s domineering ways. Overall, she’s actually a very sweet girl but sometimes I can see a little of Celia Burnham peeking through. The fact that she and Ryan have grown closer over the past few months makes my heart sing.
I look at Paula. God, I miss her so much.
“So how have you been doing?” I ask her.
“Just peachy. Work at the record store is…well, boring as shit but what’s a girl to do. How about you?”
I sigh. My life is freakin’ fantastic and I keep waiting to wake up from this dream. “There are no words, Paula. I’m studying music again and I’m with the man of my dreams. I don’t think the English language has enough adjectives to describe my feelings.”
“You are such a dork,” she replies.
“Harpy.”
“Rhinoceros.”
“Bilbo Baggins.”
I think I have her with this one but she remains stone-faced. Then she gets me when she leans over to me and starts singing…really, really loud.
“Why do you build me up
Buttercup baby just to
let me down
And mess me around
And then worst of all
You never call baby
When you say you will
But I love you still
I need you
More than anyone darlin’
You know that I have from the start.”
I bust out laughing and notice a smattering of applause from the people around us. Paula just smirks at me and I lean over and give her a quick hug. Yes, I have missed her terribly.
“Oh, God. Please don’t tell me I have to sing just to sit with you two?”
I look up and see Emily standing there. She’s stunning with her glossy dark hair and those same bourbon eyes that Ryan has. She’s wearing her brother’s jersey —#73 —just like me.
I stand up and give Emily a quick hug and she sits down next to me. She knows Paula but not enough to give her a hug so they both just mutter, “Hey” to each other. And now I’m ready to get on with the show. I want to see my man.
***
I don’t know if it will ever change but every time I see Ryan step out from the tunnel and skate onto the ice, my body quivers. It must be part nerves but if I’m honest with myself, it mostly has to do with the fact that he’s just so damned hot in his uniform. And I could not be prouder of him. He made it to the NHL and his dreams have all come to fruition. The man is simply amazing and he deserves every bit of it.
Ryan skates by, giving me a little wink and my smile stretches from ear to ear. I’m vaguely aware of Emily and Paula talking but my focus is on Ryan. I get so nervous for him on game days. Today, before he headed over to the arena, he seemed a little off. I’m assuming he was just anxious about the game, which is understandable. They are playing the Pittsburgh Penguins and they are #1 in the Atlantic Division.
I’m surprised when the lights in the arena dim just slightly and the announcer says in that deep baritone voice, “Will Danny Cross, please turn your attention to the Jumbotron at center ice.”
Suddenly, a spotlight is on me and I feel a million prickles run across my skin. My face immediately heats up with embarrassment as if I just got busted sneaking in after curfew. I drag my gaze up to the giant scoreboard and the screen shows the camera is focused on me, Paula and Emily. I take note of the stunned expression on my face and Paula is waving happily at the camera. Emily just has her mouth turned up in a smirk.
What. The. Hell? Did they do this as a prank?
Before I can turn to them to ask, the video of us blacks out and the words “You Are My One and Only” flash onto the screen. My breath catches in my lungs and my head is literally buzzing. That’s what Ryan and I call each other. I have no clue what is going on but I sense it’s something big.
And then Ryan is on the video. He’s in his uniform and the video only shows him from the waist up. I glance out to the ice but with the lights dimmed, I cannot see him. And then Ryan starts talking on the monitor.
“Danny…you are my one and only…just as I am yours. My life with you is almost perfect…but not quite. The only way to make that happen is if you will agree to be my wife.” He takes a pause, then a deep breath, and then he says with the most devilish smile on his face, “And I figure if I asked you in front of all of these people, you would never embarrass me by saying no. So will you?”
The screen blanks out for a second and then the video comes back up of me sitting there in my seat, looking bewildered. Paula and Emily are looking at me expectantly. The arena is eerily quiet.
Then I hear from just behind me. “So, will you?”
I swing around and Ryan is standing there in the aisle —just a foot behind my seat —in all his full hockey regalia. His smile is gone and he is looking like he might be sick any moment if I don’t say something. He reaches out and I see he has a black velvet box in his hand. He opens it up and inside is the most exquisite diamond ring I have ever seen. The sparkles flying off of it are in danger of causing me to have a seizure. I stand up and step out into the aisle, staring into those copper eyes. I see promise, hope and love shining back at me. I see my future and my salvation.
Everything seems to be in slow motion and I hear a few people scream out, “Say yes!”
I walk up to the step where Ryan stands and then walk past him to the step above. He turns his body, following my movement and I’m sure he thinks I may be bolting. But I’m not. I just want to put myself within better reaching distance to his enormous height.
And then I launch myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck and burying my face just below his jaw. “Yes, Ryan. I will marry you.”
His arms tighten around me and I pull my head back. There is so much emotion vibrating between us, I half expect him to give me a scorching X-rated kiss. But I’m sure he remembers the cameras are on us and he instead feathers the softest kiss on my lips, followed by one on my forehead.
The arena erupts into cheers and Ryan releases his hold on me. He takes the ring and puts it on my finger.
“I love you so much,” he says softly, so only I can hear.
I stare at the ring for only a second but then look back into his beautiful eyes. “I love you, too. Now get back out on that ice and kick some Penguin ass.”
He throws a dazzling smile at me, slaps me on the butt and hustles off. I watch him until he disappears from sight and I wish that my parents could have been here to see this.
I glance around me and everyone is cheering and smiling at me. Paula and Emily walk up and wrap me in fierce hugs, grabbing my hand to look at the ring. Complete strangers reach out to clap me on the back. I have all of this emotion and vibrancy swirling around me. My heartbeat is working overtime and I’m actually a little dizzy from the onslaught of sensation.
I swing my gaze back to the ice and I see Ryan is down there skating again.
Just looking at him, I immediately feel myself calm. Everything comes back into focus. Unbelievable warmth and peace suffuses through me.
All because of my Ryan…my one and only.
You asked, and you shall receive. So many readers have reached out to me wanting to know what happened to Danny and Ryan. I realized it was an epic fail not to have put in an epilogue. As such, I am going to write an epilogue and offer it free on my website. I hope to have it finished soon and will post updates on it through Sawyer Bennett’s Facebook Page.
I am also starting to write a spin-off to Off Sides. It will be featuring Emily Burnham, Ryan’s sister and will take place three years later. I have it all pretty much mapped out and I won’t give away much here. I’ll only say that you will still despise Celia and there will be more hockey. Oh, and there will be a hot, hot man…who will be Off Limits to Emily.
Watch for teasers on my Facebook page as I work my way through the manuscript.
XOXOXO
Sawyer
The past few days have been crazy! I’ve had so many positive comments about Off Sides and I’m walking on air. I am publishing an updated edition that corrects a few mistakes in the editing. The one that was driving me the nuts was at the very last minute before publication, I changed the word “champagne” to “Dom Perignon” except I mispelled it “Doom”. I’m normally a huge stickler for proofing/ editing and I can’t believe this blatant mistake made it through. I know something else has probably been missed and it’s easy to correct if someone brings to my attention. So that has been done and is being re-released.
Most importantly…I have had a huge outcry for more of Danny and Ryan. And I’m so glad because I’m not ready to let them go either. I’ve been brewing some ideas and I think a book about Ryan’s sister Emily is in order, and I will make sure there is plenty of Danny and Ryan to satisfy those who want to know what happened. I realize in hindsight (and from the numerous comments from fans) that I should have done an epilogue. However, I can argue (I’m a lawyer after all) that had I put the epilogue in, I may not have been incited to write a follow up book.
I’m deep into writing my sequel to Forever Young (my YA paranormal) but I am going to go ahead and start a follow up to Off Sides. Does Danny go back to Julliard? Does Ryan go on to play in the NHL? Who knows…but stay tuned to find out.
XOXOXO
Sawyer
CHAPTER 1
Ryan
Heh, heh, heh, heh…
I hate those freakin’ green pigs mocking me. I hit the restart button and slide my finger over the screen, pulling back the little blue bird. I let him fly, giving the screen a quick tap and my fuzzy blue missile splits into three, peppering my taunters with their rage. Ice shatters and I slaughter the green sows. Victory is mine.
“Hurry up, Ryan. Beat feet.”
I glance up at the group walking ahead of me. They’re all laughing, arms linked together. They look like a fucking re-run of Friends. We are all perfectly dressed in our designer clothes compliments of our families’ obscene wealth. We have our perfect salon hairstyles and we are leading our perfect college lives. And I absolutely hate it sometimes.
Tonight we are slumming it a little. We’re walking from a frat party to a 24 hour diner nearby to get some food. Oh, the shame of it all.
Between the copious amounts of alcohol and pot at the party, we all have a serious case of the munchies. Well, my munchies are just because I’m hungry. I, unfortunately, cannot partake in the cannabis laughis as the athletics department at Northeastern springs random drugs tests on its athletes. And I’m not about to jeopardize our hockey season on a little bit of reefer. I sure hope Mike and Carter stayed away from that shit tonight. I can tell by the way the girls are giggling, they were partaking.
It’s 3:00 a.m. and I’m not nearly drunk enough to miss the fact that I wish I could ditch my friends and head back to my frat house for some sleep. It’s been a long night and looks like it’s about to get longer.
The men in our merry band constitute a portion of the first line on the Northeastern hockey team. We’re all pretty tight. My right winger and best friend, Mike Yanalas, calls out to a group of young, street thugs leaning up against an old Dodge Charger smoking cigarettes. He has his arm around his girlfriend, Cameron.
“What the fuck you looking at?” Mike yells at them. He’s drunk as a skunk and I sigh inwardly. I so do not want to have to back up his drunken ass in a fight tonight.
Luckily, the Crip wannabes don’t say anything and slink away into the darkness. I’m not surprised, really. We are some pretty big dudes and most people would be crazy to fuck with us.
We turn onto Hay Street and we are back on my home turf. The gym where I work out is just a few blocks down and my frat house is in the opposite direction. Sally’s Diner sits almost in the middle of the two points and has served as our post-party stop for the three years I have been a student at Northeastern. I break into a little trot to catch up to the others.
As we all pour into Sally’s, I breathe in deeply the scent of frying bacon and french fries. The place is fairly busy even though it’s the wee hours of the morn. There are several tables filled with drunken students and an old man hovering over a cup of coffee at the counter.
After pulling a few tables together, the group sits down, pulling the sticky menus out of the placeholders in the middle of the tables. I loop my foot around a chair and kick it backwards, sliding it out from the table. I sit down and lean back, stretching my legs out in front of me. Crossing one leg over the other at the ankles, I continue to ignore the group in favor of Angry Birds.
I don’t bother with the menu. I already know I’m going for the Husky Special. A cheeseburger with a fried egg on top plus a butt-load of french fries on the side. I’ve been working out like crazy getting ready for the start of our hockey season in a few weeks so I can spare the calorie overload.
“Ugh…this table is just nasty. I don’t know why we always have to come here.”
I keep my focus on my mission to destroy as many pigs as possible, mentally rolling my eyes at Angeline. It’s irritating the fuck out of me that she’s here with us and her spoiled whining is already grating hard on my nerves.
I was stunned when she showed up at the party tonight as we had been furiously trying to avoid each other since we had broken up a few weeks ago. But I suppose it was inevitable that we would see each other again, given our social circle was pretty tight. It also doesn’t help that Mike is my best friend and Cameron is hers.
I sneak a quick glance at Angeline and just shake my head. She’s trying to wipe the table down with hand sanitizer and napkins, a grimace plastered to her face. And watching her fret over a dirty table just reiterates to me I made the right decision in breaking things off. Angeline is just a little too prissy for my tastes. Hell, she wouldn’t even give me a hug after my games until I took a shower. In hindsight, I’m surprised she didn’t wipe me down with that alcohol gel of hers before we had sex. Or make me double wrap my dick with two condoms.
I pull my lower lip between my teeth in consternation. Seeing Angeline tonight was surreal. I expected her to still be furious with me for breaking up with her. Instead, she walked right up to me and gave me a big hug, telling me that it was good to see me. I repaid the compliment, although I didn’t really feel it. It was the polite thing to do.
As the night wore on, Angeline went from friendly banter to overt flirting. I didn’t fail to notice the numerous times she laid her hand on my arm when she was talking to me or the way she would stand on her tip toes to whisper something in my ear.
Don’t get me wrong. Tonight, Angeline is rocking a pair of skin tight jeans, a barely there halter top and some sky high heels. She is oozing sex and had she not been concentrating wasted energy on me, she would have made some other guy very happy to be having her attention.
Toward the end of the night as the band was playing one of their last songs, she tried to rope me into dancing with her. I politely declined, telling her it was probably not a good idea. She seemed to take the rejection gracefully but then promptly invited herself along when we all decided to hit Sally’s. I should have just gone home but I really was starving and figured I could brave another half hour of Angeline.
So here we sit, and I’m trying to focus on slinging birds at pigs, keeping my attention half on the talk around the tables. It takes all of about five seconds for someone to mention Descartes and we are off and running.
I find it hilarious that when college students get drunk or high, we immediately start discussing philosophy. I mean, who gives a rat’s ass about philosophy, but throw a little alcohol into the mix and suddenly everyone wants to pontificate.
We’re all in a level 300 philosophy course called Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Philosophers. Word around campus is that Dr. Anderson, who is about a hundred and twenty years old, basically sleeps through class and tells you exactly what will be on the final exam. The class is supposed to be a cake-walk. I sure hope so because I have damn good grades going into my senior year and I want to have an easy schedule so I can put more of my efforts into hockey.
“Well, I think dualism is a load of crap,” I hear Mike say with flourish. He had a slight slur to his words. “If the mind exists independently of the brain, then how are physical memories created? Tell me how that makes sense.”
“None of it makes sense,” I mutter, my eyes still glued to my iPhone. No one even spares me a glance which is fine by me. My game is far more interesting that discussing Descartes.
“That’s narrow sited on your part,” Angeline scoffs. “Regardless, I find it more fascinating this concept of ‘I think, therefore, I am’. I mean, that’s pretty deep on a level I never bothered to think about before.”
I am pretty sure Angeline has never thought about anything deeper than what designer jeans she will wear in the morning but I am impressed how she steers the subject away from the mind numbing philosophy of dualism.
I can see the waitress approaching from the corner of my eye but I don’t look up as I am perilously close to breaking my high score. She stands there for several seconds while the conversation rages on, patiently waiting for a break in the expenditure of brain cells. When no one pauses to even take a breath, she gives a little clearing sound with her throat.
The table goes silent then I hear Angeline say in her most affronted voice, “Excuse me. But we are in the middle of an important discussion. Do you think it’s appropriate to just interrupt us with the assumption we are ready for you?”
Everyone starts laughing hysterically, myself excluded. But I do give an inner smirk to myself and just shake my head. Angeline can dress someone down and make them feel about three inches tall in just a matter of seconds. It’s a true art form of the criminally wealthy and insanely narcissistic.
Angeline isn’t finished with her though. She turns to the rest of the table and says, “I guess we can’t really fault her ignorance. I mean, she slings hash for a living. This conversation is probably a little over her head.” She then breaks out into a fit of giggles that has me grinding my teeth together.
Okay, even I admit that’s a pretty low blow but I don’t say anything. I keep my head down, avoiding engagement with Angeline at all costs. She’s drunk and she’s mean. Not a good combination and I don’t have it in me to fight with her tonight. Hell, that’s one of the reasons I broke up with her. It just always seemed to be a fight.
Before Angeline can say anything, I hear the waitress reply, “I’m so sorry. It’s just…I saw all of you sitting here, and well, forgive my ignorance, but I’m pretty sure Ockham’s Razer says that among competing theories and all things being equal, the simplest theory is probably the correct one. I saw you had already looked at the menus and put them back down. Therefore, the simplest theory is that you are ready to order. Think of it this way… I think I saw you review the menus, therefore I am here to take your order. I mean, I know Ockham is a little before Descartes’ time, but it’s still a sound principle, don’t ya think?”
There’s a moment of stunned silence and my eyes snap up to the waitress. This is the most interesting thing that’s happened all night…Angeline getting her spite jammed back down her throat. The rest of the table bursts out in a fit of laughter at the waitress’ cheekiness and I am sure that Angeline has to be fuming. But I don’t look at her because when I look at our hash-slinging philosopher, my eyes go wide and I sharply inhale. She’s stunning. No, unique. No… that’s not it. Uniquely stunning…that’s what she is.
She has dark blond hair that she wears up in a high ponytail. She’s a natural blond. I can tell by the color of her eyebrows and I’m sure if I get her pants off, I can confirm that. The bottom four inches of her hair is dyed a pale, lavender color. She is sporting a silver ring through her left nostril and a small silver barbell through her right eyebrow. She’s not wearing any makeup but she has that sort of natural beauty that should remain completely unadorned. Flawless complexion with the sexiest smattering of light freckles across her nose. Her eyes are a gorgeous hazel color that I bet get greener when she’s angry or excited. Right now, they are swirling with mischief and she has full, pink lips that are smirking down at Angeline.
I don’t know what it is about this girl, but fuck, she’s hot. And clearly smart as shit.
I’ve never been into girls that had facial piercings or dyed hair. The type of girls my parents expect me to date wear pearls and cashmere and have a pedigree a mile long behind their names. How does mother put it? “Your father is in the public eye so we must maintain proper appearances at all times.”
My eyes rake down the waitress’ body and I can get away with it because she’s in a staring war with Angeline right now. She’s wearing a Northeastern t-shirt and really short, shorts that showcase miles of tanned leg. She has on running shoes and sporting a little apron around her waist. Just above her right breast, which looks equally as luscious as her left, is a name tag that says, “Danny”.
Miracle of all miracles, Angeline seems to have been struck dumb. Nothing is coming out of her mouth but there are daggers flying out of her eyes.
Tucking her pencil behind her ear, Danny puts her hand on her hip. “I tell you what…when you’re ready to order, how about…” she pauses to look around the table and points right at Carter, “…you…just raise your hand when you’re ready to order and I’ll come back over and help ya out. Okay?”
Without waiting for a reply, she shoots Carter a wink and turns her back on us. I can’t help it but I start laughing out loud and Angeline swings her eyes at me in fury. I ignore her, still chuckling.
“Wait, Danny,” I call out. She turns around and looks at me with surprise. I’m sure she didn’t think I would call her by her name. “We’re ready to order. I think you’ve made an excellent philosophical argument.”
Sauntering back to the table, Danny holds my gaze and I can see her appraising me. I don’t flinch or look away, and I’m returning her gaze with equal intensity.
She walks right up to me, close enough I can smell her…and she smells like summer rain. “So, what will you have?”
She looks even better up close and I hope my tongue isn’t hanging out. I want to tell her I will have her, with a side of her, and for dessert…her. Instead, I order the Husky Special.
She winks at me. “Sure thing, stud.”
I hear Mike snort over that but I don’t care.
She goes around the table and gets everyone’s order. After her smack down of Angeline, everyone is appropriately subdued and polite. I don’t think anyone wants to go head to head with this girl.
I watch her closely. Even though she was basically just called an ignoramus a few minutes ago, she seems confident and self-assured. She smiles at each of us when she takes our order, even Angeline, who is noticeably acquiescent when she orders a fruit cup and a glass of ice water. I’m impressed and find myself very curious about this girl.
Why is someone so smart working in a diner? And what possesses someone to dye their hair purple or pierce their nose? I don’t get it but I find myself wanting to know.
After Danny puts our order in, conversation resumes although we’re discussing hockey now instead of philosophy. I think we’re starting to sober up. Mike, Carter and I discuss our season opener against Boston College. While we are talking, I watch as Danny moves around, talking to customers. She laughs a lot and has a killer smile with a dimple in each cheek. I also notice she has a killer ass but hey, I’m a guy.
Apparently I’m not as covert as I think I am because Carter leans over and whispers to me, “She’s pretty hot, huh? You thinkin’ about hitting that?”
I laugh him off. “Nah, man. She’s not my type.”
“Well, with that body she’s more than my type. I wonder if she’s got any piercings we can’t see.”
I can’t say I didn’t think the same thing. Still, there really is no way I am going to find out. I can tell by looking at her she is not the type of girl that does one-night stands. Oh, she may think she’s tough with her dyed hair and piercings, but looking at her you can tell she’s more angel than devil. Too bad for me. And for her, too.
And a one-night stand would be the only way I could find out the answers to my questions. She definitely is not dating material because my parents would have a fit if I showed up in the media with her on my arm. This thought is disappointing to me. It’s been a really long time since someone has interested me like this and now I’m all pissed off that I have to live my life by my parents’ standards.
I give a silent sigh and punch Carter playfully on the arm, “Go for it, dude. Your ugly mug might have a shot with her.”
Famous Last Words by Daniella “Danny” Cross
“I have a very specific agenda to complete certain things in my life, and I have no business getting sidetracked. That includes going gooey over a hot hockey player who kisses like Armageddon is just on the other side of the horizon.”
True Story…
Dr. Young: So, we’re having a hard time getting your endometrial lining to grow. We’re going to need to double up your estrogen.
Me: Okay. No problem.
Dr. Young: In addition, studies have shown that Viagra can help help the lining too, so we will want to start you on that as well.
Me: Does that mean I’ll start humping pillows like my dog?
Shawn: Does that mean I’ll get lucky?
Dr. Young: Bwahahahaha!
Baby Doogie Howser Doctor With No Sense of Humor: *crickets*
And so our journey to get pregnant continues…with humor…
I took an awesome self-publishing course recently because I was too afraid to try the perilous waters of formatting my book. After the course, I was armed with enough knowledge to be dangerous but I was ready to navigate those waters. I spent several hours figuring out a few different programs so I thought I would share my experience, as well as some basic formatting instructions I created.
This blog post will apply only to publishing to Amazon, however, because we will be working originally with an EPub file, you can use these instructions for any of the vendors that accept EPub.
First, note that you can just upload your Word document directly to the Amazon Previewer and it will convert it to Mobi for you. However, after trying this numerous times, I found that I was not happy with the formatting and it didn’t look professional. I decided to move towards the tricky steps of using Sigil which is an HTML based program. The advantages of Sigil include being able to create your Table of Contents and all of the links pretty quickly, plus you can do some fancier font work with your Chapter headings.
After ensuring I had a clean Word manuscript (and by that I mean no Tabs or wonky formatting), I took that document over to Sigil where I created my Table of Contents. Sigil will then turn your document into an EPub. At this point, you can take your EPub file and again, try the conversion to Mobi. I tried this and still was not happy with the formatting. It looked better than when I just used the Word document, but still had some spacing issues. So I researched and saw a lot of good things about the Calibre program. I decided to give it a try.
Calibre is very user friendly and the conversion process from EPub to Mobi was painless. Better yet…when I tested the Mobi out on my Kindle, it looked perfect. Amazing. Stupendous. I was so psyched. Cue dramatic music…for when I tried to upload the Mobi to KDP, I kept getting error messages. What. The. Hell??? After doing some more research, I found out that Amazon will not accept Mobi files created by Calibre. Aaaaghhhh…I was ready to pull my hair out. I was stuck having an almost perfect conversion using Sigil but wasn’t completely happy with it. And Calibre was apparently blacklisted by Amazon (still no clue why).
But then it hit me… Calibre can convert most file formats. I wondered, what would happen if I ran my EPub file through Calibre and just chose to “convert” it to an EPub file. In other words, just run the file through the program and get a new EPub that hopefully had the remaining formatting issues stripped. So that is exactly what I did and…cue heavenly angels singing…it worked!!! I uploaded the new EPub file to the Amazon Previewer to convert it to Mobi, and that Mobi’s formatting and spacing were perfect. I got the benefits of my lovely TOC that Sigil created, and even though I have no clue what magic exists inside of Calibre, running it through that program seemed to get rid of any other bugs the file had.
I am by no means saying this is the best way to do things. Just that it worked for me. This method has produced three well formatted novels for me so far. As such, I took screen shots while formatting my latest novel, Forever Young and did up some quick instructions. Hope these help and happy formatting!!! Formatting Instructions
Chapter 1
The school bell rang, piercing into my daydream and bringing me back to awareness. I had been enjoying, I’m sure, a Technicolor fantasy, filled with unicorns shooting rainbows out their butts. But wherever my dreams had led me, I was back to reality and had no immediate recollection as to what I had been fantasizing about. The shrieking bell indicated the scintillating world of Calculus had come to an end.
“Remember…you will have a pop quiz tomorrow on Chapter Seven,” I heard Miss Smellie yell over the chattering of students.
Go ahead and laugh, but I swear…that’s her name. Miss Lisa Smellie. And yes, all the kids snickered the first two weeks of school, but then it got old. Seriously, teenagers have a more sophisticated humor than adults give us credit for. Now, she was just good ol’ Miss Smellie. Who gave not so surprising pop quizzes.
I never understood how it could be a pop quiz when we were told about it ahead of time. It seemed to take all the fun out of the surprise. It’s like adults really don’t trust us to do the studying, so they try to trick us with the terror of a pop quiz, only to not be a trick at all. It was reverse psychology at its worst. I pondered this theory as I picked up my books and loaded them in my backpack. Not only was Calculus at an end, but so was the school day and I was glad.
As I walked by Miss Smellie’s desk, she shot me a smile. “See you tomorrow, Charlotte.”
“Charlie,” I reminded her. For what felt like the hundredth time.
“Right…sorry.” She gave me a lovely showing of sparkling white teeth. “Charlie.”
I returned her smile and started to turn toward the door when I caught a subtle movement on her face. I focused my gaze on her and watched as her countenance seemed to melt away. Except, it didn’t actually melt away completely, but morphed into something else. Within seconds, her face had completely transformed. Gone was her light brown hair, slightly round but tanned face and blue eyes. In its place was pale skin that shimmered like crushed diamonds. Her liquid silver eyes were large and slanted. Her hair was now platinum blond, falling long over her shoulders. She was very beautiful in an ethereal way and still smiling at me.
“Is something wrong, Charlie?”
I vaguely heard her speaking to me but I was transfixed by her dazzling guise. I kept up my smile, hoping that I wasn’t giving away any physical reaction to her sudden change in appearance. “Nothing wrong. Have a great night, Miss Smellie.”
“You too. Don’t forget the pop quiz.” With that, her angelically pale skin morphed again, and the normal, average looking Miss Smellie was back.
Shooting her a wave with my hand, I turned around and walked out of the classroom. I mentally shrugged my shoulders. It was not uncommon for me to see people’s faces morph into something else. Sometimes it was hauntingly beautiful, like it had been just now with Miss Smellie. Sometimes a face would percolate into a vestige of pure evil and scare the living daylights out of me. I had no idea why I could see it and I was pretty sure no one else could. But the truth of the matter was I had been seeing transitional faces since I witnessed my parents being killed over four years ago.
Stepping out into the hallway, I looked around at all of my classmates as they prepared to go home for the day. Happy, shiny faces. Just like me. We smile on the outside, but the inside is often a different story. I’ve heard before, courtesy of my state mandated therapy, that we often get so wrapped up in our own misery, we fail to notice it in others. I think that’s true and I’d take it one step further. People try to wrap themselves up in so much external fantasy, they don’t realize the depths of their own misery. They simply ignore it.
Regardless of how others view me, I am well versed in my own suffering. I lost my parents when I was thirteen years old. Tragic, I know.
They were murdered during a home invasion. Shocking, you say? I couldn’t agree more.
Turned away by my only living relatives, I was forced to become a ward of the State of New York. Can it get any sadder? Probably not.
That is, unless you consider the fact that not one single foster family in the entire metropolitan area of New York City wanted me either. I was labeled “a lost cause”. My therapist said the seven months I refused to speak after my parents’ murders caused prospective foster families to be a little “gun shy” around me. Poor choice of words if you ask me…considering my parents were killed by a gun.
I know it’s hard to believe but I have always been a “glass half full” kinda girl. It’s just my nature. Yay me! And so, after seven months of silence, I decided to open up and become part of the real world again. And by real word, I mean I left the comforts of the Presbyterian Hospital psychiatric unit and became a member of St. Christopher’s Resident Treatment Facility. Though my psychiatric issues were diagnosed as nothing more than a deep, situational depression following my parents’ brutal murders, it made me damaged goods and unadoptable.
I stopped at my locker to pick up a few more books I would need for homework that night. Hopefully, I would be able to use the group home’s community laptop as I needed to do some research for a history paper. What kids did before Wikipedia, I’ll never know.
I gave a passing glance at the inside of my locker. It was pristine. Nothing but school books neatly stacked in a row. No pictures of me and my BFF’s. No love notes from the high school quarterback. There was nothing that would identify me as a typical senior in high school. It said a lot about my life.
Not that that my life was significantly lacking. I’m sure I could have my posse of BFF’s and a cute boy to date if I wanted. I just didn’t want to put my energy there. Instead, I put all of my energy into two things. Studying to get good grades, which would be my ticket to college. And trying to stay out of fights.
Weird, right? I was a brainiac. Top of my class smart. But I had a dark side. I loved to fight. And not just girlie hair pulling fights because Samantha looked at Josie’s boyfriend with unfettered lust in her eyes. I’m talking about hard core, knuckle brawling fights that had meaning and depth. It was my calling…to beat the hell out of those that deserved it.
So, it would be no surprise to my therapist, or the school principal, Dr. Tinesdale, that I naturally heard the sounds of a scuffle in progress as I was walking down the almost empty school hall. I believe Dr. Tinesdale once said to me, “Trouble always seems to find you, Charlie.” I appreciated the fact he didn’t say that I was the one courting trouble but rather it came looking for me.
Just as I approached the men’s bathroom, I heard a small whimper come from within, along with feet shuffling back and forth. Oh, boy. Here goes.
I opened the bathroom door and immediately scanned the interior. I quickly took in the situation. A young girl, probably no more than fourteen years old was being held by two boys, one on each arm. The girl was Hispanic and her dark, brown eyes swam with tears. Blood trickled from one of her nostrils. She was clearly terrified.
I noted the two boys holding her were roughly her age and were Hispanic too. They had been yelling at her when I walked in, but I couldn’t say what. I then noticed a third boy, maybe a bit older, definitely a lot larger, standing by the sinks. He was taller than my five foot, seven inch frame. He was also Hispanic and wore a t-shirt that show-cased well-muscled and tattooed arms.
The larger boy surveyed me briefly then turned his back on me. “This isn’t your problem, Gringa. Get lost.”
I was not easily swayed.
“Afraid to pick on someone more your own size? I can’t imagine what a little girl did to cause you to bloody her nose.”
He turned at me with a sneer on his face, baring his teeth. “Little girl was trying to hookup outside of her own people. Decided she wanted her a white boy. She knows different now…ain’t that right Carma?”
The two boys holding her jerked at her arms and the young girl mewled like a puppy that had been kicked.
Then it happened…again. I saw the older boy’s face melt away and morph into something that was definitely not in the “hauntingly beautiful” category like Miss Smellie. His skin turned leathery brown, and his eyes shrank into beady, black circles. His nose expanded and tilted upwards. Two cracked and yellowed tusks poked out of the corners of his mouth. Wow, that was nasty!
“Now get out of here or else she won’t be the only one wearing her own blood.”
He then turned his back on me to focus on the girl. He clearly didn’t think I presented a danger. Big mistake.
Upon entering the bathroom, I had also noticed the janitor had left a mop and scrub bucket against the wall near the door. I didn’t once consider going to get help. I didn’t even pause to consider the repercussions. I picked up the mop and swung it hard against the larger boy’s back. It hit with a satisfying crack against his shoulder blades and actually split in half. He went down to his knees. The end with the mop head went flying, leaving me with a two foot wooden weapon. Hey, that worked out nicely!
The other two boys stared at me with open mouths for all of about two seconds then they leapt toward me, releasing the girl.
“RUN,” I screamed at her. She only hesitated for a second then she went flying out the door.
I swung the mop handle wildly back and forth, trying to keep the two boys from reaching me. I had no plan, and I was not versed in hand-to-hand combat or weapons. I always took action with no plan and usually lucked my way out of situations. My therapist said I liked to “court danger”. I’m glad Dr. Tinesdale didn’t know about that comment.
Swinging the stick in front of me, I hoped to catch one of the boys up side his head with a lucky hit. I briefly glanced down and saw the larger boy start to stand up. He put his hand out on the sink for balance, but then straightened himself up, glaring razor blades at me with those little piggy eyes. Oh crap. What to do?
My mind was blank. I had no idea how to defend myself against three enraged boys–one sporting a boar’s face–with only a mop handle. But before I could even consider a potential plan, the larger boy jumped at me, grabbing the handle with his hands. I refused to give it up, but realized too late that he wasn’t trying to pull it from me. Rather, he used his momentum and my reaction to jerk back, and pushed me up against the wall with the handle up against my throat. He leaned in and put all of his weight against the wooden stick, pressing it against my windpipe.
All of my oxygen was completely cut off and within seconds, I started to panic. I kicked out my legs, not in any grand scheme to knock my opponent down, but because my air starved brain was reacting on instinct. I watched in slow motion as the larger boy angled his face toward mine. With his lips and tusks close to my ear, he whispered, “You gonna die, bitch.”
I only pondered my imminent death for two, maybe three seconds, and was about to start bargaining with a higher being for my life, when the boy was ripped away from my body. I started sucking in huge lungfuls of oxygen. I slumped to the floor, holding onto my sore throat, and watched as two teachers were grabbing the boys and yelling at them. I looked over to the doorway, and the young girl was standing there with a worried look on her face. It appeared she had gone and got help. So much for me saving her. Still, I was very grateful for her fast thinking.
Then someone was kneeling down in front of me. I turned my head and looked into the sad, disappointed eyes of my principal, Dr. Tinesdale, who just happened to be one of my favorite people in the world. He was mid-50’s as best I could tell and almost completely bald. He wore horn rimmed glasses but attempted to be very hip in all other ways. He usually wore jeans to school each day, along with a t-shirt sporting the name of some retro heavy metal band. Today’s shirt was brought to you by the bitchin’ head bangers of some group named Black Sabbath. I’m sure they were good in their day.
“Are you okay, Charlie?” He pulled my hands away from my throat to survey the damage.
“Sure,” I tried to say but it came out as a horse whisper. Ouch, that hurt.
Hurt almost as much as seeing the disappointment in his eyes. I absolutely hated myself that I had let him down, once again.
Release Date: Saturday, February 2, 2013
After polling beta readers and other authors, I’ve finally finished my book cover for Forever Young. This is the first book in my young adult paranormal series, The ForeverLand Chronicles. Loosely based off of the story of Peter Pan, this novel follows the indomitable Charlie Wright, an orphan who finds herself in the mysterious land of Semper Terra. With immortal youth on her side and a prophecy to fulfill, she will enter into a perilous battle against dark daimons who threaten to overtake our planet. Lending his strength and fortitude to Charlie’s cause, handsome immortal, Caiden Gallagher complicates matters of the heart. Join me on this adventure. I’m sure you’ll love Charlie as much as I loved writing about her.
Release Date: 2/2/13 on Amazon
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