2014 Blur

Looking back on 2014, I’m shocked and awed at all that I have accomplished.
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Before you think this is going to be a brag session…please hear me out.

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2013 ended on a very sad note for my family when I lost my sixth baby.
Nevaeh Peace was a true gift and I cherished being able to carry her inside me for those 18 weeks.
Holding her tiny body on my chest is a sensation that I will never forget and I still get tears in my eyes just thinking about it.

 

Prior to losing Nevaeh, I had started taking some notes about my losses. Writing had always felt therapeutic to me and getting out all my sad stories while sobbing over top of a keyboard is what helped me process. However, when I lost Nevaeh, I wanted to do more than “process.”

I wanted to memorialize.

Quotes-LaughableSo, Nevaeh inspired me to make 2014 MY year. She inspired me to turn a negative into a positive. A sadness into a happiness. And a depressing story…into one of HOPE. So birthed, Chasing Hope, and the beginning of a crazy, beautiful, and challenging journey of becoming an author.

 

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Seeing my family’s story of heartbreak in a bound book was an incredible sense of achievement. And receiving emails, facebook messages, and letters from people who my story personally affected, was more than I ever hoped for.

So doing what I do best…I pushed for more. When I’m passionate about something, it consumes me until I finish. I’ve always been this way. Whether it’s reading all the Twilight books in one week, pouring over discussion forums on how to train our new puppy, or even researching recurrent pregnancy loss specialists and textbooks. I go all in.

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So birthed…
The London Lover Series.
I’ve always loved reading contemporary romance.
So when I had an idea that I thought sounded interesting, I decided to go for it.
I wrote A Broken Us in two weeks and now have another book in the series, Becoming Us, releasing January 13th.


10339330_319347571560072_3760225789755140282_oBecoming an author and publishing nearly three books in 2014 is a complete surprise. But I’ve been welcomed into the writing community with open arms. Am I successful at it? HECK NO! Does it make me want to quit? Not a chance. And the reason for that is because I have this rockin’ family at home rooting me on. I know that I would not be able to write down one single word if it wasn’t for the incredible support of my family. My husband picks up the slack, listens to my rants, does my accounting, and tolerates this crazy writing obsession of mine. He’s the shiz. And my curly-haired, two-year-old, miracle baby is all the inspiration I need to keep chasing my dreams and never giving up.

Hey, it’s that very attitude that got me her.

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Paperback Giveaway!

Gather round…Gather round…it’s GIVEAWAY TIME!!!!
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I’m giving away a paperback ADVANCE READER COPY of my new upcoming novel of Becoming Us!!! Boy oh boy oh boy! Get an exclusive paperback ARC mailed right to your door! PLUS, I’m throwing in a copy of my newly face-lifted cover of A Broken Us and some sweet swag. That’s 2 paperbacks (1 is an ARC yo) and some sweet swag!
Here’s how to enter:
1. Post a review of A Broken Us on Amazon or Goodreads (ABU is only 99 cents right now!!)
2. Copy the review link
3. Fill out this entry form (also listed below)–> http://bit.ly/1v19Huf
4. Twiddle your thumbs until Jan. 2nd when I will announce the winner!
If you haven’t posted a review yet, there’s still time! And bloggers, you sexy beasts, are very very welcome to enter!

Saved by the Claus

1939671_1550068058541323_8236140320563811115_n[1]I’m taking part in a little 12 Days Of Christmas Celebration today over at Reading and Things Book Blog. I was asked one holiday themed question…and I think I may have gone overboard. :/
If you could reinvent a famous Christmas character (Rudolf, Frosty the Snowman, Jack Frost, Santa Claus, etc.) and write you own version of their story (like a fairytale retelling), which one would you choose? Why?
I’m so glad they’ve asked this because I’ve been pondering this for years…any by years…I mean minutes…and by minutes…I mean, I’m making this up as I go:
MRS. CLAUS. Kris Kringle’s Wifey. Mother Christmas. The ‘ol Ball & Chain. The woman behind the sled.
I mean really, who doesn’t want to know more about Mrs. Claus? For example…what’s her first name? Santa has a first name…Mrs. Claus just gets identified by her man’s last name…?
I’m gonna call shenanigans on that!
I’m thinking Mrs. Claus has a steamy back story. I’m thinking Mrs. Claus was on the naughty list and Santa saved her…and that’s why she goes by Mrs. Claus.
Here’s a short story I just whipped up…I hope you enjoy!

Saving Scarlett:
It’s the late 1800s…times are weird, there’s a lot of dust and livestock. The telephone had been invented but there was only like nine in the entire United States. Women’s roles were predominantly stuck at home tending to children and feeding their farming husbands. Life was mostly rural. Remote. Lonely. So lonely, that ‘ol Mrs. Claus….(her name was Scarlett back then)….got a wild hair up her ass and decided she needed more outta life. She ditched the domestic digs her father had threatened to marry her into for a couple of cows and a plow and traveled to New York City where she found the only job available to women back then…
She became a prostitute.
Now, Scarlett didn’t particularly want to be a whore, but jobs weren’t given to women back in those days, so she did the best she could. She got by. She slept with anyone that would pay her a fair wage (she wasn’t a cheap whore for the love of God). And she had gifts she needed to send home to her brothers and sisters. She cried herself to sleep most nights. She hated herself and what she had become, but she was free. Free from the rural prison she’d nearly been forced into.
One night, in the saloon that Scarlett worked at, a man walked in. A man named, Nick. Her whore colleagues all snickered and whispered when they saw him…referring to him as a God, a Saint. And boy was Nick a Saint. He was tall, dark, and handsome with chiseled abs just begging to be choked full with cookies. His jolly laugh made Scarlett’s breath catch in her throat. ‘Ol Saint Nick took one look at Scarlett and his whole world crumbled beneath him. Never had he seen such a sexy woman with such kind eyes. He had to have her. He had to talk to her.
When their eyes locked, Scarlett and Nick experienced that “insta-love” you only read about in contemporary romance novels (that weren’t even invented yet).
In only five long strides, Nick was standing in front of Scarlett, oblivious to the other girls fawning all over him. He looked Scarlett up and down, confounded that she was a whore too.
Scarlett leaned in and breathed deeply. Nick’s manly scent of cinnamon and evergreen made her weak in the knees. She licked her lips greedily. She couldn’t help it. It was an involuntary response her body had to this gorgeous man.
Nick noticed Scarlett’s response and without another word he clasped her hand in his and pulled her outside into the cold, winter air. He wasn’t sure what he was doing, he just knew he wanted to get Scarlett as far away from this place as possible.
When Scarlett followed him outside and saw the reindeer attached to his sleigh, she instantly dropped to her knees in front of one and he nuzzled her with his wet snout. She giggled and Nick’s heart stopped.
Dasher didn’t like anyone…how could he possibly like this woman? This whore? It didn’t make any sense.
Scarlett could feel Nick’s looming presence watching her. Needing to know what those big, red lips tasted like, Scarlett stood up and pressed her mouth to Nick’s without warning. He tasted like holly and chocolate.
Sparks exploded behind Nick’s eyes and he knew he’d found the love of his life. “I don’t even know your name.” Nick’s voice was guttural, pained, but his eyes glittered with adoration for the beautiful woman standing before him.
Scarlett didn’t want to give Nick her real name. She didn’t want to be the girl whose father nearly forced her to marry a stranger. She didn’t want to be the whore men paid for sex. The one men barely even looked at. She wanted to be everything this saintly man’s eyes were dreaming her up to be. She wanted to be his. Forever.
“I’ll be yours…if you’ll have me.”
Nick’s heart stopped the moment he realized that Scarlett was feeling the same intense love that he felt. “I hope you like the cold.” Nick said with a small laugh and kissed her again with all the adoration he could muster.

Mrs. Claus then…………………………….and Now. 🙂

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Click the image below to come visit me over at Books & Things Facebook Event!!!
Giveaways, games, prizes, and more!
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Thanks for reading!

#12DaysTilCoHoCountdown

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So…yeah. About that.
I’ve been making some videos…
Videos that probably make my mother cringe.
Videos that my husband rolls his eyes at.
Videos that my daughter may someday see and then consequently stop admitting to people that I’m her Mom.
Here’s the deal.
On December 12th, Colleen Hoover will be giving away a copy of my book on her page! It’s very exciting. We all know that Colleen Hoover is kind of a big deal. And she’s hilarious to boot! She’s always posting these great Big Eye videos and I just love following her and her career.
Anyways, a while back, she, very generously, offered to give away a book a day from fellow authors. All you had to do was sign up, send her your book, and she’d take care of the rest. Apparently, the response was overwhelming and I think she filled a year’s worth of slots in a few hours…so she had to stop taking submissions. But luckily…I was online at the right time and got a slot!
December 12th is the day. 
So I thought a daily countdown video leading up to the big day might generate some buzz and excitement…and lets just face it, I love making a fool of myself.
Want to hear the best part of all of this?
The real kicker?
I just realized that I’m off on my days. :/
Yesterday I did 3 days til CoHo video.
Today is my 2 days video…
…and tomorrow should be 1 day until…
…but tomorrow is actual day of the giveaway.
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If you haven’t checked them out, here’s the link…just subtract one day, then add another, then subtract the lowest decibel and remember….this is why I’m a WRITER and not an ACCOUNTANT!!!!
https://www.facebook.com/amydawsauthor/videos

Home Town Book Signing

Honest to goodness, my home town peeps are my biggest fans!!! It’s a small town of about 7,000 but they are so incredibly supportive of me. They are the most active on my Facebook page, I get the most pre-orders from them, the most reviews…you name it! They are the best! I rushed my book signing to be this weekend, even though I am swamped with release week stuff, but I can’t make them wait any longer…they are way too important to me! I ordered some sweet new London book swag to make them all feel special and to help them know that I love them!!!
And p.s. Here’s a crazy story….our high school mascot…was The Midgets. Nope. Not a typo. Midgets. The girl’s sports teams were called Midgettes. Again,…NOT. A. TYPO. I do not mean this to be offensive to the little people of this world. It’s a historical city tradition where our football team won state many many years ago and the whole team was all really short, we didn’t have a mascot and apparently the radio announcers coined our school as The Midgets. I’m proud of where I came from, despite our slightly offensive team mascot title. 😉 It’s said with love and that’s all that matters! Can’t wait to celebrate my book release with you all!!!
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Queen City Indie Con!

I somehow, miraculously snagged a coveted seat at the Queen City Indie Book convention! I feel like any minute someone is going to call me and say, “PYSCH! You’re totally not cool enough to attend this conference!” But for now, I’m eagerly awaiting the big event! Abbi Glines & Samantha Young are keynote speakers! So even though I have a booth that I’ll have to sit at and (hopefully) sell some books…I’m going to be fan-girling all over them….HARD. I might even make a creepy, stalker T-shirt for the day.

Thankfully, my little sister is coming with me, so she can hopefully prevent me from doing something that will force the conference leaders to call the authorities. Either way, I know I’m going to learn a lot, I’ll hopefully meet some cool new writers like myself and maybe, just maybe…I’ll sell a book or two! Can’t wait!!!

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Teaming Up!

I’m teaming up with author, Sarah J. Pepper, for the South Dakota Festival of Books happening in a few weeks. Sarah is an awesome author and friend and I can’t wait to have some fun with her at the bookfest!
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