Def: an action or event marking a significant change or stage in development.
I surpassed another author milestone yesterday in a month that I needed something good to happen to stave off the sombreness of a terrible event that happened this time last year. I won’t go into what happened last year, but I want to share my new exciting news.
My book received a Five Star Review from Literary Titan and went on to receive their Five Star Gold Book Award, with the following review
“Her Lover’s Face by Patricia Elliott is an intriguing and captivating novel that offers readers a whirlwind of twists, turns, and surprises. This family drama interweaves romance, suspense, and danger to create a beautiful and complex novel. The story centers around two imperfect individuals, and the novel opens with the death of Laryssa’s abusive husband. This sets the stage for the struggle that Laryssa, who is pregnant, must face as she navigates a new life free from her abusive partner.
What sets this book apart from many other romance novels is its depiction of the complexities of relationships. Elliott expertly portrays the flaws in her characters, ensuring that readers are unable to identify a clear hero or heroine. Instead, the novel explores the gray areas that exist within human relationships, effectively capturing the nuances that make them so intricate. The author also skillfully portrays the differences between the ways men and women think and react in certain situations, creating a narrative that feels true to life.
Laryssa’s character is the backbone of this story, and the author has done an excellent job of portraying her struggles as she tries to come to terms with her newfound freedom. When she meets Alex, who bears a striking resemblance to her late husband, the attraction between them is undeniable. However, Laryssa is determined not to surrender her power to anyone and seeks to define the terms of her own love and life. Unfortunately, both Alex and Laryssa are plagued with trust issues and a lack of understanding of each other, making it clear that they both require therapy to resolve their issues.
Her Lover’s Face is an excellent read that offers a nuanced exploration of human relationships, filled with engaging and multifaceted characters that will keep readers captivated until the last page.”
We all make them, don’t we? And many of us fail to keep them. As a writer, my New Year’s Resolution always revolves around what I want to accomplish writing wise in the coming year. Sadly, over the last while, I allowed life to get in the way again, like I did so many years ago when I stopped writing for ten years.
But I’ve come to realize that life is always going to have something that gets in the way and if I don’t learn how to work around it, I’ll never accomplish the goals I set for myself. My excuse this past year has been my lack of energy, fulltime work, family, and my recovery. I was in an accident last November and caught covid at the same time, and honestly speaking, I’m still recovering. I have more chronic pain than I did before, this time in my hand, so that makes writing difficult.
But as they say, you can always find an excuse not to do something. It’s very easy to come up with a reason to wait, but that’s not the way I want to live anymore. So, you heard it here first. My goal is to prepare all my stories for future publication in the coming two years.
I have a duology that I’m working on, part horror and part romance, which I will be self-publishing this coming year. The working titles are “Her Prison, His game” and “Beneath his Hands.”
Also, the sequel to Her Lover’s Face, “His Sweet Addiction”, is almost ready to go. I’m just rewriting the first chapter to give it more zing. I can’t wait to send this one to my publisher, Black Velvet Seductions(if you haven’t already, check out their website, especially if you like spicy romance), and finally complete the story of Her Lover’s Face. Maybe it will see the light in 2021. 😊
I’ve also sent another short story to BVS to be included in an anthology. It’s a dark romance called, “Out of the Mouth of Babes.” It’s part of a series that I’m working on called, “Resurrection Hour.” Fingers crossed that he enjoys it because then that will be another story coming out in 2021.
Today, I just emailed another publishing company in hopes that my story, “Into the Fire” will see publication again in another anthology. I’m quite attached to this one.
Aside from these, I have four other completed novels that need to be edited and will hopefully see publication either this coming year or in 2023. But if I don’t set my mind to do this, I probably won’t because editing is daunting to me, especially when the unedited story pile keeps growing and I keep putting it off. Please tell me I’m not the only one who does this? *lol*
I’d love to hear what your working on. Drop a line in the comment section below. 😀 Let readers know what’s coming up for you, too. If you aren’t a writer, please post your own resolutions for the coming year.
In honor of our newest release, Cowboy Desire, I thought I might share my top ten favorite parts of farm/country living. When I was little, I had the pleasure of living on a small farm out in the country. We were about 20 minutes from the city of Port Alberni. So in no particular order, I give you my top ten favorites:
DARK
Currently I live in a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia. My street is lit up almost as bright as daylight at night. We can see stars, but no milky way, even meteors are hard to see. One of my favorite things to do was put down a blanket and just watch the sky, but it loses its magic in the city.
QUIET
Cities are busy places, full of people, cars and activity. You don’t really get a moment’s peace unless you’re hidden out at home. Back when I was little, there was no internet, and we only had three television stations that I can remember…unless you had a satellite dish, then you could get more. More often than not, I was stuck with my own thoughts, which meant I had a lot of writing time.
ANIMALS
My parents never had a big farm. We only had rabbits and chickens, but I loved my rabbits. We had Angora, Orange and Dutch rabbits. Did you know rabbits are trainable? Mine would go up the stairs if I patted the step and would come to me if I patted the ground. I still miss him. I tried buying rabbits so my own kids could have the experience, but, sadly, our rental suite doesn’t allow animals. We never had horses, but my neighbor did, and I enjoyed riding them. Almost broke my ribs, but that’s a story for another day.
There’s also never-ending wildlife. We even encountered a cougar once when we tried sleeping outside in a tent in our yard. They really do sound like people say they do, babies. We didn’t stay in the tent for long.
THE VIEW
The air is so much clearer when you are surrounded by trees, and water and nature. The unbridled views of the mountains and waterfalls. No smog. No tall buildings to get in the way. You can sit on your porch and watch a beautiful sunset falling over the mountain. There is a purity there that’s untouched.
HOMEGROWN FRESH FOOD
You can’t forget fresh garden vegetables. Tomatoes, carrots, potatoes. I’d say cucumbers, but I hate them. *lol* And then, you have fresh eggs and fresh meat. I never liked the killing part personally, but you really are self-sufficient when out on a farm. No one wants to make non-stop runs into the city.
PURE WATER
Have you ever travelled between different places and noticed how the water tastes disgusting? Where we lived, we had fresh mountain water, some of the freshest around. There are some benefits to having a well and being away from factories that can pollute it.
LESS SOLICITORS
People are less likely to come calling when you are hidden and out of the way. Some might be desperate, but most stick closer to home. Granted, soliciting happens more online now. You add someone to your friend’s list on social media and it comes with a request to buy whatever they are selling…unless it’s a book, I probably won’t be interested.
RIDE-EM LAWN MOWERS
When you have an acreage, the last thing you wanna do is use a regular lawn mower. Before you learn to drive a car, you learn to drive the machinery that comes with a farm. I was never able to cut the lawn, but I was allowed to ride it around—oh, the power…*lol*
TREE HOUSES
One of the best benefits of country living is that you’re surrounded by great big trees, branches so thick that they can hold the weight of a miniature house. We had a rope with knots tied in it which we would climb to the top. I don’t think I’d ever make it up the rope these days, but I really loved climbing trees back in the day when my body worked properly.
COWBOYS
Men in those tight jeans, with their long sleeve shirts rolled up to the elbow. Their faces holding that 5 o’clock shadow because they are busy keeping the farm running. Men who could grace the cover of a magazine, but are hidden away in the country. Are you ready to meet a few, or a cowgirl perhaps? If you don’t live on a farm, I hope you’ll dream with us between the covers of Cowboy Desire.
Cowboy Desire is an eclectic assortment of short stories.
It includes contemporary, historical, fantasy, and even outer space romance, Cowboy Desire offers fourteen stunning short stories. These fourteen authors provide a range of sweet to sexy stories all with a Western cowboy theme. They feature strong men and women battling the weather and dangerous terrain, here on earth and in outer space.
The collection is as diverse as the authors who wrote them. Here’s a chance to discover new talented authors and the characters they create. Within these pages, there are blends of tender, often moving, thought-provoking and downright sexy stories.
We’ve all seen them—the productivity memes. You know, the ones that say something like:
“You pick up a cup and attempt to go to the kitchen to do the dishes, but get distracted by a dirty table. You put the cup down to clean the table, then you find a bill that needs to be paid. On your way to the computer to pay the bill, you get distracted by dirty laundry on the floor. On your way to do the laundry, you get distracted by something else…and by the end of the day, you haven’t really accomplish anything at all.”
*Phew* Even reading that made me exhausted, but you get the general idea. There is a lot of stuff we want to do and have to do, but there is always something else that distracts us, and for some people, even more so. It’s not always easy to stay on task when so much is going on around us. Our dreams often take a backseat to life because them seem so impossible to accomplish.
Over a decade ago, I started playing an online game called Runescape. It’s this immense online multiplayer game and very addicting. You could interact with other players, chat with them, and train skills with them. Each skill could go up to Level 99, and as you raised your skills, you could do more and more things in the game. Some skills could take months or even a year or more to hit 99, depending on how much you play and how focused you are.
When I first started playing, I jumped from skill to skill, much like a person jumping from chore to chore or dream to dream. But I noticed after a while it felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere. That’s when I decided I needed to focus on one skill if I ever wanted to reach 99 in anything in a reasonable amount of time. So I chose to focus on their Woodcutting skill. I made a plan. I figured out how many logs I needed to cut and how many I could reasonably cut in a day and then counted out the number of days it would take to get to 99.
I started a daily journal on their forums to hold myself accountable to my goal. Each day I refused to do anything else in the game until that goal was done. People in the community were so used to people failing that they would tell me that my goal wasn’t possible; however, slowly but surely, I watched myself succeed, as did the community. Other people became inspired and started to believe that they, too, could hit the infamous 99’s. We even created a group to help inspire each other. We called it, “Achievers United.”
It was during this time that I learned the importance of focusing, making a plan, and giving myself a deadline—making sure that I didn’t let myself get distracted. Without a plan, a big goal can seem daunting because you can’t see the end in front of you. And without a daily log, you also can’t see what you’ve accomplished so far.
At some point, the novelty of working on something wears off and you find yourself in a dark tunnel, where you start losing motivation. You begin to wonder whether you can actually do it or not. Having a daily log lets you go see how far you’ve come from where you used to be, and that helps you start to believe that you can keep moving forward. If you’ve come this far, you can find the strength to keep going.
This is also where a daily goal comes in handy. If all you had to look at was the end goal and how you needed to, for example, cut 150,000 logs, you may get discouraged by the sheer size of the number. And likewise when you write a book, if all you focused on was that you needed 80,000-100,000 words, it might feel like too much. But if you break it down into a daily goal, and just focus on what’s in front of you for that day, it makes it so much easier.
How do you find out how much you should do on any given day? Well, work on your goal for one week. Do as much as you can each day so that you can see what you’re working with. At the end of the week, examine those numbers and pick something that you know you can do reasonably on a daily basis. In terms of writing, I know I can write 1500 words a day, so that’s my daily goal. If I do that, it’s possible to complete a book in 53 days, not counting your days of rest. Your daily goal may be different, it may be higher or it may be lower. Some I know can crank out over 7,000 words a day. For me, I think that would make my head explode. *haha*
But when you break it down into manageable chunks, your dream becomes a lot easier to envision. My favourite part of having played Runescape was that I learned valuable transferable skills that I put to good use in my life. It’s how I’ve managed to write “THE END” on so many stories. And I’m telling you that you can do it too. You just have to set your mind to it and follow through.
The road may not always be easy and you may fall short at times, but don’t think of it as failure, just think of it as a step towards your goal. You never truly fail unless you give up.
“Laryssa Mitchell is one of the lucky ones. The death of her abusive husband finally allows her to live again on her own terms, making her own choices. Her first official decision is to take back what was lost – her independence and her old job. But she soon finds herself in a living nightmare when she meets her new boss. If her husband is rotting in hell, then who is the man standing in front of her with a dead man’s face?
Alexander Richards doesn’t expect to catch an unconscious woman in his arms on his first day at work, nor does he envision himself willingly setting foot in a hospital again, reliving his painful loss. But that’s exactly what he chooses to do when Laryssa needs his help. Why?
She has a story to tell. He has a mystery to solve. In the midst of danger, passion sizzles between them, taking them by surprise. What will happen when all is brought to light? Will they be able to overcome their traumatic pasts and find love in each other, or will their ghosts have the final say?”
By this time last year, I only had three stories published:
“Her Lover’s Face” (Novel) “Wanted: Courage” (Flashpoint: The Inner Circle Writers’ Group Flash Fiction Anthology 2018) “Never Far Away” (Rapture: The Inner Circle Writers’ Group Flash Fiction Anthology 2018)
It’s amazing what can happen in a year. I’ve had a number of ups and downs since June of last year, non-writing experiences that could have made me give up again, overwhelmed by my challenges; but, if there is one legacy I want to leave my kids, it is that no matter what happens in your life, you never give up and you never quit. Follow after your dreams and never let anything stop you. Did you get knocked down? Well, get back up and try again. No one else can forge your path for you. You have to find the strength inside yourself.
In the last year, I had the following stories/poetry published:
“The Stranger” (poem published on Spillwords) “Love Knows No Apocalypse” (Mystic Desire: a Supernatural Anthology) “Love from the Mist” (Mystic Desire, a Supernatural Anthology) “Not You Again!” (Novel) “The Dinner Call” (OCEANS: A Dark Microfiction Anthology (Dark Drabbles Book 9) “The Ocean’s Thief” ( OCEANS: A Dark Microfiction Anthology (Dark Drabbles Book 9) “Poseidon’s Revenge” (Forgotten Ones: Drabbles of Myth and Legend) “Into the Fire” (Slow Burn: The Fires That Bind Us Charity Anthology)
“Patricia Elliott” (Who’s Who of Emerging Writers 2020)
Upcoming publications:
“The Handcuff Proposal” (a novelette being published in a Black Velvet Seductions anthology)
I also have four, just about five, completed novels and two novellas that need editing, and another series I’m working on that revolves around a zombie apocalypse, in which two stories are already done. And I have two other series in mind. I guess the point of my blog post is that we can live our lives dreaming, wishing we were doing something, or we can get out and do it.
Has someone told you that your dream isn’t realistic? Show them that all you need is motivation to prove them wrong. Want to be a doctor? A writer? An astronaut? Then it’s up to you to set that in motion and never give up, even when the road gets tough. Life will always try to throw you curve-balls, and some of them will be doozies, trust me I know, but you can’t let the negative experiences determine your path.
Rise above them! Life is what you make it. I believe in you.
“The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can.” – Neil Gaiman
Interested in her books, check out her Amazon Author Page:
Patricia Elliott 