Amy Durham's Blog: Amy Durham, page 12

Jesse V. Coffey Guest Post - "Finding My Faith"

Today, I'm happy to welcome Jesse Coffey. Ms. Coffey is a fellow member of Kentucky Independent Writers Network, and today she shares with us her post, "Finding My Faith". I hope you'll take time to read and comment!

Welcome Jesse!
Finding My Faith
I sometimes tell myself that I should have majored in Comparative Religions instead of the English Lit/Comp degree I ended up getting. I'm fascinated by the subject; mainly because in my personal belief system, I don't follow along in any one path. I tend to be what is called a Deist coming from a Polytheistic belief system. I don't believe that any one religion has it all right. Nor do I believe that any one religion has it all wrong. And I think if we actually shut up long enough to listen to each other, we'd find out that we're all basically saying the same thing when it comes to the basic precepts of being and our place in this cosmos.
When I started writing The Savior, I was very strongly in the Pagan/Wiccan camp and I still tend to think of myself as a Goddess worshiper (just with a foot in all religions these days). What irritated me at the time – and still does, if you want to know the truth – was the blatant idiocy of how Wiccans were portrayed in the entertainment field. If we're not being treated as flat out nut jobs who really believe all that nonsense about turning people into various forms of animal and vegetable life or using broomsticks as objects of mass transit, then we're crazy evil things that sell our souls to a deity that we don't even believe in so that we can rape, pillage, and plunder all in the name of said deity that we don't even believe in (actually, the Satanists do use the terms "witch" and "warlock" but Paganism and Satanism are not the same thing, never have been, and never will be.).
It was annoying and insulting the way movies, books, and television portrayed those who follow that path. Sorry, but I don't cackle, I don’t have warts on my nose, and I don't spend my days and nights in front of some black cauldron chanting my backside off and tossing bunches of herbs and other plant life. I decided that I wanted to write a story that was a hell of a lot more truthful about it all. I wanted to show people that a) the religion is not based on casting spells and precious few of us do it, really; b) the religion is more about worshiping Gods and Goddesses, accepting that all things have a soul, and that the God/dess of our particular path is a part of us and we are their children in various stages of evolution of soul; and c) threatening to turn someone into a toad is always going to be particularly confusing for the toads and not really recommended. I wanted to show the actual day to day life of an honest to goodness Pagan lifestyle. Hence, The Savior.
What I didn't count on was the path my hero took nor where that path would lead me along with him. I won't bore you with the details of how I found the plot to The Savior; it would take me a lot more space than I've been graciously given for this guest post. But let's just say that in researching the story for Toby Riordan, I ended up learning a great deal myself. Toby starts his journey in the first century AD, in Jerusalem and makes his way to Ireland before landing in Tibet. He encounters the Hassidic Jewish community before finding the Celts and Druids and then meeting a monastery of Tibetan Buddhists. In order to write the story, I had to possess a working knowledge of each religion, because it really is important to the story and Toby's journey.
Did you know that the Jews have a dietary law, in terms of what makes food kosher, that an animal cannot be slaughtered in front of its parent/sibling/family? I didn't. And when I found out, it made a great chapter. Did you know that the Celts invented a great many of the farming implements that we still use today? Or that they developed breeding sciences and crop rotations hundreds of years before the farmers of today? I didn't. And did you know that the Bodhi Tree in the Bodh Gaya monastery is the same tree that the Gautama Buddha sat under to find his enlightenment twenty-five-hundred years ago? That the full moon in May is celebrated as the Buddha's birth day, enlightenment day, and death day?
Color me surprised when everything I learned pointed back to what I said at the beginning – that if we all just shut up long enough to listen to each other, we'd find out that we're actually saying the same thing. And realizing that, myself, started an intense yearning to learn more about the many religions in this world and the people who worship in them. I haven't gotten to all of them yet, but the ones I have been reading about are amazing. Including the one that adopted me.There's a saying I'd like to leave you with – there are many pathways up the mountain but there's only one summit. We may all be on different paths but I think when we get there, we're going to find out that we've all been climbing the same mountain. And whether you worship a God or Goddess, whether you follow the path of Christianity, Agnosticism, Atheism, Taoism, Polytheism, Judaism, or Rastafarianism, we all have that code of ethics and we all follow that spiritual journey. We all want to be as close to perfect as possible. And we all want to love others as we would want to be loved.In the end, that's what matters. Right?
Jesse V Coffey is the author of Salt of the Earth, a Karmic Comedy, and the soon to be released. The Savior, which will be out in ebook and paperback on 28 February 2013. Ms. Coffey is a member of ASCAP, the Erotic Authors Association, and the Kentucky Indie Writers network. She currently lives and writes in Lexington, KY.
You can find her online at:
Official WebsiteOfficial BlogJesse Recommends FacebookTwitterPinterestGoodreads

ONCE AND FOR ALL - LAUNCH PARTY with a #Giveaway

LAUNCH PARTY... and YOU are invited!

ONCE AND FOR ALL is now available in digital format at Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, Kobo, and All Romance Ebooks. It's also available from Amazon in print format.

Of course, I want the WHOLE WORLD to know about it! So... if you help spread the word, you could win a $20 Amazon gift card! WOO HOO!

Here's how it works:
* Every comment on this blog post enters your name into the drawing one time.
* Every tweet about the book enters your name into the drawing one time.
   Be sure to include me in the tweet - @Amy_Durham
* Every email to another person letting them know about the book enters your name into the drawing one time. Be sure to "Cc" me in the email so I know to enter your name.
* Every NEW like on my Facebook page (facebook.com/AuthorAmyDurham) enters both the new "liker"
   AND the person who sent them to my Facebook page. (Be sure to have new "likers" private message me
   the name of the person who recommended they "like" me!)

You can enter as many times as you like! The more you help spread the word and tell others about my book(s), the better your chances are to win! When you tweet/email/FB, be sure to include a link to one of the online booksellers where the book can be found!

If you enter, please be sure that I have an email address for you, since the Amazon gift card will be delivered that way. You can leave your email in your comment below or email it to me.

The contest will close NEXT TUESDAY, February 12, at midnight. I'll announce the winner here on my blog on WEDNESDAY, February 13.

You know you want to enter... a LOT! Who doesn't want a bit of Amazon spending cash for Valentine's Day?

So... there you go! Have at it!

Dedication - ONCE AND FOR ALL

Writing is great fun. You get to make up characters, put them in crazy scenarios, help them overcome obstacles, and give them their happy ending. (At least in MY books the characters get a happy ending!)

But I  always try to put a little something more in my stories. A message. A lesson. A ray of hope.

I thought a lot about what message I wanted to send in ONCE AND FOR ALL, and I made an effort to weave that message through the story and all the things the characters experienced. In the end, I hope readers will recognize the message I tried to convey.

It can be summed up in the dedication of the book...

"To my boys... the remarkable musician, the budding artist, and the future drummer... may you find your places in this world and never sacrifice one bit of yourselves in the process. You are enough, exactly as you are."

The Collision! Weekend Writing Warriors #WeWriWa

It's Weekend Writing Warriors (WeWriWa), a new Sunday post inspired by the wildly successful Six Sentence Sunday, which ended last week. Many thanks to the admins at Six Sentence Sunday for such a great idea and activity. And thanks to the admins at WeWriWa for picking up the baton and organizing another way for all of us to stay connected.

Weekend Writing Warriors share an 8-sentence excerpt, and today I'm sharing from my VERY RECENTLY PUBLISHED young adult paranormal romance, ONCE AND FOR ALL. This is book 2 in the Sky Cove Series. Both books in the series are available at Amazon, B&N, and other retailers. (A complete list of links appears on the right sidebar.)

The opening of the "book blurb" says... What happens when 180 pounds of football star collides with 105 pounds of art geek?  The following excerpt, from the prologue, show us that collision. It's December 30 in Sky Cove, Maine. It's cold and icy, and as Phoebe tries to walk in to the hardware store, Todd is barreling out. She falls on her tush, and looks up to see...


Todd Miller, with his designer jeans and expensive black coat.

"Uh, Sorry," he said, his eyes locked uncomfortably on mine, but not bothering to help me up.

Like I needed his help.

Making matters worse was the fact that he was so freaking cute. And yeah, I'd noticed that a long time ago. Unfortunately, every time he opened his mouth all the cuteness went away.

I pushed up, gaining my feet without slipping again on the ice. The stupid moron just stood there continuing to stare at me.


Be sure to visit the host site, Weekend Writing Warriors, to find the entire list of participating authors.

Release Day! ONCE AND FOR ALL #YA #Paranormal #Romance

RELEASE DAY!


ONCE AND FOR ALL, book 2 in the Sky Cove series, is now available at online booksellers.  This is the sequel to ONCE AGAIN (links to the right), and follows Phoebe Campbell and Todd Miller, students at Sky Cove Senior High who find themselves embroiled in the latest reincarnation mystery to strike the young people of the town. Theirs comes with a twist... an ancient curse that has never been broken.

Currently, the book is live and ready to download at the following locations:

Amazon
All Romance Ebooks
Smashwords
Barnes and Noble



Here's the blurb:

What happens when 180 pounds of football star collides with 105 pounds of art geek?

An ancient curse springs to life, of course.

Phoebe Campbell is anything but popular. Todd Miller is the epitome of the high school jock. Their socially opposite worlds collide when they are paired to work together on a project for art class. Attempting to cooperate for the sake of their assignment, Todd and Phoebe begin to look past preconceived notions and see each other for who they truly are. As genuine feelings begin to develop between them, they find themselves plagued by dangerous shape-shifting episodes and unexplained telepathic connections. 

In order to stop the mysterious occurrences, Phoebe and Todd are forced into a mission to uncover the truth. In their quest, they discover unsettling stories that hint at a previous existence, and also clues to an ancient curse that has never been broken.

Can they learn to love each other despite the typical high school social expectations? And will their love be the key that breaks the ancient curse once and for all?

Thanks for stopping by... and happy reading and writing!

#SixSunday - The Kiss

It's the final Six Sentence Sunday... :(

What a fun ride it's been! And I look forward to participating in a new Sunday activity with many of the same authors!

ONCE AND FOR ALL is set to release within the next week or so! If you haven't read ONCE AGAIN - book 1 in the series - you can check it out by clicking the links to the right. The books are stand-alones, but I think you'll enjoy them more if you read them in order, since characters from book 1 "pop up" in book 2!

Today, I'm sharing a bit from Phoebe & Todd's exchange in the school parking lot. If you've read my last two SSS posts, you know that their relationship is still "up in the air", and Phoebe is puzzled when she receives a text from Todd asking her to meet him in the parking lot before school. I've skipped the conversation that "resolves" their issues, and opted instead to give you... the kiss!  Enjoy!



     He framed my face with his hands, his thumbs tracing gentle lines on my cheeks. Tilting my chin up until our eyes met, he lowered his face, brushing his lips across mine, once, twice, until finally sinking in to the kiss.
     I forgot the chilly weather as the warmth of his kiss spread through me. Grasping handfuls of his shirt, I pulled myself closer. He wrapped his arms around me, his embrace, strong and sure, telling me he knew exactly what he was doing.
     When he ended the kiss, he didn’t let go, but pulled back slightly and pressed his forehead against mine. 


If you'd liked to read more from other talented authors, visit the host site by clicking here. You can also find other participants on Twitter with the hashtag #SixSunday.

Don't forget to check back this week for the announcement of the book's release!!

Book Trailer - ONCE AND FOR ALL

Coming VERY soon...

The Paranormal Element - With an Excerpt

This is a re-post from April 2012, in anticipation of the release of ONCE AND FOR ALL, later this week!

The Sky Cove series revolves around reincarnation, which is a really fun paranormal element to play around with. In ONCE AGAIN, Layla and Lucas have to solve the mystery of the tragedy that happened to them in their past life and finally bring the evil-doing-madman to justice.  Phoebe and Todd also deal with a reincarnation drama, but with a twist.

Rather than a mystery, they have to break an ancient curse. I won't get into the details of the curse... you'll have to read the book to find that out!  But I will divulge this: Generations before them have had the opportunity to break the curse, and all of them have failed.

The curse manifests itself in Todd in an interesting manner:  Skinwalking... which is a bit like shapeshifting, but not quite. See, he can't change forms at his will.  He changes forms at PHOEBE'S will. And given that Phoebe doesn't realize she holds this power, or that it's tied to her artistic creations, it's a recipe for confusion and disaster!

The excerpt below is from Chapter 4. It's in first person, Phoebe's point of view, as she's carving a small animal for an art display. This is the second time she's experienced a strange trance-like state while carving, and it's just as disturbing as the first, but this time she's somewhat less startled.


     Rolling my chair from my desk to my worktable, I picked up a piece of scrap maple and went to work.
     It didn’t take long for the small lynx to begin to emerge from the wood.  Though the face of the animal looked similar to a cat, the longer body made it unique.  I spent the most time carving the face, particularly the eyes.  With each action, I could feel the lynx’s gaze on me, as if rather than just making it life-like, I was givingit life.
     The eyes focused, even seemed to move as if glancing around, the expression at first blank, then confused and bewildered.
     I cut my eyes left and right, looking for the source of the animal’s confusion, only to discover I was there again, the edge of a wooded area, seeing everything from what could only be the lynx’s point of view.
     It was crazy, and yet somehow I wasn’t startled by it this time.  As the lynx moved deeper into the trees, I felt its uneasiness, its fear.  The emotions weren’t mine.  I didn’t own them.  I felt them as if they were being transferred to me from someone else.
     A door opening and voices calling didn’t pull me out of the vision this time, because they were a partof the vision.  I heard them through the lynx’s ears, and felt alarm spread through the creature as we hurried further into the woods and concealed ourselves behind a large tree trunk.
     The darkness seemed to close in around us.  Footsteps made their way nearer, and with every moment we cowered behind the tree my heart hammered violently in my chest.
     I tried to reason with myself.  So what if someone saw us?  What would be so out of the ordinary about seeing a wild animal in the forest?
     But there was nothing ordinary about it on my end.  The sense of being in the scene but not being there wreaked havoc on the parameters of what was real in my world.
     I could not believe this was happening again.  This was more than craziness.  What if I dropped into one of these fugue states at school?  Or in front of my dad?   
     The fear of what might happen coursed through me with such force that I trembled.
     The small wooden figure slipped from my hand as I trembled in anticipation or fear or uncertainty or whatever it was.  Thankfully, the sound of the carved lynx hitting the hardwood floor of my studio snapped me back to reality.  
Hope you enjoyed! Happy reading and writing!

Todd Miller, Hero

This is a re-post from April 2012, in anticipation of the release of ONCE AND FOR ALL, later this week!

Todd Miller is anything BUT a hero when he makes his first appearance in ONCE AGAIN. Possibly the most popular guy in school, he's the star of the football team, and has the idea that he can say or do anything he wants without repercussions. He's not only mean, but downright intimidating to Layla (the heroine in ONCE AGAIN) on her first day at Sky Cove Senior High.


Somewhere in the middle of ONCE AGAIN, Todd starts to make a change. We see some redeeming behavior from him, though we don't exactly know why.


When I first created the character of Todd Miller, I meant for him to be a jerk and stay a jerk. But along the way, he grew on me, and I decided to give his character a bit more, well, character. And I'm so glad I did... because he's proving to be a real gem underneath all that "jerkness"!

Todd's family situation is not the greatest. His mom's cool, but his dad's a high-pressure kind of guy, and as we learn early on in ONCE AND FOR ALL, expects Todd to live up to a certain standard. His dad isn't exactly concerned with what Todd wants, but rather how Todd can make him look better. It's all about appearances for him, and unfortunately Todd pays the price for his father's arrogance.

As Todd starts to slowly peel away from his dad's demands, he finds himself drawn closer and closer to to Phoebe, who, for all she's suffered at the hands of the students at Sky Cove Senior High, offers him his first chance ever to be seen and accepted for exactly who he is.

These two have a lot to offer each other. I love writing their story. I can't wait to share it with you.

Happy reading and writing!

(P.S. Tomorrow I'll be discussing the paranormal element of the story!)

#SixSunday - Ridiculous Cute

Hey folks! It's Sunday again, and I'm so glad you're here to share in the Six Sunday fun! 

ONCE AND FOR ALL releases THIS week! If you haven't read ONCE AGAIN - book 1 in the series - you can check it out by clicking the links to the right. The books are stand-alones, but I think you'll enjoy them more if you read them in order, since characters from book 1 "pop up" in book 2!

Last week, we saw Phoebe receive a text from Todd, asking her to meet him in the school parking lot before school began. Unsure of what he could want, she tries not to speculate, especially after the previous two weeks of little to no contact between them. Near the end of the book, Phoebe wonders if there's any hope at all for the two of them.

And yet... her stomach still flutters when she sees him in the parking lot.


Ten minutes before school the parking lot was beginning to empty. The last few stragglers who didn’t mind being tardy still hung around, but for the most part they kept to themselves.

Todd was already there, leaned up against the driver side door of his truck. The late February temperature had reached forty degrees, which, while not warm, was certainly better than the teens and twenties we enjoyed most of the winter.
His red jacket hung open over his Sky Cover Senior High Football sweatshirt, and his hair hadn’ t been cut in a while; the ends sort of curled up around his ears and neck. Ridiculous, how a guy could look even cuter with shaggy, unkempt hair.
If you'd liked to read more from other talented authors, visit the host site by clicking here. You can also find other participants on Twitter with the hashtag #SixSunday.

Don't forget to check back this week for the announcement of the book's release!!