Often in our busy, 24/7, social media addicted and instant gratification existence we get caught up in high expectations for (fill in the blank) events in our lives. One day you’re rolling along, plans all laid out nice and tidy and then something happens to challenge you. Something which tests your resilience for change, and threshold for disappointment.

Sound familiar? It happens to all of us. Hopefully not too often, but when it does how you react immediately after the stomach-dropping hit you just took, sets you up for a big decision… Turn the disappointment not into lemonade but opportunity or let it paralyze you.

I had one such disappointment this summer and it had to do with my debut baseball romance, SAVING MAVERICK. I was so excited when Bloomsbury Spark offered me a contract this past March and chose a November 2015 release date. I had gleefully told my family, friends, complete strangers, “My book is coming out in November!” I’d posted it on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, my website. You name it. I had begun to pimp it, well everywhere.

So, July rolls around and I’m eager to receive my edit letter from well, my editor, but what I received instead was a nicely worded email asking me how I would feel if they changed the release date, for marketing purposes, to early 2016?… How would I feel? Sad, very-very sad.

I found myself with this huge decision to make. Do I kick and scream and demand I get my way like a toddler who’s lost their blanky and end up alienating my editor and the publisher and perhaps blow my opportunity for books two and three? <takes deep breath> Or do I set aside my “poor me” feelings and listen to the “oh, yeah, this makes sense” voice that appeared soon after the need for the pink stuff in a bottle faded away?

The change in release date had really nothing to do with me or the quality of the book, but more to do with “Hey, there is no baseball in November” and it just made better marketing sense to release it at the beginning of baseball season, the following year.

I have to tell you, I was kinda proud of myself. I could have spent a day (or two or three) in bed boo-hooing, eating ice cream and refusing to go outside, but I chose to listen to that voice that said “Yeah, this sucks, but it’s best for the success of the book.”

The more I thought about the initial disappointment the more I realized the best approach is to make sure something’s right first instead of forcing it to be right. I replied back the next day, and was honest with my editor. I admitted I was disappointed but I also wanted to make sure we set the book up for a successful release—even if it meant I would have to wait three extra months AND I had to tell everyone it wasn’t happening until next year. That was a tough one because everyone was so excited and happy for me.

I took the extra time I’d been given before I needed to dive into the editing process on SAVING MAVERICK, to begin writing a short story and another full length book, this time a romantic suspense. I entered it in a writing contest and forgot about it until it was chosen as a finalist, and then I pitched it to another publishing house, and they’re interested in reading it. (Now I just have to finish it LOL)

So there you go, silver lining. One I hadn’t been planning on, but which wouldn’t have happened if I’d let my disappointment paralyze me.

So, tell me how do you handle life’s disappointments? Or better yet, what have you learned from having gone through a disappointing experience?

Thank you Delilah for sharing your readers with me. (And for teaching the Roses Plotting Boot Camp!)

All my best,

Debra Elise

~*~

SAVING MAVERICK – Releases Early 2016 – It’s not yet up for pre-order, however you can go to GOODREADS and add it to your WANT TO READ list!

Maverick Jansen and Kelsey Sullivan fall into a complicated game of PR strategy by day and searing passion by night where they both find a new meaning to fast and hard.

STRIKE ONE

Days before the biggest game of playboy pitcher Maverick Jansen’s career, his brother is killed in a horrific car accident. Determined not to let his teammates down, Mav pushes through his grief only to lose control of his signature pitch—and the series.

STRIKE TWO

Still dealing with the backlash of his once adoring fans, Maverick learns his team’s owner plans to move the ball club to small town America. During a night of hard drinking Mav rails against the move to “Hicksville” while a fan records the entire tirade. His career takes another hit when the video goes viral right before spring training.

Kelsey Sullivan, Media Consultant, is hired by the team’s owner and her childhood friend, Thomas Scott, to help restore Maverick’s image and find a way to get his mojo back. As the daughter of a former minor league ball player who walked away from her and her unstable mother, Kelsey breaks her main client rule—no male athletes—to help her friend and gain a coveted position with the ball club.

STRIKE THREE, or…?

Persuaded to pretend they’re a couple against her better judgment, Kelsey and Maverick begin dating as a last ditch effort to secure his place on the team, fix his public image and prove to an unstable groupie who’s begun posting doctored photos on the internet that he’s taken.

In order to convince Kelsey what they have is more than just soul-shattering sex, Maverick digs deep, overcoming his commitment phobia and unexpected news to prove to Kelsey love can save them both. Can Kelsey bury her long-held belief that a bad boy baseball player isn’t the happily-ever-after type so they both can make the Show.

Excerpt from Saving Maverick:

Kelsey leaned against the railing and rolled the tension out of her neck and shoulders. How much longer should she hide out here before going back in? She didn’t want to chance looking around to check on T.S. and Maverick and get caught staring, again, so she kept her gaze on the still, dark blue lake below her.

So caught up in her memories, she hadn’t heard the terrace doors opening. She only noticed the footsteps right before a hand brushed her arm. She looked up and felt a shock of heat shoot straight to her core. It was him. Maverick Jansen and he was giving her his full attention.

“Excuse me miss. I hope I’m not intruding, but I really needed a break and you seemed so relaxed out here I just had to find out why for myself.”

She looked at America’s hottest baseball player out of the corner of her eye and snorted. Her body may be firing on all cylinders from his simple touch, but he didn’t need to know that.

“Really, is that a line you practiced or did it just come to you?” Kelsey asked.

“Well, now it got you to speak to me, so I think practiced or not, it had the desired result.” He smiled, and oh my, those dimples, Kelsey thought. He held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Rand Jansen, but everyone calls me Maverick.”

She allowed him to slip his sport roughed hand around her smaller one and tilted her head to the side. How should she play this? He may be the first man in a long time to make her feel even a twinge of sexual interest, but they would soon be working together. Maybe she should test him? See exactly how he would handle a woman turning him down.

“Kelsey.” She responded.

“Just Kelsey?” He asked.

“For now.” She smiled.

“Do you usually go by just one name? Are you a secret agent or something?” Maverick grinned again.

“Or something.” She took a slight step back, to gain a bit of control and for her sanity. She could feel her nipples pebbling against her camisole and was glad she wore a blazer for her meeting with T.S., otherwise Maverick would be able to see the effect he was having on her.

She shouldn’t be having such an intense reaction. It had taken a mere brush of his hand and the sound of his sinful voice to wind her up. She needed to get a grip and get off the terrace — fast.

BIO:  Debra Elise lives with her husband and their two sons in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. She loves to read, nap, write, and watches entirely too much reality T.V. She also enjoys a good nap (oops that’s a repeat), hanging out with other author-type individuals and teasing her three ‘boys’ into displaying their killer smiles. Most days find her carpooling, avoiding laundry and daydreaming about her characters and how to make them come alive for her readers.

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