[Cover Reveal] Am I "The Next Big Thing?" #bloghop #workinprogress #authors

There are the books everyone has heard about: Twilight, Hunger Games, Fifty Shades of Gray. But what about all those books written by people you’ve never heard of? Some of them are treasures, just waiting to be found, and that’s what this blog hop is all about: the books you might not have heard about, but that you might end up loving.

This blog hop is like a game of tag. One author posts and tags five other authors who link back to their website the next week and tag five new authors. If you follow the blog hop long enough, you’re bound to find some books you’ll love! Maybe you’ll even discover a book that ends up being the next big thing.

I was tagged by Jennifer Madden. You can learn more about her book Embattled Love on her website.

This blog hop includes ten questions to help you learn more about an author’s current work in progress, so here’s a little info about my current project and

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!

I'm also revealing the cover!
(Cover by Tracy Stewart of All About the Cover)

1: What is the working title of your book? Love By Design, Book one in the Love By Series

2: Where did the idea come from for the book? Love By Design originally started as a single stand alone book idea in 2006 or 20007 when I was brainstorming ideas. I'm not sure where I got the idea, other than knowing that it felt like a rom-com type story with a clumsy interior designer fighting her attraction to a playboy actor who hires her to decorate his fixer-upper.

3: What genre does your book fall under? Contemporary romance with a touch of humor, but I like to believe that all my stories aren't just romance novels, but Life stories with heart. Their pasts aren't always spotless and sometimes it comes back to haunt them. Sometimes it's just a matter of the hardships they face that get them to their Happily-Ever-Afters.

4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? When I was writing LBD I envisioned Matthew McConaughey as Derrek Martin and Sandra Bullock as Jasmine Galloway.

5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? Jasmine Galloway's had it up to here with wannabe actors, so when Hollywood's current blockbuster playboy seeks out her business to decorate his new home, he manages to gets under her skin and put his own designs on her heart.

6: Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? I plan to self-publish the Love By series in the next few months and follow it with the 2nd series, Pryce of Love, which centers around four of five brothers (the 5th brother is the hero in the 4th book in the Love By series)

7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? Approximately a month or so of self-imposed "NaNo-like" determination and reckless abandon. I didn't write this one for NaNoWriMo, but I did set myself to the standard 50K/30 days. I still have more editing to do though before I put it out there. (plot holes, grammar, etc)

8: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? I'm honestly not sure. There are so many wonderful contemporary authors out there but I'm not sure who I could compare my own stories to. As I said before, it does, for me have a very rom-com movie feel to it though.

9: Who or What inspired you to write this book? The characters themselves. As the ideas for the story (as well as the other sisters) started to take shape, Jasmine and Derrek began to really come to life for me and I just had to get their story written. Sometimes they would interrupt my sleep, or my attempts at sleep, trying to tell me about what was going to happen next. (not as bad as Jasmine's sister Juniper, who insisted her story be the 2nd one, though I'd originally planned to write Blossom's 2nd. Juni would NOT shut up.)

10: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? I took a "virtual plane ride" because I spent a LOT of time studying airplane flights, time zone changes and what certain bookings would be like and actually "plotted" out what a trip from LAX to Indianapolis would be, including layovers, and driving distance for Derrek and Jasmine's trip to Derrek's childhood home in Smalltown, Indiana to pick up his sister and pack furniture to move to California in a U-haul while writing this. I've never actually been on a plane. Not sure I ever will, but it was fun to pretend! :)

Here is a list of authors who will be joining the hop for week 27 on December 24th. I hope you’ll visit their blogs next week and learn more about their books. Maybe one of them will become your new favorite author!
(I don't have anyone yet, but if you want to be listed, you don't have to do it during the holidays- you can pick up Week 27 afterward, if it would be more convenient! Just email or leave a comment and let me know!) 

1 Teresa Reasor is also participating in The Next Big Thing over on her blog, where she's talking about her current work-in-progress, Breaking Away, the 3rd book in her Seal Team Heartbreakers Series. Go check out her answers about what she's working on!

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