The Summer I Found You by Jolene Perry

I've got a special guest today, author Jolene Perry. She's going to talk about her new book, The Summer I Found You. 



Kate's dream boyfriend has just broken up with her and she's still reeling from her diagnosis of type 1 diabetes.

Aidan planned on being a lifer in the army and went to Afghanistan straight out of high school. Now he's a disabled young veteran struggling to embrace his new life.

When Kate and Aidan find each other neither one wants to get attached. But could they be right for each other after all

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | GOODREADS




Take it away, Jolene.

Writing from a personal place:

Aidan -
I started writing The Summer I Found You after reading a news article about these incredibly young war veterans coming home without arms or legs or who were otherwise scarred. My husband served in the Army, and I get teary every time I read a military story.
I wanted to write one.

But when you're writing one character with such a big backstory, I felt like it was going to be tricky to pair that with someone who would understand him.

Kate -
I'm named after a grandma (my middle name - Betty) who died before I was born. She had Type 1 Diabetes. I grew up with stories about her giving herself shots and being so careful about what she ate. For a long time I'd wanted to write about someone like this as a way to maybe feel a little closer to her, or to understand her in some way. I did a LOT of research on this and talked to every friend I knew who was diabetic to make sure I got it all right.

I almost didn't finish this book - 
I'd already hollowed myself out learning about how many adults and kids and teens have to be so careful about something I did everyday without thinking - eating. And then I was attempting to tackle writing a guy who'd lost not just his arm, but the career he'd geared himself up for all through high school.

It all changed - 
When I talked to a writer friend (Type 1 diabetic) who said she wished there had been books with people who faced the things she had in high school. And then it changed again when I read story after story on the Wounded Warriors homepage about how these men and women had come home with their prosthetics, not slowing down a bit, tears streaming down my face for most of it.

So yes.
This book comes from a very real, sometimes harsh place for me. But in the end, my hope is that what will make the difference between writing characters who are neat and writing ones that stick with you.

Hopefully I've done the latter ;-)

Thanks so much for letting me take over today!!

Grammar Friday - Apostrophes (Part 1) and Other Random Things

Apostrophes, Part 1

Test sentence:

A good restaurant requires cleanliness in every part of it's operation.

So, is that sentence correct?

Well ...

it’s = contraction of it is or it has
its = possessive of it or belonging to it

So, if you can replace it's in your sentence with it is--and it still makes sense--then your word is it's. If you can't, then your word is its.

So, I ask again. Is the sentence in blue correct?

Extra credit question:

What happens when its is possessive?

Sorry, got distracted there.

Well, nothing actually. Its stays the same. Its doesn't have a special possessive form.

I know. I'm sure it feels discriminated against. Or, is that its ....

Word Processing Wars

Peggy Eddleman had a great blog post on Wednesday about which word processing system she uses. What about you?

Award 1 (unwarranted)

People have been really kind to me lately. I even got an award I didn't qualify for. Barbara Kloss gave me this:

I don't qualify for her thoughtful gift because I have too many followers. However, I can pass it through to other, worthy recipients.

Here are the rules:

1. Thank the giver
Danke, Barbara (in keeping with the German theme).

2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog--and follow them!
Melanie Jacobsen (she was my bootcamp instructor at Storymaker, and she rocks)
Jeff King over at Author's Union (he's such a kind poster)
Robin Weeks (I know, I pass a lot of stuff on to her, but she's an amazing writer, critique partner, and dang fun person--even for an attorney. Plus she didn't take me up on the bloomers meme)

Nancy S. Thompson (since she tagged me earlier with that unmentionables meme =D )
KT over at Out of My Mind

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
Done

4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.

5. And most of all - have bloggity-blog fun!

Award 2

J.A. Bennett over at A Book, A Girl, A Journey gave me this cute award:

And what's amazing is the picture even looks like me now that I've had my highlights put in again. All right, in this picture the cute subject still has eyebrows (mine fell down to my chin). And I don't have hairy toes. Aren't you glad to know that?

Since this post is too long already and I've answered enough questions about myself with other awards, I will do one thing: Share a quote.

"I dwell in possibility." ~Emily Dickenson

Following are the folks I'm passing this award off to:
Kaylee Baldwin (she makes me smile a lot)
Jolene Perry (don't you love the cover to her book?)
Laura Josephsen (you've already heard me talk about her lots

ETA: That's embarrassing. This was supposed to post tomorrow. Dang Blogger. ROFL I changed the date again and now it says it's already Friday. If you're able to read this, you've time traveled to the future. Doesn't that make you feel special? Now, how will you get home?