Welcome Today's Featured Author
S Jackson Rivera!!!
Poppy's Anthem
by
Heath
“I’m not an addict!” Rock legend, Wild’s life is falling apart. The problem with fame and fortune is that you can’t trust anyone. Everyone wants a piece of him. They’re all stalkers! He fantasizes about finding his Elevator Girl—that kiss! He’d love to run into her again, but he didn’t even get her name . . . life is full of regrets.
Poppy
Living a life so immersed in the world of reading and writing romance can be dangerous for a young woman, like the night Poppy Talbot allowed herself to believe in the happy endings all those romance novels promise. Her First Kiss, the guy she’s been dreaming about for seven years, amazingly stumbles into her life again, proving that fantasies can come true . . . but fantasies don’t break your heart.
About S. Jackson Rivera:
S. Jackson Rivera grew up on a ranch in eastern Oregon. She spent a
lot of time alone, exploring and riding horses. She developed an active
imagination and decided to put that tendency to use and start writing
them down.
Poppy's Anthem is her latest, and is different than anything she's tried so far. If you like rock stars, you'll love Wild.
Jungle: The Whispering Ruins, her first published story, is YA action and adventure with a little paranormal, and was inspired by her love of a tropical setting.
An avid scuba diver, her 'Wet' series is the product of her love of the sport. She is always anticipating the next opportunity to visit the ocean. Wet is, and may always be, her favorite. It is the saga of two broken people who find the other might just be the missing piece each needs to put themselves back together.
Poppy's Anthem is her latest, and is different than anything she's tried so far. If you like rock stars, you'll love Wild.
Jungle: The Whispering Ruins, her first published story, is YA action and adventure with a little paranormal, and was inspired by her love of a tropical setting.
An avid scuba diver, her 'Wet' series is the product of her love of the sport. She is always anticipating the next opportunity to visit the ocean. Wet is, and may always be, her favorite. It is the saga of two broken people who find the other might just be the missing piece each needs to put themselves back together.
Interview With S. Jackson Rivera:
1. Can you tell us a little about your book?
Poppy’s Anthem is a story of two broken people who really want
to believe in love, but life hasn't really been able to convince them that it
does exist.
They met briefly once as teens, he was a rising rock star, and
she a book nerd, but they’ve both carried those cherished memories with them, regretting
that they never even got the each other’s names.
Jump ahead several years: After a chance meeting in Las
Vegas, and a few too many drinks, they realize they’ve found each other again,
and wind up enjoying a night of lust . . . and a quickie marriage.
Heath Childs, publicly known as Wildman Wild, the legendary
rock star’s life is spiraling out of control, and Poppy Talbot, the bride he doesn’t
remember, may just be his match. Their journey is a rough enough road, but when
crazy town throws a wrench into their attempt at reconciliation, things get
interesting, so hang on.
2. What inspires
you to write?
It doesn’t take much to get me going on a new story. My biggest
challenge is finishing one before I start another. I have way too many stories
in the queue, half written. It makes me slow at getting them out to the public,
and it makes my readers frustrated, (sorry) but I have to write from the heart,
so the heart dictates which project I work on at any given moment.
I should also say that I get a lot of help from my dreams. I
don’t dream vividly often, but when I do, it inspires a new story, or at least
a new scene I can adapt enough to fit a current story.
I’m starting to realize I really like angst, and seeing how messy I can make a
relationship before I start cleaning it up, too. I hate drama and conflict in
real life, but I have a lot of fun with it in my books.
3. Do you have a
favorite spot to write?
Mostly, I write in my big bay window
nook off the kitchen, but I do need to switch it up occasionally. I like to
stand sometimes so I don’t become a complete slug. I fantasize about getting
one of those walking (treadmill) desks.
4. Do you listen to
music while you write?
I LOVE music, all kinds of music. I
have a sound-proof room in the basement and my kids all played multiple instruments
or had rock bands. My Own Personal Hero (H) builds guitars and we have about 20
of them hanging on the walls around the house. So, yeah, music is a big part of
my life, and I hear songs all the time that put my head in the mood to write, but
I do my best writing when the house is quiet.
5. Do you work with an outline, or just write?
No outlines, it’s all in
my head. Sometimes I make a few notes, and I have to keep a time line or I get the
timing wrong and my editor will have to point out the mistakes, and that’s
embarrassing, but I have the scenes in my head, and I write filler until I
reach a place where I can say, “This would be a great place to insert X, Y, Z
scene.”
6. What is a usual writing day like for you? How is it
structured?
Kind of boring, but here goes: My H gets up during the wee
hours of the morning and has coffee, and I don’t normally wake until he comes
back upstairs to shower and get ready for work. I usually lay in bed and talk
to him, (watch him get dressed). He’s out the door before 7, and I get up, have
my own coffee in the breakfast nook, check Facebook, etc. I check into the
story, think about it, go back to FB, go back to the story, back to email, back
to story, the kidlets might facetime with me for twenty minutes or so, back to
story … and at some point, it kicks in and I take off writing.
I’ll get up and do dishes, or throw in some laundry while I
think about what I just wrote, go back and restructure a sentence or change a
word, go upstairs and make the bed, go fix more story. And so it goes until about 5:00
and I realize the H will be home in a couple of hours. At that point, I race around and try to
figure out what we’ll have for dinner, do a few more chores until he gets home.
Sometimes I try to sneak in a few more words in the evenings,
but it’s hard to get a good flow when the H is home—he’s just too darn hot—such
a distraction. I don’t get much writing in on weekends unless I’m at the end of
the book and think I might finish any minute.
7. What is your favorite comfort food?
Hmm… We stopped eating sugar, wheat flour,
potatoes and rice, 4 years ago, so that kind eliminates the whole comfort food
thing. I just don’t crave the bad stuff anymore.
We do have a routine of going out to eat on the
weekend, usually In and Out for a protein-style burger, or we’ll head over to
Strap Tank, our friend’s new brewery, the first one in our county in 115 years.
We started out wanting to patronize the friend, but I really look forward to it,
so I guess that’s a comfort thing.
I make cookies with almond flour, Xylitol, and
dark chocolate chips and keep a bag in the freezer so we can grab one out when
we just gotta have something sweet. (They aren’t really that sweet, but after 4
years of not eating real sugar, it’s sweet enough)
8. What are writing projects are you currently working on?
Now you've done it, asking a question I can go on and on about.
I have the sequel to Jungle half written, and I think a few
fans may have put a hit out on my life for taking so long, but that’s a hard one.
It’s easier to write romance than magic. I can see it in my head, but finding
the words can be difficult. Also, being a period piece makes it harder because you
have to be careful to avoid modern words and phrases. It just takes a lot out
of me.
Also, while I thought Wet was done, I started a Wet 4 that
will finish off Paul and Rhees’ story enough to put your minds at ease—I hope.
It’s probably 2/3 – 3/4 written.
I also have a slow, sweet burn of two kids who grow up
together, always knowing the other is the one—but of course I’ll have fun
messing with that once I get them grown up. I’m having a lot of fun with the
puppy love and teen-aged hormones, though. 2/3 done.
I have a story about a man who vacations at the same time
each year, at the same resort as a couple he finds interesting. He watches them
from honeymoon to … ¼ written.
And finally, I have a couple spin-offs circulating in my
head, one from Wet—Poppy’s Anthem is actually a spin-off too—did you notice the
name of the band? Knotted Garden made an appearance in Wet Part 1. Rob is the
drummer who spent an evening with Rhees and the thought of that will drive Paul
crazy for the rest of his life.
Paul’s friend Taylor has a very interesting story that I
think will surprise a few, and I must get poor Rob his happily ever after.
Finally, last night, I had dream, and darned if it wouldn’t be
an excellent story . . .
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