Facts about Designing Samantha’s Love

Back in the day, I mean way back, I’d always wanted to be a writer. The thing was, I didn’t know how I was going to make that happen. Keep in mind, self publishing was decades in the future at this time and I didn’t know where to start to write and submit a story to an agent, let alone find an agent. So, it remained an unfulfilled dream. My husband and I would joke about things that happened to us, “Add that to your first book.” or “Put that in a book.” I’d laugh and say, “Okay.”

Then, I started a new job in 2013. I was a paralegal and left a job I loved because it took me an hour and a half of travel one way. It was a lot of time spent on the road. So, I found an attorney closer to home who seemed like a good fit for me.

On my first day of work with this new attorney, and by first day I mean literally the first hour I was there, I knew I’d made a mistake. The attorney was largely a fraud. Everything we’d chatted about in my interview was a pipe-dream. She came off as being workable and nice and was completely the opposite. It was horrible. Actually the worst experience I’ve EVER had working anywhere in my entire life.

After a couple of months I was completely unhappy. I beat myself up about leaving a job where I made a nice living and enjoyed the environment 100% to this place that now felt like the most dismal place on earth. I used to sit in my car and cry before walking into the building because I hated it so much.

I spoke to my husband about it and his words were simple and to the point. “If you don’t finally sit down and write that book you’ve always wanted to write, you’ll always be working for people like her. Work for yourself, do what you love.”

He was right. So, I screwed up my courage and I sat down to start the book that had been floating through my mind for years and years. These people that kept me entertained as I had time to think, rode on my motorcycle and had my thoughts to myself, these people who were not real but felt real to me kept showing up and telling me little stories about themselves, their relationship, what they wanted out of life, etc. These people were Grayson Kinkaide and Samantha Powell. As I sat at my computer and wrote down their story, it felt therapeutic, like they were saying, “Well finally!”

That first story I wrote has gone through many reiterations as editors have shredded sections and praised others. But, Designing Samantha’s Love is still and always will be my first book. The first book I ever wrote. And while I didn’t earn enough to be able to tell that bitchy attorney to stick it, Samantha and Gray did give me the courage to find something else until I wrote more books. In total, I’ve now written 26 books and continue to write and publish every year. But, Designing Samantha’s Love will always be my first book baby and will always be special to me.

It is with a happy heart that I recovered and now offer Designing Samantha’s Love to you for free for the next 3 days. August 9th through the 11th, you can find Designing Samantha’s Love free on all book vendors. I hope you love it and remember as you read it that these two characters, in many ways, saved my life and helped me forge a path to publishing that is now my dream come true.