GUEST POST and GIVEAWAY
Nothing is Lost in Loving
by Brenda Moguez
Nothing is Lost in Loving by Brenda Moguez is currently on tour with Enchanted Book Promotions. The tour stops here today for a guest post by the author and a giveaway. Please be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.
Description
When Stella Delray unexpectedly loses her job a week before Christmas, which is also the anniversary of her husband’s death, she is forced to stop talking to his ashes, come to terms with her loss, and get her life back on track for her young son’s sake as well as her own. She never expected that posting an ad on Craigslist would send her into the arms of not one but two men, one of whom is her former boss. Now she’s working as an admin for a retired Broadway star, bookkeeping for an erotic video production company, and writing love letters for the mysterious "Oaklander". Adding to the craziness of her new life, her monster-in-law resurfaces and the father-in-law she never met shows up on her doorstep. With the guidance of her best friend, Bono, Stella will learn to redefine the rules she’s always lived by.
Excerpt
Click to Look Inside.
Praise for the Book
"Well balanced and written. The story takes you on a page turning journey as you read. The reality feel that the character brings to the story makes it even better. But it will also make you take a moment to think about how much this really happens. Not a book to pass up!" ~ Amazon Customer
"This is the story about starting over. When a widow has to face, days before Christmas (which happens to be the anniversary of her husband’s death too), losing her job and wonder who she really wants to be, what she really wants to do with her life, following the path she always did followed till this day, or be bold, audacious and discover her real herself. This journey is, too, about erasing the conflicts of the past, forgiveness, admitting nothing has been perfected in the past and certainly won’t be in the future, but we’re left with the most important: we learn of every one we live with, we meet, and of course, nothing is lost in the loving process. The writing is smart, realistic ... Interesting story." ~ Isa
Guest Post by the Author
Finding My Way Home
Writing is such an elusive art. Writers are often cagey about the origin of their creations when asked where the story started. Not every story is explainable. There are the kinds that start with a wisp of an idea, which is flushed out after years of research. Other stories draw the writer into its web, holding her/him hostage until the final word is typed. Some writers go looking for their story, others trip over it, and then there are those (me) who’d struggle to explain anything other than the process they went through to get the words on the page.
I can't say for certain if my first book was always inside of me just waiting for the exact moment to reveal itself or if I found it when I needed something to hold to. Was it serendipity bumping into my protagonist? Was she there for someone else and found me instead? Or was it life's way of paying me back for its cruelty having put me through the ringer? I had lost my father, my husband was on the mend from a life-threatening illness, and I had recently lost my job and was looking for a diversion from reality. I had time to burn.
How I found my first novel: Nothing is Lost in Loving
I was sitting in Barnes & Noble listening to Willie Nelson’s rendition of "Always on My Mind", scouring the job boards when Stella Delray, the heroine of the novel, breezed through the double-doors. She looked as I felt, uncertain and worried.
Life had dealt me a losing hand and no amount of soul-searching was going fix what I had deemed a wrong. There wasn't anything to be done but move forward, but how? I was reeling from my dad's passing, my husband's near death experience, and annoyed at the bad timing of the sudden unemployment. I was pissed at life and, if I am brutally honest, was struggling to regroup. Deflated by the rigors of an unusually hard year, I was in dire need of a renewed sense of purpose and a hefty dose of optimism, but adrift and not able to anchor.
What happened next is shrouded in layers of memories too tangled to separate. Nor is there a way to pull apart the past precisely as the facts occurred. Thus is human nature. Us mere mortals prefer to recall the events of a significant experience in the order we want to believe they might have happened in an alternate universe. It’s surprising how easy we opt for the rose-colored view of our respective pasts. Mary Karr said, "Memoir is not an act of history but an act of memory, which is innately corrupt."
Thus is the recount of my story.
As a writer driven to deconstruct the complexities of love and other UFOs, I can easily articulate the rushed pulse, the cold and hot flashes, the longing and passionate responses to the slightest touch, the deafening pounding in the center of my chest, the blinding desire to live the experience again and again, but I cannot recall how the first line of my novel came to pass. What does that say about me? I shudder to think.
What I don’t know about Stella’s appearance in my life is vast, but what I have accepted with absolute certainty is what she and I had in common.
We both lost our jobs before Christmas.
We shared a love of music.
...
....
.....
And "Always On My Mind" is a track on our respective desert island mix tape, but that's where the similarities end.
Where did the idea for the box originate?
A song?
The loss of a job?
A flabby brain desperate for Zumba?
Why I started writing a book and didn't stop, even after returning to work a couple months after losing my job, remains one of those unsolved mysteries in my life. I was clueless about the practical aspect of writing a novel. My lack of knowledge about the writer's life, the craft, the commitment, the process, the business of writing and publishing, could fill an entire wing at the National Library of Congress. Ignorance was truly bliss and explained why I kept at it day in, day out. I hadn't any idea what was to come: the query letters, the rejections, the doubt, none of it mattered in early days but filling the pages.
Declaring yourself a writer is on par with taking the plunge and giving your heart away to a lover you have long wanted. Both delight and intrigue but they also terrify and pose unquantifiable risks, which would frighten even the bravest of souls. Giving your heart in love is as difficult as tearing a page from your journal and sharing it with the world. As it was for me.
While I am not entirely sure where the story originated, I have figured out the mystery behind writing a novel - once you start, don’t stop.
About the Author
Brenda Moguez writes the kind of stories she loves to read - women’s fiction, starring quirky, passionate women who are challenged by the fickleness and complexities of life.
She’s particularly drawn to exploring the effects of love on the heart of a woman. She has aspirations for a fully staffed villa in Barcelona and funding aplenty for a room of her own. When she’s not working on a story, she writes love letters to the universe, dead poets, and Mae West. Her first novel, Nothing is Lost in Loving, was released April 2016.
Giveaway
Enter the tour-wide giveaway for a chance to win one of three $25 Amazon gift cards.
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