A Late Sunday Author Update – 6-18-2023

Greetings!

So, I’ve been writing Max and Lake’s love story while musing over them as characters and how they arrive at the moment in time for which I’m capturing.

Thinking about them and the emotions that they are experiencing makes me emotional, though. Maybe because I’ve come to a personal realization, something I’ve never considered. 

Here it is: Romantic love can never occur without attraction, but attraction doesn’t always lead to true love, although it can lead to commitment.

Whoah!

Right?

Because there are a lot of stories ready to pour from that foundation.

Because I know Max has always been attracted to Lake, but he’s not in love with her when the book starts, only attracted. So the title can’t be Once Upon An Unrequited Love. And the story would feel disingenuous for me to call it that. 

Sigh… 

So that won’t be the title.

But getting back to what I said earlier. I will be writing my grandmother’s story soon. Well, my grandparents were married at seventeen. My grandma turned 100 years old last year, but she was married to my grandfather until he died at eighty-three. She has admitted to never loving him romantically. They were committed to each other, though. Even though my pawpaw cheated and had a son and daughter from another woman, who was my grandmother’s best friend, mind you. I saw his two children for the first time at his funeral. His son chews Juicy Fruit gum and likes butterscotch candies like my grandfather did. Weird, right??? Genes.

I’m telling you this because I’ll be writing my grandmother’s story, and this will all be in the book. She said so! She gave me permission to write it all!

My grandmother admitted to cheating, but only because he did it first. He humiliated her.

But, they were forced into marriage because they were two seventeen-year-old kids who were attracted to each other and then had sex and became pregnant. And five kids and a bunch of grandkids later, here I am! 

So…

That’s a story about attraction and commitment, but not a romantic commitment. I will say that my grandmother did not grieve after my grandfather died, and that killed me because I loved him so much. He was a fantastic pawpaw.

I do think my grandmother liked him to a certain extent, though. He wasn’t abusive to her. They got into this comfortable rhythm of life together. But he obliterated her trust a long, long time ago, and I don’t think that humiliation ever left her. My grandmother’s story is fascinating. I can’t wait to write her book, my next project after I complete Max’s story. I already wrote my first sentence, “Ina had gone too.”

My grandmother was only ten years old when she lost her mother to tuberculosis, dramatically altering her life.

So, I’ve concluded that pure romance should be a story about two people who are cosmically attracted to each other because attraction feels cosmic. But the main story should be about their attraction evolving into true romantic love, which involves trust, respect, and genuinely liking the whole personality of the other person, and that personality does no harm. That personality actually does good; it does growth, it does comfort. That’s love.

So Max and Lake’s story has me thinking about love wholly and differently, and I love it!

Anyway, if you don’t know by now, the entire The Lords of Manhattan series is available on Apple Books, Google Play, Kobo, and Nook. They have been in Kindle Unlimited for three cycles, so I made Crossing the Line and Boss On Notice free to get the series rolling and new readers interested. Boss On Notice is only free until July 17th, so grab your copy today!

Oh, and Amazon hasn’t price-matched on all stores outside the USA yet. But I’ll send them a request to price-match early this week. It’s a whole process. But you can always grab the books from Google Play and Apple Books.

All right! Time to end my working day. 

The writing process is going smoothly, so I think I will definitely make my deadline for releasing the book on August 31st. As I said, I don’t want to write a book too fast, but I know this story already. I’ve been thinking about it for a long time. But I also want to make sure the story feels grounded to you.

I want to give you sneak peeks, but I’m unsure. I want you to savor it all on release day. 😊

Alright then…

Until the next time!

Warmest Regards,
Z