UPDATE: The winner is…Debra G!

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As always, I want to start by thanking Delilah for letting me come hang out here with you all.  It’s always a lot of fun to play here.

It’s a shiny new season, which makes people sometimes want a fresh start in different areas, maybe something big like a job, or a new home, or smaller like a hobby, or just cleaning out a closet—my mom and grandma always did huge, empty-all-the-cupboards spring and fall cleaning every single year, and I never understood it; after all, who cleans things that are already clean.  But sometimes that fresh start isn’t by choice.  Maybe an employer has to down-size, or, worse, close.  Maybe a family member far away needs a caregiver and there isn’t anyone else willing.   Lots of us have experienced some of these fresh starts, by choice or by necessity.  It’s part of life.

Spring seems like a good time to get some of the by-choice fresh starts underway.  Mini-house cleaning (the windows always need a good scrub after winter, right?), or getting rid of old clothes we no longer wear to make room for a few new pieces.  Culling a collection that doesn’t mean as much now as it did when we started it.  Those are reasonable, I think.  Some of us set bigger goals—redoing a room, or planning a vacation.

I’ve seen a lot of (and written some) books that start with one of the main characters undertaking a fresh start in their life, some voluntarily and others not, that sets them on a collision course with something they never planned for, sometimes something that turns their fresh start upside-down so they wind up with yet another fresh start.  It’s one of the things that keep us reading, I think, watching how they adjust to the unplanned roadblocks that pop up and make the characters rethink what they thought they knew or wanted.

One of the things I’m starting over this year is my publishing plan–my publisher closed their doors a couple of months ago, so a whole lot of authors had to add some major tasks to their to-do lists for the year.  I’m still trying to rework my writing goals for the year while I figure out what to do with Hunting Medusa and the other two unpublished books in the trilogy.  I have a lot of (scary!) options on my plate so have been doing research to whittle down that list and make the best choice I can for my books.

In the manuscript I’m rewriting now, the heroine has chosen to make a fresh start—she’s accepted a new job in a state where she doesn’t know a single person.  But she has a few months to wrap things up before she goes—sell the house where she grew up, find a place to stay in the new state, get in as much time with her BFF as she can.  Romance is definitely not on the list for now, but when her BFF’s older brother sets his sights on her, what can she do?  She’s had a crush on him since they were kids, but he never really saw her…until now.  It’s sure going to make that fresh start a lot more difficult, though, when she has to leave.

What are some of your favorite ‘fresh start’ stories?  I have a signed copy of Hunting Medusa to give away–everyone (US residents over 18) who comments will be entered into a drawing via RandomResult.com. 

About the Author

Elizabeth Andrews has been a book lover since she was old enough to read. She read her copies of Little Women and the Little House series so many times, the books fell apart. As an adult, her book habit continues. She has a room overflowing with her literary collection right now, and still more spreading into other rooms.  Almost as long as she’s been reading great stories, she’s been attempting to write her own.  Thanks to a fifth grade teacher who started the class on creative writing, Elizabeth went from writing creative sentences to short stories and eventually full-length novels. Her father saved her poor, callused fingers from permanent damage when he brought home a used typewriter for her.

Elizabeth found her mother’s stash of romance novels as a teenager, and—though she loves horror—romance became her very favorite genre, making writing romances a natural progression. There are more than just a few manuscripts, however, tucked away in a filing cabinet that will never see the light of day.

Along with her enormous book stash, Elizabeth lives with her husband of more than twenty years and two young adult sons, though no one else in the house reads nearly as much as she does. When she’s not at work or buried in books or writing, there is a garden outside full of herbs, flowers and vegetables that requires occasional attention.

Hunting Medusa

The Medusa Trilogy, Book 1

When Kallan Tassos tracks down the current Medusa, he expects to find a monster. Instead he finds a wary, beautiful woman, shielded by a complicated web of spells that foils his plans for a quick kill and retrieval of her protective amulet.

Andrea Rosakis expects the handsome Harvester to go for the kill. Instead, his attempt to take the amulet imprinted on her skin without harming her takes her completely by surprise. And ends with the two of them in a magical bind—together. But Kallan isn’t the only Harvester on Andi’s trail…

Check it out here!