Thursday, August 29, 2013

Spotlight & Guest Post ~ RELINQUISHING LIBERTY by Maureen Mayer

On the outside, Liberty Davis appeared to have it all…a loving family, a tight knit circle of friends, and a bright future ahead of her. Everything was perfect. That is until her brother tragically took his own life, turning her whole world upside down.
 
Left to pick up the pieces of her broken family, Liberty is faced with focusing all of her attention on helping her parents cope with the loss of their son, while putting her own life on the back burner. But what no one seems to realize is that she is just as broken inside.
 
Now, four years later, twenty year old Liberty is taking back the reins of her life. She leaves behind everything she’s ever known, hoping to make a fresh start…one where she isn’t faced with the constant reminder that her brother is nothing more than faded memory. What she didn’t expect to find along the way was Shayne.
 
Tall, dark and tattooed, Shayne Thompson has developed quite a reputation for being a player. Despite everyone’s negative perception, Liberty still finds herself drawn to him. When she learns that Shayne knows all to well what it feels like to lose someone you love, she finds that they have a lot more in common than just a physical attraction.
 
When Liberty discovers a secret from Shayne’s past that threatens to tear them apart, she begins to question everything she’s ever felt for him. Will Liberty choose to follow her heart or will she give up the one person who finally made her feel whole again?


So, here’s a funny story.  I gave Maureen three guest post topics to choose from.  I inadvertently left out the word “or” after topic one and two, so she actually responded to all three topics.  Sorry Maureen!  I’m choosing to go with Maureen’s post of “Where did the idea come from?  Was there one character in your head forcing you to give them a story?”  Here’s what she had to say......


Coming up with the idea for Relinquishing Liberty was bittersweet for me. As an avid reader, I had always wanted to write a book, but I never thought I would be able to come up with an idea for one that was good enough or worthy of reading. I would literally sit there and try to force the ideas to come out, but they just would flow. Little did I know, all I had to do was sit back and wait for the idea to find me.

Unfortunately I’ve been unemployed for the past few months due to chronic headaches/migraines and depression. So with that, I was left with a lot of extra time on my hands. I was sitting at home one day thinking about my life and certain aspects that I wish were different or that I could change, and that’s when it hit me. The initial spark that triggered the idea for Relinquishing Liberty was the thought of just running away from everything and making a fresh start. That’s where Liberty came in. She was just screaming and begging to come out and tell her story, so that’s exactly what I did. I let her write the story…I was just simply her instrument.

Ideas kept building upon themselves and before I knew it, I had written 30,000 words, but I knew the story wasn’t nearly done. In fact, my mind was racing with so many ideas that I had mentally planned out an entire series within a few weeks. At that point, I made the decision that I would self-publish this book, and so began the crazy ride that has led up to here and now.

A lot of authors say the hardest part is writing the actual book itself. And it was, especially having to work on it around my headaches. Then I hit a road a block when Liberty decided to give me the silent treatment, and within the four months that I wrote Relinquishing Liberty, I probably spent at least a month not writing anything at all. It was extremely frustrating, and there were so many times that I just wanted to scrap the idea and give up, but everyone who has been supporting me since the very beginning continued to push me through, and 101,400 words later, Relinquishing Liberty was finished.

I’m extremely happy with the way it turned out, and I can’t wait for everyone else to get their hands on my pride and joy and to get to know all of the characters whom I have grown to know and love these last few months. I put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this book (more tears than anything), and to finally see the finished product is the biggest reward of all. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.


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