The Story Behind Call Me Daddy by Kelly Stone Gamble

I’m excited to have author Kelly Stone Gamble on my blog, with the story of how she came up with the ideas for her second novel,  Call Me Daddy, which is available for pre-order on Amazon and due to be released this, the first week of October. Here it is in her own words:

In the past two years, I have had the opportunity to reconnect with cousins that I haven’t been around since childhood. Like most families, we are an interesting bunch, each with our own oddities, all with strong opinions, and none with the luxury of saying we had ‘easy childhoods’. But what has bound us together is our understanding of the challenges we each faced, in part because of our parents choices: their successes and their mistakes.

As children, we never truly know our parents as individuals, and I would say that even as we get older, we sometimes have a difficult time thinking about them as young adults, making choices, living their lives as individuals, not necessarily as parents. But the choices parents make for their own lives can and do affect their children and sometimes, those effects aren’t exactly pleasant. 

In my novel, Call Me Daddy, I wanted to explore the idea of how the actions of parents can weigh heavily on their children, long after the parent is gone. 

Cass Adams is pregnant, and she fears passing along the mental illness that she and her mother suffer from to her baby. The father of her child, Clay, has his own issues, as he tries to come to grips with the recent return of his father, who left when Clay was five years old, and is now in need of his help. Each must find a way to accept who they are and further make a commitment to raise their child in the best way they can—without damaging her/him too much.

My cast of characters are a zany bunch, each with their own Mommy/Daddy issues, who will hopefully make readers laugh and will certainly make them think. Call Me Daddy is a story of family, the secrets they keep, and to what lengths someone would go to protect them. It is a sequel to my first novel, They Call Me Crazy, but can be read as a standalone novel.

As for the cousins and me, we all turned out just fine, because of, or despite our parents, depending on how you look at it. We get together as often as we can now and have decided we are going to be a family. We laugh together, we support each other, and we don’t dwell on the past. And hopefully, we aren’t damaging our own children too much.

~*~

Kelly Stone Gamble is an Instructor at Southeastern Oklahoma State University and her work has appeared in a variety of publications. Her interests are as diverse as her writing. She is at home fishing on a river, riding horses in the mountains, reading on a beach, hiking through the desert or playing pirate with her friends.


Links:  

Website- www.kstonegamble.com

Amazon- https://www.amazon.com/Kelly-Stone-Gamble/e/B00JIPDBMW

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/KStoneGamble/

Goodreads- https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9230926.Kelly_Stone_Gamble

Twitter- https://twitter.com/KellySGamble

Goodreads Giveaways

I’m giving away two print copies this week on Goodreads.

Capricorn Cravings:

Riley Shaughnessy has the perfect life. Her veterinary practice is thriving, and she loves living in the small town in the Colorado mountains, where no one knows the shocking secret of her past. She loves to gallop her palomino mare across the vast expanse of public land bordering the town, and after a long period of self-denial, she has even committed to a date with handsome horse wrangler, Randy Hansen. 

But now, she knows her assistant, Jamie, would never willingly abandon her child, so why has she disappeared? 

Something dark and sinister is taking place, and it all started on the day hunky Powell Stewart, with the piercing blue eyes, came into her life in a strange and unexpected way. 

Her inner voice tells her to stay as far away from him as she can, but his magnetism drags her toward him and she cannot find the power to resist. 

Click here to enter: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/190753-capricorn-cravings

Aquarius Addiction:

Why did hunky Andre Rossouw come into Arlette’s life on the same day her doctor told her she was about to die? 

Attractive FBI Psychic Arlette Xylander displays all the character traits of her star sign, Aquarius, being feisty, eccentric, freedom-loving, flirtatious, rebellious and unpredictable. She may be only five feet tall, but she epitomizes the old adage that dynamite comes in small packages. 

Her emotions rage between denial, anger and tears when her doctor tells her she is suffering from a rare terminal disease. When hunky Andre Rossouw asks her to help find his sister who has been missing for four years, Arlette makes two decisions. To beat the disease and find a cure, and to have wild and passionate sex with him. 

Then she finds out he has a fiancée. 

Click here to enter: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/190752-aquarius-addiction

Good luck to all of you.

Sometimes Karma’s a Dog

Karma’s a bitch–we’ve all heard that saying before, but this short story is a little different. 

   Romney Richlieu cursed. Bad luck followed her as usual.

   Her whole life had been one giant screw up, and now this.

   She mimicked Mrs. Breiton’s words. “We’re so sorry. It’s nothing to do with your leg, Romney. The company is in financial difficulty and we have to let a few people go.”

Sorry, my ass. I don’t know why they hired me in the first place. I didn’t hide my leg. It’s all skinny and ugly and it’s totally obvious my shoe is built-up. They could see that from the time  I  went for the first interview. I suppose it’s because of that silly woman with the Chihuahua in her purse. How was I supposed to know it was there? I like animals. I wouldn’t have put the file on top of the purse if she had told me it was there. And anyhow, the dog is fine.

   She dragged her personal items from her drawer and tossed them all in the trash can. Like her life, nothing in there was worth saving.

   She walked out of that place with her head held high. It wasn’t totally a normal walk, but she didn’t limp so much these days with the new orthotic shoe. So now what? She couldn’t even claim on unemployment because she hadn’t been there long enough. Maybe next time she should wear long pants to the interview and they wouldn’t see her leg. But these days with the recession, it seemed that the only way she could get a job was because of the sympathy factor. The poor crippled girl. We should be nice to her.

   Romney stopped in the park and flopped onto a bench. She hadn’t allowed herself to think about her circumstances, but now fear clutched at her stomach. How will I pay the rent? Will they kick me out? Oh God. I wish I could just die.” She held her head in her hands and cried quietly.

   “What the . . .?” She looked up sharply when something wet made contact with her arm. A dog—and he was licking her.

   “What are you doing?” She pushed him away. He stood there and wagged his tail—and his whole butt wagged with it. He showed her his teeth. But he wasn’t snarling. He was smiling. The mutt was smiling at her. She tried to keep the stern look on her face, but he looked so funny with his butt wiggling like that and the goofy grin, she laughed out loud. Then she noticed his leg. One of his back legs was all shriveled up, the muscles useless and wasted like hers, and he held it up off the ground.

It didn’t seem to bother him. He wasn’t pissed off with life. In fact, he looked epically happy to see her. His  matted, dirty white fur clung to a bony frame. He wasn’t wearing a collar. She reached out and patted him on his head and his butt wagged harder than before. He made a whining kind of noise.

   “I do believe you’re talking to me,” she said. “You must be a stray, and yet you look so frikkin’ happy despite your bad leg, and you probably haven’t had a square meal for a while.”

   She jerked and blinked. An old lady perched on the other end of the bench. Where had she come from? She smiled at Romney and petted the dog. “This is Andy,” she said. “He was mine, but I passed, and he was left to fend for himself. He’s yours now.” Before Romney could even open her mouth to reply, she was gone.

   Was she really ever there?

   Romney shrugged and smiled down at him. Smiling did something to her. It made her feel hopeful.    “Well, Andy, let’s go see what we can do to get back on our feet. The first thing I’m gonna do is get you a square meal. I feel like our luck has just changed.”

   Andy barked twice, and they limped out of the park together.

I grew up on a farm in Zimbabwe, Africa, and lived through some crazy adventures that sparked my imagination; including having to keep a loaded UZI by my side every night in case of an attack by armed insurgents. I love all animals and don’t seem to be able to keep them out of my stories, which usually take place in small, country towns.  Find out more at http://www.trishjackson.com .

Stuck on Please Release me by Rhoda Baxter

It’s all about being stuck… I’m stuck because I don’t have enough time to write all the books stuck in my head just trying to come out. And if I could be stuck somewhere with someone who would it be??? That would depend upon where I was stuck.

Please Release Me

What if you could only watch as your bright future slipped away from you?

Sally Cummings has had it tougher than most but, if nothing else, it’s taught her to grab opportunity with both hands. And, when she stands looking into the eyes of her new husband Peter on her perfect wedding day, it seems her life is finally on the up.

That is until the car crash that puts her in a coma and throws her entire future into question.

In the following months, a small part of Sally’s consciousness begins to return, allowing her to listen in on the world around her – although she has no way to communicate.

But Sally was never going to let a little thing like a coma get in the way of her happily ever after …

Buy it here on Amazon

Rhoda’s an incredibly talented romance author, and I’m happy to participate in her blog splash.

Virgo’s Vice Cover Reveal

I just received my cover for the next story in my Zodiac Series, Virgo’s Vice. As always, Soul Mate Publishing’s artists did an amazing job and captured the essence of the story, which is a romantic suspense thriller set in Africa. 

Lexie King can’t believe she did this to herself — she signed up to work as a camera operator in Allan Dockery’s new survival type reality show.

She wanted to prove she could break her reliance on anti-anxiety meds, and make something of herself. But she had no way of knowing he would be there. The monster.

Now all she wants is to get away–as far away as possible. But how? They’re one stop past nowhere in Africa.

When shocking events start to happen, she draws comfort from Jake, the producer’s chocolate lab, and cowboy contestant Billy Murphy, who makes her laugh at the darkest of times, and heats up more than her heart with his touch…

Scheduled for release in October 2015.

More About What I learned from James Patterson

I’m thrilled to have just finished writing the first complete draft of my debut psychological thriller, and novella, “Sheer Panic.” Although I had already started writing this story with no outline, and not knowing how it would progress, I decided to stop and get the outline down.

Here’s the start of it.

1. Tori avoids Roderick, ‘the Freak’ as she enters the cafeteria at college. He has been harassing her for a while and she is afraid to report him, in case he retaliates. (Here’s where I know I should make a new chapter — each chapter should be one scene.) Later, Dorky Dorian tries to flirt with her when she is putting her stuff into her locker. Her friend Janet tells her she’s weird because she has opted not to go to Panama City Beach at Spring Break. Instead, she has agreed to babysit her niece so her sister can go. She never discusses the real reason she is afraid to go with her friends.

2. One afternoon when Tori is taking her neighbor’s dog, Panda, for a walk in the park, Dorky Dorian tries to force himself on her and the dog attacks him. Panda’s owner, Mrs. Stanley tells Tori she should get a dog of her own for protection. Tori reflects on her love life. She knows it’s a total disaster, and if she had a steady boyfriend the weird men would leave her alone.

3. Tori is friended on Facebook by Lance, the boy she chased at high school to no avail. Although it seems a little odd that he has suddenly had a change of heart, and decided to pursue a relationship with her, she is still totally smitten with him, and she goes along with it. She hopes it will turn into something serious, and take her mind off the stolen kiss with her sister’s boyfriend, Dan that has been plaguing her. (This scene needs something to make it more exciting.)

4. Tori takes her niece, Shari horse riding and sexy Joaquim …. etc.

Once I had completed the outline, it was easy to write the story, although it’s still in the first draft rough format. I found that I deviated a little from the outline when I came up with a better idea, and as I went along, I changed the outline at times. I love the finished draft.

Here are some other things James talked about in his videos:

• First lines — We all know it is essential to capture your audience right away, yet so many writers start with something mundane and boring. Mine is:                                                          “I just don’t get why your love life is such a total mess,” Janet said.  “It’s just not right. It’s not that hard. You must be the only nineteen-year-old in the whole school who isn’t getting laid.”
• Be yourself. Imagine you’re sitting across the table from your best friend telling them the story of a movie you watched. If you wouldn’t use pompous and puffed up language and fancy words when speaking to them, you shouldn’t be using them in your writing.
• Try writing a couple of different endings. Make them as outrageous as you can. I did this and absolutely loved the new one I came up with. It was far more exciting than the original ending.
• Try writing the same piece in the POV of more than one character. You could fall in love with a version you never thought about before.
• Don’t be afraid to break the rules. Whatever works for you is okay. We’re all different, and so are our readers.
• Do your research. Don’t just wing it. You must know what you are writing about to build credibility.
• Don’t be afraid to rewrite if it doesn’t feel right to you.

More in my next post.

Goodreads Giveaway — Capricorn Cravings

Capricorn Cravings was published in print format 10 months after it first hit the Kindle market, and with two new books being released over the holiday season I am only just now scheduling a giveaway.

Riley Shaughnessy has the perfect life. Her veterinary practice is thriving, and she loves living in the small town in the Colorado mountains, where no one knows the shocking secret of her past. She loves to gallop her palomino mare across the vast expanse of public land bordering the town, and after a long period of self-denial, she has even committed to a date with handsome horse wrangler, Randy Hansen. But now, she knows her assistant, Jamie, would never willingly abandon her child, so why has she disappeared? Something dark and sinister is taking place, and it all started on the day hunky Powell Stewart, with the piercing blue eyes, came into her life in a strange and unexpected way. Her inner voice tells her to stay as far away from him as she can…

Here are the details of the Giveaway:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Capricorn Cravings

by Trish Jackson

Giveaway ends March 20, 2015.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/widget/127467

Aquarius Addiction Cover Reveal

I;m getting excited about my next novel in the Zodiac Series, Aquarius Addiction, now that the cover is done.

FBI psychic Arlette’s Xylander’s life changes dramatically when her mysterious Aunt Lucie, whom she has never met, dies, and bequeaths two things to Arlette–her country home on the banks of Bayou LeGue, and an ancient spell book. 
Then, on the same day she meets hunky Andre Rossouw, her doctor tells her she’s suffering from a terminal disease. 

The house holds many mysteries, including the ghosts she hears meeting in her dining room in the dark hours of the night, and why is there a gris-gris — the talisman of a voodoo curse — outside in her yard? Could it be something to do with the mysterious, cloaked woman she sees at her aunt’s graveside?

She displays all the character traits of her star sign, Aquarius, being feisty, eccentric, freedom-loving, flirtatious, rebellious and unpredictable, and she determines two things; to beat the odds of the disease, and to have wild and passionate sex with Andre.

Then she finds out he’s engaged.

Get the prologue, Arlette’s Story absolutely free here.  

Interview with NZ Author Claire Plaisted

Claire Plaisted is a multi-talented author from New Zealand, who has written several books in different genres and for totally different audiences. Just looking at a list of the titles can tell you a lot — Garrett Investigation Bureau – Malachy’s Unit, Rosetta’s Lot, Joseph’s Story, Ryan’s Madam.  And still to be published — Mascosta’s Dreamgirl & Renegade Jones.  Other titles. – Zoe’s Journey, Charlie Girls First Summer Christmas, The Diary of a Psychotic Killer.

It’s great to have you here on my blog, Claire. Could you give us a little more info about the various genres do you write?

Historical Romance Mystery, Mystery Romance, Sci Fi Young Adult, Children’s. I haven’t settled into any one Genre, and probably never will.

Are you a pantser? (You write by the seat of your pants and the story is all there in your head.)  

I’ve always wondered what to call myself!  My fingers do the talking. I open a word document and write whatever is there.

How about plotting? Have you ever tried it?

I sometimes chuck ideas around with friends if I get a bit stuck. I have never really plotted anything,

Do you think it’s important to write a detailed list of your character’s habits, likes, dislikes and family members? Why?

I did try this once at a suggestion of another friend who is also a writer, it didn’t really work for me.  These days when I write a book draft I sometimes open Notepad to write their names down and what they look like.

Writing in first person, present has been controversial in the past, but now it seems to be the trend for best-selling authors. (I look into the closet and recoil when I see what looks like a dead body.) Do you think it is more powerful than other tenses?

Is it more powerful?  No I don’t believe it is.  Some people enjoy reading a book as if they are doing the deed; others enjoy reading a book as if they are watching a movie.  I do have one draft where one character is in first person and all the others are in third.  It can get complicated, though it’s been fun to do.

What do you think today’s readers want and how does it differ from readers of the past?

In many books I read I must admit to getting bored from all the descriptive writing.  I like to read a book which has twists and turn, lots of dialogue.  Entertaining, taking you out of your own life and into another world.  As a writer I want you to see what is happening.  My readers wanted sex scenes, so I gave them what they wanted.  Going back even fifteen years and those types of scenes were not acceptable.  The English language has also change a lot over the years, especially with the different types of English used in different countries.

I totally agree with you and I think it’s something a lot of authors don’t seem to get. Readers today don’t have time for long-winded passages that don’t advance the storyline. What book are you going to feature in this post? Tell us its genre and write a short paragraph about it.

“Girlie and the War of the Wasps.” This is a young children’s story which I wrote for a friend’s grandchild.  Since then I have had young beta readers who have been enthralled with it. 

 Girlie is a bright blue Ladybug who sees her best friend Grassi the Grasshopper kidnapped by nasty wasps.  Girlie follows them to their hive where she finds all different types of insects been used as slaves to look after the Queens and her babies.  Girlie has to find a way to save all the insects and stop the war. She goes on a quest to find a healthy diet for the Queen so her worker and drone wasps behave and do their own work.  Along the way she meets Sammie the kitten, Pedi the Centipede and many more.  She even drops in at an orphanage where there are many different coloured ladybugs. (The book cover below is a concept drawing and as you can see, it hadn’t been completed yet.)

Can you tell me about your ideal reader? You probably have a few different ones.

Yes. With writing all different types of genres, my market is quite wide.  My children’s books have been well accepted by 6 – 10 year olds so far.  Parents saying to me “They won’t put it down, it’s amazing.”  One parents has a daughter who dislikes reading, I gave her a copy of my book “Zoe’s Journey,” her daughter read two chapters every night, and loved it.  ‘Zoe’s Journey’ is about myths and legends, strangely enough, the young girl’s class at school had studied this topic a few months prior.  

My adult books are suitable for anyone who wishes to read about murder, mystery and mayhem.  Suitable for anyone over 18 years.

Also, romance readers want steamy love scenes. Do you agree? Do you think your books meet their expectations?

Well you can certainly get steamy love scenes in my adult books.  The first time I was so embarrassed, it took a while to pick up the courage to self-publish one of the books.  I can however, write without steamy sex scenes as well.  Yes my books met the expectations of those who have read them so far.  All I get is – “I want more!”  Though I think that is more to do with the twisted plot rather than the sex scenes.

Children’s books usually include pictures. How did you find an illustrator/photographer?

For my first little children’s book, which I hope to publish by Christmas, I have done my own drawings and with the help of a local Artist enhanced them, at present he is doing the colouring.  I met him at a networking meeting for local businesses.  Another idea I have looked at is helping art students at the local college and schools to build their portfolios, helping to build their experience.

Do any of your books have a message? 

The only books which will have messages in them are my little children’s books.  The first story called “Girlie and the War of the Wasps, is about eating healthy and playing nicely with others.  The second in the series is about biting and kicking and how unkind it is.  They are both adventure stories in the garden world of insects.

I like that. If you could choose one character from the book, what would he/she say to you if he/she was to meet you?

Out of all my characters I would like to meet Yuri.  I have no idea why, he is a good man caring for his boss and his staff.  I’d like to hug him and thank him for all his hard work.  What he would say to me?  I’m not sure he would, I thinks he’d just smile and salute with a twinkle in his eye.

Did you self-publish or query and hope a publisher would accept your work and how did that work out for you?

With my very first book, I did try and find an agent and get it published the old fashioned way, without any progress.  It taught me a lot about setting my work out; it didn’t help with my English or Grammar due to the fact they give no feedback whatsoever.  They never tell you why your book is not acceptable.   Since that time I have taught myself how to format books for eBook and Print versions.  It has been a hard road though enjoyable.  I no help other local authors get their books online.

What do you do to promote your writing?

I mainly use social media, Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Smashwords.  I will be adding a few more sites as I gather experience.  I also have a Writers Website, Blog and a Business Website.   On a local base I contact the local reporter and ask if they are interested.  I have participated in one article this year though my name has been in four articles with various clients.

What advice do you have for your fellow writers/authors?

Don’t let anyone tell you, you can’t write.  Find someone who will help you perfect your writing, use a program like “StyleWriter” to help with grammar and sentence length.  I have seen some great stories, though they needed a lot of work to get them publishable.  Be it the flow or grammar.  YOU CAN WRITE.  Get positive feedback and feed forward.  I dislike negativity it is not needed.  Read “On Writing” by Stephen King.  It is great.  It certainly helped me a lot.

Tell us about your next project.

I have several projects on the go at any one time.  I don’t concentrate on any one story unless I am in the mood to do so.  My fingers do the talking.  I have around 20 drafts on the go.  My aim though is to finish my little children’s book, “Girlie and the War of the Wasps,” and publish my next book in “Garrett Investigation Bureau” (GIB) series, called “Mascosta’s Dreamgirl.”  Hopefully by Christmas time.

Wow!! Prolific is not enough to describe that! But why should we buy your books?

I write a good book, with a good storyline; they tend to twist and turn when you least expect it.  They finish with a reader usually wanting more.  I’m good at keeping people on the edge of their seats.  This is with my adult book series (GIB)  They are interesting to read, you can learn a few things from each book even though they are fiction I try and get my facts right.  They are entertaining, romantic and in some cases horrifying.  They are also well priced in print and eBook versions.

They kind of sound like mine. Perhaps readers who like my books would also like yours, and vice-versa. Thank you so much again for this wonderfully entertaining interview. I hope readers will go to your sites and check out your books.

CLAIRE’S BIO

My name is Claire Plaisted.  I am married with three children and live in Rotorua, New Zealand.  I have been writing novels since 2011 and have self-published 7 in that time.
 I fell into writing whilst waiting for Family History Research information from a client.  I wrote a Regency Romance which is still to be published.  Since then I’ve not stopped writing.  At first I was writing for me, I first published for my own satisfaction.  The feeling of having your first printed book in your hands is amazing.  It was only at friend’s insistence that I published for everyone. Hobbies can vary these days.  I love to spend time with my family and two cats.  I like to garden in the summer and reading is a must.  I like to cook and bake, crochet and knit.  It depends on my mood. In the past I have supported.  Heart Children New Zealand, Parent to Parent and I was a Trustee at a local school for 6 years.  Today I write a community newsletter and volunteer a half day in a local charity shop.

Where can we find out more about you and your work?

WEBSITE http://claireplaisted.wix.com/author

BLOG    http://myjourneyintowriting.blogspot.co.nz/

TWITTER   https://twitter.com/rotosis1

FACEBOOK   https://www.facebook.com/Rotosis

OTHER http://www.pinterest.com/rotosis/

              http://plaistedpublishing.wix.com/self-publish-service#

             https://www.linkedin.com/pub/claire-elizabeth-plaisted/6a/481/605