Legacy Reims

Sigh!

2012-03-29T20:52:00.000-07:00

The book has been selling, mostly to people who know me and learn about the book. So far all the feedback is good. So, why the sigh? Well, the book needs to be helped along the way. It needs my attention and leg work, 2 things that I have not recouped yet. Not to the point of actually marketing my work. Right now I am on print on demand because it is the easiest thing for me to do. It does not make the best shipping times and it means that I am not available in physical bookstores, just their online stores.

I will come out of hibernation soon. I know that...
Everything in its own time.

Thoughts

2012-01-22T19:08:00.000-08:00

The books are arriving to their perspective homes. I guess a normal person would be nervous. I mean this is the part where you are basically just awaiting judgement, right?

It is an amazing relief for me. I am not nervous. The book has typos in it. I believed I posted about those before. I know some comments will come for those. The book is a lot darker than I am known for. I mentioned that in an April post, which was the reason for the pen name. I am not at all hiding who I am. The back cover has my name and photo. I just don't want the darkness of this book to be used to judge my future works.

I am sure there will be those who love the book and others who won't. The book was written for my husband. Only his potential dislike of the work would have caused me to bite my nails and wonder. Sigh, how I dislike being a widow.
I am curious to know what some think. I wonder how far his book will go. It is exciting because it is a proclamation that he was here. It is like he is now marked in history. I imagine at least one book floating around for the rest of days with his photo in the back. The book itself is a part of our tragic love story. A tale that ended too soon. I enjoyed that side of it so much that I decided to form a non-profit in his name. It will contribute to the causes that he cared for.

His legacy will live beyond us both.

It's here!

2011-10-07T18:03:00.000-07:00

The book proof came yesterday. Another bipolar experience for me. Grief vs. content. Bitter vs. Sweat.

No wonder they make pills for this...

Cover is Done!

2011-09-24T23:54:00.000-07:00

The final approval for the cover art work has finally been sent. I would normally be super excited except that my sweet husband is not here to enjoy this with me and he will not be able to read the first copy. I had this all planned out. I was going to write in it and sign it. Then I was going to wrap it for him and he was going to be the first person to read the finished, published work.

The entire thing is now sad to me. I am satisfied that the book is finally moving along, but so devastated at the timing and the circumstances.

Bitterness

2011-09-20T05:52:00.000-07:00

There are no words to describe how I am feeling as of late. I wrote this book for my husband. The book was delayed. I don't know why it happened. Now my precious prince will never get to see the book! My husband passed away unexpectedly and here, 2 weeks later, I finally received the cover concept.

The genre is not something that I had planned on getting into. I knew that he would enjoy the read since he loved psycho-thrillers. It is just such a weird feeling about the book and the way that this is happening.

Waiting

2011-05-19T19:02:00.000-07:00

The release of the book is really just around the bend but the wait is killing me.
It is hard to contain the jittery excitement over it. Just a few more months.

Only women can relate to how I really feel. Particularly women who have taken a pregnancy test.
You know the 3 minute wait. The 3 minutes staring into the plastic stick debating on whether or not you
see a blue spot that can be the start of a positive line or maybe its just the light. Maybe if you blink, it will go away or appear depending on which you are rooting for. Did I do it right, does it need more or less? Maybe I should take another.

In those 3 minutes, you notice the tile is chipped, the paint in here can be touched up, and what's with
the shower rod, is it slanted??? 1.5 minutes left to go...

Imagine that feeling, but for 3 months. This is the longest pregnancy test of my LIFE!

Meet the CHARACTERS!

2011-04-19T19:43:00.000-07:00

There are basically 3 main characters. First we have...

JANE- Jane is the old woman we never notice walking through our daily lives.

She is the boring, drab, lonely woman who looks down in the stores and does not say much.

Living in Florida, which is a huge retirement community market, I wonder who these walmart

greeters and bridge people were when they were young. What stories did they hide behind

their strange clothes and wrinkled skin. I notice that a lot of the younger generation just pass

them by and really believe that they were always frail with no stories to tell. Jane is one of

these people who finally gets to tell her story. When she finally tells it, she gets a tiny bit

of her own life back. You can see the weight lifted. Unfortunately, her audience, while

eager to hear her story, are very shaken and disrupted by it.

LEGACY REIMS is the lucky woman who is chosen by fate to run into Jane at the moment

when all of her skeletons come falling out of her closet. Legacy is a young aspiring writer,

wife, and mother. She is given the task of the century after being the only person in years

to actually show some courtesy and caring to the old woman in the store. Legacy's

character is loosely based on me and my reactions to the situation she is in. She is very

similar to me, but she is not me! I wanted her to feel real, like you know her.

Finally, there is TOM LAUGHLIN. After what I have created in Tom, I really hope that this is

no one's real name. If, it is someone's name, don't look at him funny. My Tom is a fictitious

character. In creating Tom, I remember feeling that I had to write him even though I didn't

understand him. In the story, Tom is really trying to figure himself out and he goes through

these stages. He really does not see the monster that he is. As far as he is concerned, he is not

responsible for any of the horrible things that he does and they are just things that happened

to him.

I really want to give you more but...

Book comes out in just a few short months! I hope you enjoy it, or hate it with a passion

because you can't put it down and/or it's disturbing.

Motivation

2011-04-09T20:30:00.000-07:00

My husband and I watch a lot of psycho thrillers and suspense movies. He likes that the most.

I don't get into horror much, but he likes it so I watch it with him. He is really good at watching

my movies with me as long as it isn't one of my daughters Barbie movies.

While watching a movie together, I said 'I bet I could write a movie you would be interested in'.

That started everything. I began writing a book for my husband. I thought about the entire thing

like it was a movie. I chose which perspective to use to tell the story and the movie played out in

my head. It was interesting and very new to me. I didn't know how I was going to get enough

words to make chapters and fill a book. I started with psycho guy --> victim --> the end.

That was not even enough to fill a post it. I was really surprised at how fast I completed the book.

I was already known for staying in my office at work. During slow season, I would find all

sorts of things to keep me busy. I really wish I would have kept track of when I started the book

and how long I really took. I don't remember, but I would be surprised if it was 4 months.

I actually started writing the book a couple of years ago. It took me a while to decide that

I wanted to publish it.

Who is Legacy Reims

2011-04-07T17:13:00.000-07:00

Legacy is actually one of the main characters in the book. Those who know me know that I am a smiley,

light person. This book is going to surprise them. It is very dark and tragic. I put Legacy's name on the

cover of the book because I like the idea of keeping people in the story at all times. While I am proud of

my book, it does not define me. I have a lot of other works both dark and light for young and old. I didn't

want my future books to be pre-judged by the theme of this book. I mean really, picture yourself in the

bookstore with your kids. They run up to a children's book and the authors name is Stephen King. Would

you get it for your young child? Probably not. While I know that Stephen King took years to earn his title

and fame, and those are not things that I have to worry about, I still figure a pseudo name is fun.

Legacy and I have a lot in common. I put a lot of myself into her in order to deliver a true reaction to some

of the things that she goes through in the book. It was fun 'acting' out the worry and doubt that she goes

through. She is a mother of a young child. She has a husband and a career like I do. The similarities

may cause some of my friends to question, but rest assured she is not me. She is more like a character

I played in a movie once. It only aired in my imagination, so far, but hopefully I painted a clear enough

picture for you to see her too, when you read the book.

Let me know how you feel about this font. It looked cluttered last time, hence the double spacing.

The Journey

2011-04-06T10:42:00.000-07:00

In only a few months, my book will be published and I invite everyone to read it. It is entitled SJR: See Jane Run and is a psycho-thriller/suspense.

The journey to getting published was exciting. I was very lucky. My first submission was accepted. The first thing I had to get done was go through editing. Editing is a very time consuming but much needed step. I didn't have too many errors, but some things were brought to my attention that I never would have realized and I feel that it made the book stronger. The experience reminded me of waiting for test results. It was similar to the longest pregnancy test on earth. Any woman who has taken a pregnancy test knows the feeling of pacing and staring into the little window in search of the LINE. The only difference is that I was staring into my email in box everyday in search of some news. Once Editing is done, the ball really gets rolling.

I have to say that it is very exciting to work with all the different departments in the books production. I have gone through text block already and am currently in the process of having my back cover created. :)
The information for a press release is being gathered. I could get used to this.

I will be posting information as it comes in. I can't wait to see the cover.
Eventually, this will be a good place to hear what my readers thought about the book.

Talk to you soon,
Legacy