GUEST POST and GIVEAWAY
A Life Less Ordinary
by Victoria Bernadine
A Life Less Ordinary is currently on tour with Reading Addiction Book Tours. The tour stops here today for a guest post from the author and a giveaway. Please be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.
Description
For the last fifteen years, Rose “Manny” Mankowski has been a very good girl. She turned her back on her youthful fancies and focused on her career. But now, at the age of 45, she's questioning her choices and feeling more and more disconnected from her own life. When she's passed over for promotion and her much younger new boss implies Manny's life will never change, something snaps. In the blink of an eye, she's quit her job, sold her house and cashed in her pension, and she's leaving town on a six month road trip.
After placing a personal ad for a travelling companion, she's joined in her mid-life crisis by Zeke Powell, the cynical, satirical, most-read – and most controversial – blogger for the e-magazine, What Women Want. Zeke's true goal is to expose Manny's journey as a pitiful and desperate attempt to reclaim her lost youth – and increase his readership at the same time. Leaving it all behind for six months is just an added bonus.
Now, armed with a bagful of destinations, a fistful of maps, and an out-spoken imaginary friend named Harvey, Manny's on a quest to rediscover herself – and taking Zeke along for the ride.
Excerpt
“All I ever wanted was a life less ordinary.”
Manny lay flat on her back, eyes wide, staring at the ceiling while she waited for her clock to hit 6:00. Another day of work, she thought. Another day older and deeper in debt.
She had the alarm timed to the millisecond. The jarring noise had barely begun when she clicked it off. She sighed then threw back the covers and got out of bed.
She padded into the bathroom, glanced without interest in the full-length mirror that doubled as her shower doors and took her morning inventory.
Plain face? Check.
Looking tired? Check.
Thirty pounds overweight? Check.
Dark circles under deer-caught-in-headlights eyes? Check and check.
She shook her head at her limp, mousy hair and wondered when she’d gotten so old.
She sighed in resignation then conjured up her Perfect Fantasy Man–or Harvey, as she liked to call him–to give her a morning lift. She cocked her head to one side as she stared into the mirror and imagined him standing behind her. She smiled at the handsome man, and he smiled back, putting his hands on her shoulders. Everything about him was warm, in stark contrast to the cold shades of grey in which she lived her life. He had warm brown eyes, warm brown skin, and a warm smooth voice that always reminded her of golden honey. Today his hair was black with greying temples, and yes, even that seemed warm to her.
He was perfect, everything she considered ideal in a man–and extra-perfect, of course, because he was a fantasy. Just the thought of trying to establish a relationship with an actual man felt too much like work.
She sighed and Harvey disappeared.
“Instead I ended up in a rut–everything planned and executed to the minute.”
She finished her shower and padded out to the kitchen wrapped in a worn terrycloth robe just as the coffee pot finished perking her morning coffee. She pulled a white cup out of the cupboard, filled it and took it with her to the bedroom, where she drank her coffee while she dressed and pulled her hair into its habitual bun high on the back of her head. At 6:45 sharp, she was back in the kitchen where she rinsed out the cup and put it on the rack next to the other three cups from earlier in the week; they marked the passage of time like scratches on a prison wall.
She walked out the door at 6:55 as usual, called good morning to Mr. Abinash from next door, as usual, got into her car and drove to work. As usual. She walked in at 7:37, called good morning to those of her staff already at their desks, and settled herself in her office.
As usual.
She sighed silently as she logged on to her computer and realized she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a sick day or had come in late. Even her car and traffic and the sometimes-harsh Edmonton winters had given up trying to throw off her schedule.
She sighed again as she rifled through her stacks of paper, searching for the information she needed to review before the staff meeting at nine. The last staff meeting before their new boss arrived at ten, and Manny went back to her old position. She’d enjoyed being the boss and thought she’d had a good chance to win the promotion. If she was honest with herself, though, she hadn’t really been surprised with the decision to offer the job to Steph. If she had the energy, she’d almost wonder why she didn’t even care that much.
“I told myself it was security. But all I was doing was sleeping with my eyes open.”
Manny glanced up as her assistant energetically bounced in.
“Morning, Manny.”
“Morning, Roxie. How was your evening?”
“Great–went to that new Robert Downey Jr. movie–rrrooowwwrrrr! Phil wasn’t too impressed with my drooling though.”
Manny laughed. “I’d expect not. I guess I need to go see it then.”
“Yeah, sure. When was the last time you actually went to a movie in the theatre?”
Manny paused, considering the question then shrugged carelessly. “Can’t remember, actually.”
Roxie shook her head in exasperated fondness and sat down in front of Manny’s desk. She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “So, the new boss starts today?”
“Yep,” Manny replied absently, reviewing the e-mails in her inbox.
“Are you going to be okay with this? I mean, you–”
“Of course I’m okay with it. Steph’s a nice person, bright, energetic, competent, levelheaded, full of new ideas. She may have a bit of a learning curve ahead of her, but she’ll do just fine. She may be just what we need around here. Perk us up a bit.”
“Yeah, but you–”
Manny took her hands off the keyboard and turned to face Roxie directly. She gave her a reassuring smile and calmly held her gaze.
“I’m okay with it,” she said. “Really. I didn’t want to be the boss anyway.” She paused then continued. “Everything’s going to be fine. You’ll see. A new boss will be fun!”
Roxie grimaced cynically and Manny shook her head in mock disapproval.
“We should get to work,” she urged gently.
Roxie nodded and stood. “Yeah, that at least never changes. But Manny...”
Manny raised a quizzical eyebrow.
“It should’ve been you.”
Review
By Maggie Thom
Manny, a 45 year old woman, finally gets to a point where she's overlooked for a promotion, again and realizes that her life seems kind of stale and she's had enough. She decides to quit her career, sell her stuff and go on a 6 month tour. Only she doesn't want to do it by herself. So she advertises for a companion who must pay his own way and share the expenses and driving. Zeke applies. Zeke is 35 and he's doing it because he figures it will be great blogging for his snarky blog - What Women Want. Only he doesn't tell Manny this.
The two, who couldn't be more different, head out on this adventure. Manny continually challenges herself to do something new, something that is outside her comfort zone. Zeke, who doesn't even think she'll start the trip, keeps trying to stuff her back into the frumpy, boring, middle-aged woman he figures her for. When she keeps challenging him to see her differently, he realizes he's the one who has the problem. He is forced to start looking at her in a new light.
While they are on this trip creating their adventure, their family and friends are back home trying to deal with the injustices that life is throwing at them.
I loved this story. I really liked Manny. I felt for her, was rooting for her and was thrilled to see her overcome her fears. Zeke, although a bit arrogant at times, was really likable. Although at times I admit I wanted to knock him on the head. It is a heart warming, fun, sad, adventurous journey that is really about stepping into the unknown and what you make of it. I will definitely read more by this author. I truly enjoyed this.
Guest Post by Victoria Bernadine
What Are Your Writing Quirks & Must-Haves To Write
Thanks for hosting me today!
My must-haves are pretty basic: some time, some tools, and some noise.
Yes, I realize the need for noise is counter-intuitive, but I think it comes from growing up in a small house with no doors (well, except on the bathroom) and lots of people. Noise (people talking, music, wheels turning, engines running) gives me the feeling that all is right with the world, and I can safely disappear into a different one.
This tolerance for noise is a good thing because I do a lot of writing during my daily commute. In fact, I’ve been taking a longer route to work mainly so I can sit rather than stand (hate standing on a bus!!), and also so I can write while I’m on my way to work.
As for the tools, I’m pretty low-tech … most of the time. During the initial writing stage, when I’m writing new scenes and figuring things out, I use pen and paper. I’ve found that I can edit on the computer, or continue writing a scene and then have new scenes flow from that, but if I’m starting from nothing, I need pen and paper to get started. I think it’s because I’ll also doodle while I’m waiting for inspiration, and that seems to help trigger the flow of words. I’m sure my pen fetish is entirely unrelated …*cough*
When I’m in the editing mode, which I do mostly on my little laptop, what helps sometimes is also low-tech: a hard copy and pens. Lots of pens, and spare paper and the ability to read scratches and arrows and the chicken scratches after changing my mind several times while trying to edit a single word. A page of text can be pretty scary by the time I’m done!
Finally, coffee, coca-cola and junk food are must-haves. I should probably use better fuel, but it seems to be working so far!
And time, well, there’s never enough but, like with so many other things, time gets found and things get done. J
About the Author
Victoria Bernadine (a pseudonym) is, as the saying goes, a “woman of a certain age”. After twenty-something years of writer’s block, she began writing again in 2008.
Victoria enjoys reading all genres and particularly loves writing romantic comedy and post-apocalyptic science fiction. What those two have in common is anybody's guess.
She lives in Edmonton, Canada, with her two cats (The Grunt and The Runt). A Life Less Ordinary is the first novel she felt was good enough to be released into the wild.
Giveaway
Enter the tour-wide giveaway for a chance to win a $25 gift card.
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