New Year Plans!
And I’ll say it again, Happy New Year!
I truly hope we as citizens and cohabitants of this planet can figure out how to get closer to being kinder to one another this year. As a matter of fact at the end of last year I made a pact with myself. I decided to live brave, which will allow me to always be kind, hopeful and faithful. 2018 will be the first full year that I live out those tenets. It takes a lot of work of course–a lot of humility and empathy, and I’m curious to see how I fair by the end of 2018. But being brave is the foundation of being kind, faithful and hopeful. Fear is seriously the seed for which the roots of all those human traits that make us unkind and unloving grow. So let’s all be brave!
So…
Another New Year has arrived and again I’m starting January 1st with the flu or a cold. This year I have cold. Sigh… I’ve been out of commission for most of last week but I have undertook some gargantuan tasks, which prolonged my sickness–washing my filthy, filthy car and driving all the way to the greater desert to grocery shop and such. However, this morning I woke up feeling better than I have in a while. Hey at least now I can breathe through both nostrils! And so I feel well enough to write out my annual state of the new year blog post. I guess I can call it that–maybe it’s more my new year plans for 2018.
Gosh… Can you believe it’s already 2018? I guess, I can since 2000 feels as if it had happened eons ago. I’ve really come a long way since then, and I really want to honor those changes I have made in my life, and in myself, because they have been remarkable. And I say that because if you read my books, then you know I also honor those changes in my characters. My characters are always moving forward, evolving and becoming the human being God put them on this planet to become. It took me a while to understand what I consistently give my fans, especially since I can hardly ever stick with one genre. But that’s it. That’s what I give you. I give you an example that if you keep living, if you don’t let yourself become stuck despite society’s expectations of all us, which usually relates to our gender, ethnicity, nationality and age, then you’ll find you true self, a solid, unshakeable, and unquestionable happily ever after, just by being brave. After all we can choose to participate in scripts, or we can say no thank you.
But understand that putting bravery in action is NOT easy. I’m not constructing brave characters who operate in the sense of false masculinity–using physical power to fight, dominate and win. My characters are brave in the sense that they step out of their safe places and despite criticism and expectations, which are usually constructs of FEAR, bravely go to the new and strange places, which life leads them.
In 2018, I’ll continue to show you that sort of bravery.
Once Friends, A Hollywood Love Story (Sonja & Jay, Book 1), will be the first book I publish this year. It’s set for release on March 6th. At the moment I’m upwards of 22k words through the book. The two main characters have just set out on a journey that will lead them to answers about the past as well as prove what they mean to each other in the present. So I can’t wait to get back into the story. You can pre-order the book on iBooks now.
Now Lovers, A Hollywood Love Story (Sonja & Jay, Book 2), will be released on April 11th or 18th, depending on how I schedule editing. If I set this book up as a pre-order on Amazon, then it will have to be released on the 18th because I want to make sure the final, FINAL version is in my hands before release day.
Then I plan to write the next two books in the series, starring Robin and Dexter. Do you remember Dexter Frampton from Know Her, Love Her and Adore Her, More of Her? He’s in this series! He was too delicious to throw away! 🙂 The release dates of Robin and Dexter’s stories are still on hold. Summer releases are the worst. So I want to get these two books released before June. If I’m able to do it, then that’ll give me through the Summer to work on the next two books of this series which will feature Elaine, Sonja’s older sister, and her new love interest. You’ll learn a lot about Elaine in Once Friends, and I promise you’ll be interested in learning how she ends up. Also, the cities will change with the different couples–I think. But stay tuned because I’ll give you more details about the Hester women after book Once Friends and Now Lovers are written.
However, if I have not suffered burn-out by the time first four books are released, then I’ll release one or two more by December 2018. We’ll see.
Also, you all know that I love writing about strong grandmothers and there’s one, Lorraine Hester, who’s associated with the Hester women. I’m hoping to make Gran Hester story the final books of the Hester women stories–A Palm Springs Love Story! I can’t wait to write those! She’s going to prove that it’s never too late to live your destiny. So be brave! 🙂
Okay, well, once again, HAPPY NEW YEAR! I’ve taken a few phone calls while writing this post and so now it’s time to make some dinner, drink some liquids, rest my head and get ready to work a full day of writing tomorrow!
Peace, love and NyQuil or Theraflu 🙂
Best Wishes,
Z.L.