Happy Anniversary, Adele!

Today, October 20^th, is a very special day for my wife and I. It’s our 2-year wedding anniversary!! It’s hard to believe that 2 years ago today, Adele and I got hitched on a little island in Malaysia called Langkawi. The wedding was so absolutely perfect, that it’s hard to believe that every day since has been better than the last.

Adele, I want you to know how much I love you, so I thought I’d do a top 10 countdown of the things I love most about you! I want everyone, including my readers, to know just how special and inspiring you are.

10. Your creativity. You always sell yourself short in this area, but I’ve seen how creative you are, particularly in the photographs you take. You see the world in a way that most people don’t. I’m in awe of some of the things you notice and appreciate, which I would never be able to see myself.

9. The way you live life. You believe in getting the most out of life and chasing after the things that really matter, like dreams and goals and friendship and love. You’ve helped me to do this too.

8. Your smarts. There’s a reason I call you the Mentalist. You always figure out who the killer is first, who’s having an affair with whom, and who is getting framed. Yes, it makes watching crime shows and mysteries difficult, but it’s worth it to see the clever way your mind works. It’s also useful when I’m struggling through the complexities of a plotline in one of my books!

7. Your commitment. Ours was a whirlwind romance that started with a chance meeting and a kiss. Three months later we were engaged and six months after that, married. Your extraordinary level of trust and commitment means the world to me.

6. The way you push me to live my dreams. If not for you, I wouldn’t be a fulltime writer. You encouraged me from the very beginning, helped me get started, and have then supported me every step of the way. You’ve helped me shrug off the bad reviews, enjoy the good reviews, and celebrate the successes. The last two years would have meant so much less without you by my side.

5. The way you love me. Adele, everything about the way you love me fills my heart to overflowing. The romance, your words and compliments, your unending pride for my accomplishments, your gentle touch: it’s all perfect.

4. Your love for animals. You are so gentle and kind to animals, it’s contagious. Seeing you with them is seeing you completely alive. I’ve never met someone who walks down the street and has cats or dogs running out from behind houses to meet them! And then they try to follow you home!

3. Your sense of humor. You make me laugh more than anyone I’ve ever met! In you, I’ve met my match when it comes to silliness, which is beyond impressive ;) And, obviously, you laugh at my jokes, too!

2. Your face. I was about to say ‘your smile’, but then I thought about it and realized that it’s more than just your smile that warms me up inside when I look at you. It’s your whole face. Your smile is contagious and adorable and impossible for me to take my eyes off of. Your big, brown eyes are so full of life, sparkling with energy, and I see my whole life in them. Your sweet cheeks lift slightly when you’re happy or excited. Your cute, little nose that fits in so well with everything else. To me, your face is perfect, and when I look at you it takes my breath away.

1. Your good heart. You take it as a personal mission to not hurt other people in any way. You always worry about other’s feelings, and care deeply for the happiness of others. If I am ever feeling down, you pick me up and help me forget what caused my depressed feelings in the first place.

Adele, I’m a lucky man for a lot of reasons, but you are the most important one. To have found you almost feels like my own personal, modern day fairy tale. I promise to stay by your side always, to love you as much as you love me, and to help you achieve your dreams the same way that you always do for me. I love you with all my heart, might, mind and soul. Happy anniversary, my lovely Adele, it’s the second of many.

The Next Big Thing!

I’ve been tagged by author Stephanie Judice (Rising, Book 1 of the Setti Saga!) to share some information about my current projects. Mostly, I’m just going to use it as yet another opportunity to be weird.

What is the working title of your next book?

The Sun Dwellers!!! It’s the third book in the Dwellers Saga (Book 1- The Moon Dwellers, Book 2- The Star Dwellers). OK, something weird about my titles: none of my books take place on the moon, the stars or the sun! In fact, my characters can’t even see the moon, stars or sun, because they all live underground on earth. Weird, right? So why did I pick such ridiculous titles that make no sense you might ask? Well, the characters in my books live in a place called the Tri-Realms, which is split up into the Sun Realm (upper class), the Moon Realm (middle class), and the Star Realm (lower class). Hence the titles.

If you want to learn more about the crazy and dark world I’ve created, check out my guest blog post, I Want to Live in the Tri-Realms.

Where did the idea come from?

Who knows? Thin air? From my butt perhaps? Perhaps both, I’ll have to look into it. Honestly, I don’t have the slightest idea where my book ideas come from. Usually they just pop into my head when I’m working on something completely unrelated. I’ve had a few from dreams, a few while in the shower, a few while writing other books; but the nice thing: they just keep on coming. I have a huge list of them that I plan to write over the course of my career.

With the Dwellers Saga, I knew I wanted to write a dystopian novel because I love reading them. So I just kept that in the back of my head as I was working on my previous project, and one day, the idea just popped into my head. Even the title popped into my head which is unusual for me. So I went with it, and started creating a dark world filled with twists and turns, love and loss, humor and death. The Tri-Realms was born!

What genre does your book fall under?

Young adult dystopian. I only write young adult and children’s books because that’s what I like to read!

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Ugh, I suck at this question although I get it all the time in interviews! To date, I have yet to answer it. Although The Moon Dwellers has been voted to the top of a couple of Listopia lists about books that should be made into movies, I still have yet to cast it. However, if you check out a couple of the stops on my current blog tour for The Star Dwellers, you’ll see who some of my readers have cast for the four main characters in the series.

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

I’ll go with a synopsis for The Moon Dwellers rather than The Star Dwellers as it’s the first book in the series: In a world where humans have been forced to live underground due to the uninhabitable earth’s surface, seventeen-year-old Adele—a citizen of the middle class moon dwellers—must attempt to escape from prison, and find and reunite her shattered family armed only with two very capable fists and a wicked roundhouse kick.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Self-published! I’m a full time Indie author all the way! If a publisher approaches me, I’d certainly listen to what they had to say, but I’m currently not seeking a publisher as I prefer to sell my books for under $5.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

28 days, 15 hours, 6 minutes, and 93,207 words. That’s about normal for me. I tend to average more than 3,000 words per day when I’m working on a project. I get stressed and drive my wife, Adele, crazy if I don't hit my quota!

What other books would you compare this story to within the same genre?

It’s action packed with a strong heroine, so I’d compare it to The Hunger Games and Divergent. My readers have classified it similarly by voting it into the top ten in a number of Listopia lists about books similar to The Hunger Games. However, my series has alternating points of view from Adele and Tristan, which makes it somewhat similar to Legend, which has the same dual-perspectives.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I was inspired to write a dystopian novel because I love ‘em! I was probably one of the first people to read The Hunger Games (I know, I know, everyone says that, but with me it is really true!), way back before it became hugely popular. I loved it then and I’ve since read tons of other dystopians, none of which I really disliked and most of which I loved! So that made me want to write one of my own.

What else about your book might pique the readers’ interest?

For those who like twists, turns, and secrets in their books, this series has a bunch of them. It will keep you guessing throughout the entire series, so it makes for a fun discussion as everyone will have a different idea as to why Adele and Tristan have such a strong connection (it ain’t insta-love, I can tell you that much), where Adele and Tristan’s mothers are, and what Tristan’s big secret is.

And now, I’m tagging my friend and fellow YA author Chris Sorensen to tell us about what he’s working on! Take it away Chris!