First there was Thelma and Louise…
Two years ago I took a step into the murky waters of social media in search of information about publishing. I’d written a steamy romance story and had no idea what to do next. I lurked and even stalked a few writers (weird how stalking is encouraged on SM) and discovered a weekly writing challenge meme, the now defunct Six Sentence Sunday. So, what the heck, I started a blog and began posting my work. I knew I would make contacts and hopefully even receive some guidance. What I never thought I’d find were friends.
But friends are what I found in this close circle. Some have disappeared into social media oblivion (funny how that happens), some I keep in touch with occasionally, and some have remained close to me. I even had the opportunity to meet a few during my travels which has been an awesome experience. One person in particular, the wonderful Lila Shaw, and I clicked from the beginning. Our mutual book boyfriend love for Jamie Fraser of Outlander, our similar careers and our almost-published status kept us DMing each other on a daily basis. Even though she’s on the opposite side of the country, the time difference works for us. I’m a night owl and she’s up before the crack of dawn. We laugh because if I lived there and she lived here we probably would never cross social media paths as we’d never be awake at the same time!
I had the opportunity to meet Lila for the first time at last year’s RWA Conference and she was just as genuine and lovely in person as she is online. We’d always talked about collaborating on a project together so I was thrilled when she agreed to co-author a blog serial with me this year. Those who have been following my blog for a while may remember my 2012 blog serial, The Train Ride. I posted it weekly for the five weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Well, guess what? This year’s serial will post each weekday from November 28th through December 24th! That’s seventeen installments and you won’t want to miss a single day. Trust me!
Anyway, I’d like to thank Lila for working on this project with me. We had a ton of laughs including figuring out how to Skype (I had to solicit my 15 YO’s help each time which was met with an eye roll each time), designing the graphics (thank goodness for Lila’s photoshop abilities), and getting into the heads of our H/h, Cal and Charli. The co-writing process was incredible. I looked forward to the twists and turns she added and I continued. Our styles meshed well and it got to a point where I couldn’t tell where I ended and she started.
I hope you’ll join us for each installment of Second Chance Layover. Get ready…it’s going to be a sexy ride. 
The serial will run on both our blogs, so be sure to follow Lila’s blog as well. While you’re there, check out her books too! She’s pretty awesome. 
