SEEKING NIRVANA, EXCERPT #2

Seeking Nirvana

Release Day Countdown

Three Weeks

Welcome back.

Wow, time seems to be flying by. Only another 3 weeks until the release of Seeking Nirvana, with the cover reveal taking place on the 1st June. Safe to say I am a bottle of pop at the moment, and I hope you're just as excited as I am :)

As promised, here is excerpt #2 of Seeking Nirvana. You can find the first excerpt lower down.
I hope you enjoy.

Excerpt #2

Bright spots danced across my eyes as I flipped on the light switch on the left hand wall, lighting the smallish bathroom. I took care of my business, and on shaky legs, stood myself up, the world spinning and sloping once again. Thankfully the washbasin wasn't too far away, so I clutched onto it for dear life before my legs buckled under my weight.

I may had been out cold for four days and conscious for about thirty-six hours, but considering the last recollection I had was celebrating my twenty-fourth birthday, when I gazed into that mirror above the basin, I hadn't seen myself in three years, and I was met with a complete stranger.

I screwed my eyes shut as tight as I could, pleading that when I opened them, the person staring back at me would be one that I remembered. But there must not have been any shooting stars as I made my wish that night, because when I opened them again...the stranger was still staring back.

My thick, blond, shoulder-length hair was dark and dreary, virtually wire looking. That, I could pass off as just needing washing. My eyes weren't as bright as what I once saw. My skin wasn't as flawless as it had been the last time I studied my reflection, and I'm not just talking about the black eye, swollen cheekbone, split lip and scrapes that had white tape stuck on each side of my brow, that stared back at me from the accident. Panicked and alarmed, I watched as my lip trembled and my wrinkles grew deeper.

Freeing my hand from the basin, I leaned in closer to the mirror. My fingers gingerly found their way to my face, and I wished more than anything that my fingertips could erase the creases which spread from the corners of my eyes, when they grazed across them.

That was another wish that failed to come true.
The only thing that remained the same was my nose...still straight and narrow.

There's no such thing as a minuscule change when you've lost years. Everything is just...there, right in front of your face, goading you. Every single change, even down to the change of my hair parting, the span of my brow because my hairline seemed to be a millimeter further back than it was when I was twenty-four, is all too clear, too distinct.

Each variant of my face had a story behind it: when did I notice my first wrinkle and what was I doing at the time? How did I react when my laugh lines refused to stay dormant until I actually laughed? When did my eyes become dimmer with knowledge that I no longer possessed? It made me realize that it's not only monumental factors of the last three years that have escaped my memory bank; it's the minuscule things, too.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed.
Check back next week for the third excerpt.

Much love,
V.L. xxx

Welcome to the WRITING PROCESS BLOG HOP next stop!

MY WRITING PROCESS

Firstly, I want to say an enormous thank you to the amazing ladies which make up Spellbound Consortium, Alisha Payne and Nick Taylor for inviting me to participate in My Writing Process Blog Tour. I am still relatively new to this blogging scene, so it helps find my feet alongside offering a little information about myself.
Nick and Alisha posted their answers last week, you'll find them here.

What are you working on?

I am currently working on a new romantic suspense/mystery series called The Dark Evoke Series. It follows twenty-seven year old, Kady Jenson who awakens from a four day coma with a three year void in her memory. Although there is an Irish stranger at her bedside, she doesn't feel scared, she feels drawn to him, almost contented with his presence.

She comes to learn that things change over time. Her relationship with her long-term boyfriend and one of the very few people she can remember, is very much different. She begins slipping into routines which come as naturally as breathing, although she has no clue as to why she has begun behaving differently.

While her boyfriend is on a business trip, we follow Kady as she and the Irish stranger, Walker goes on a quest to fit the pieces of the puzzle and spark her memory.
The series is about rediscovering yourself and toes a line which has been the topic of controversy for quite some time.

The first installment, Seeking Nirvana is released on June 16th. I have just finished writing the second installment, Eluding Nirvana, and I'm striving to get past this infuriating case of writer's block, to begin writing the third installment.

Feel free to visit my author Facebook page where I am ridiculously active. I will update you regularly and post some amazing teasers created by a dear friend and one of my lovely page admins, Charlie C.

How does your work differ from others of its genre?

My debut, Impulses was a lengthy standalone, to which I literally gutted myself open. Although it has fictitious elements, 3/4 of the story was yours truly. I felt as though my future books would be lengthy also. Thankfully, that is not the case with The Dark Evoke Series.

The one element which remains within my writing is how raw it is, and can be, since my ability to create my characters incidences and circumstances, stem from life experiences. I am a very open, very honest person. I believe that we learn from our mistakes in life and there is nothing to be ashamed of because they make us stronger. As a result of that, I am able to express myself wholly through my characters, through their trials and tribulations and through their emotions and I feel they come alive more so, because they're flawed. To some degree, I feel that my readers can sense parts of me within the words on the page because those words were formed from my life experiences, and involvement in situations, that are relevant to my characters.

Why do you write what you do?

For me, I write because it's therapeutic. My genre, although contemporary romance, has dark elements, especially The Dark Evoke Series.

Ever since I was younger my mother told me that I had a dark mind. I remember when I was in school; I had to write a story for creative English in my end of school exams. Even then, at sixteen I wrote about a family who were fearful of their abusive father. It was hard-hitting, it was emotional but it was fact. It was fact because it brought to light that these situations happen around us every day.

Life isn't a bed of roses. We don't live in a perfect world where we meet a businessman with a jet, get married and become a typical 2.4 family. Life throws shit at you. That's reality. You can think a relationship is running smoothly, but when you least expect it something strains that relationship, an event, a medical condition...the past.
I write dark because life is dark.

How does your writing process work?

This is actually quite an amusing question for me at the moment because I am suffering one Hell of a writer's block.

My answer to everything is, 'create a timeline'.
I shrug on my jacket, step into my shoes and I walk the streets, most probably looking like some made-up zombie, while I get the cogs in my head turning. I play out my scenes like one would watch a movie unfold on the big screen, sometimes listening to music which my characters favor the most. I go through everything, even down to the facial expressions and the mumbling dialogue. Trust me; I have had more than the occasional few stares around my neighborhood because of this.
When I have several main scenes along with dialogue, I focus on the scenes which will strew them together.

With Impulses, I focused intently on the number of pages...something I will never do again. Instead, I have begun to focus on the word count. Sometimes, I find it's better to have fewer words, you can always go back and add scenes or further your descriptions later. I find that method better than stripping a good few thousand words from your work.

But most importantly, I continue reading. It's crazy, but reading helps me write. Your brain is a sponge; you continue to learn more whether it be sentence structure all the way down to vocabulary. It really does help oil up those cogs.  

Want more?

Want to take a look at where the Blog Hop Tour is heading next? Well, you're going to want to visit the amazingly talented, Amazon bestseller and author of The Savannah Series and the highly anticipated standalone novel, Tempt My Heart, Danielle Jamie. Show this girl some love people, she gifted us Kayden Knox and Jordon Valentine ;) Visit her here.      

SEEKING NIRVANA EXCERPT #1

Seeking Nirvana,

Release Day Countdown

Four Weeks

Welcome back readers,

Last week I promised that I would release an excerpt a week from Seeking Nirvana (Dark Evoke, #1) in the run up to its release on June 16th. I, for one, cannot put into words how excited I am about this series, and how excited I am to share it with you in only four weeks time. (I know, it feels like forever for me, too).

Anyway, I'm not going to keep you all waiting, I know what you want and I aim to please :) So, to wet those taste buds, here is excerpt #1.

I hope you enjoy :)

Excerpt #1

Seconds passed in a form of salted tears trailing down my face, and over my swollen lip. I tasted the salty residue as I swept my tongue over the cracked flesh between sobs. I have no idea how long I cried. All I can remember is the pressure in my head, directly behind my eyes, and the way it radiated through my cheekbones. Thrown into disarray, my shoulders juddered, sending my body into a mass of constricting, tautening muscles with each tiny gasp as I attempted to halt my cries in the warmth of Liam’s arms.

There was nothing I could do about my misplaced years. There was no magic medicine to administer to help spark something, no matter how trivial it may be. There was no magic procedure that the doctors of MA General could carry out like in some sci-fi movie, hook me up to more probes and wires and have my body zoom through a tunnel of flashing images while they flooded back.

They were gone. At least, they were gone for now. And that was something I didn't truly comprehend how demanding it would be to accept. But I had to accept it. Regardless.

“Mr. DeLaney,” Leviton’s voice shaded my rapid pants as I fought for a lungful of air. “If I could have a talk with you outside please,” he requested.

I unwillingly pulled myself away from the warm crook of Liam’s body, shifting my head from the consoling warmth and rhythmic rising and dropping of his chest, back onto the white cotton pillow. Striving to reassure me, he grazed his thumb over my knuckles as he thrust himself from the bed. “I won’t be a few minutes, baby,” he smiled.

Everything at that point may have been buried in a dense, stifling fog, but the look in Irish’s eyes didn't go unnoticed, as his gaze combed Liam while he was skirted at the foot of the bed, and trailed behind the sympathetic doctor into the hallway, closing the room door gently behind him. That grimace couldn't have gone undetected, totally impossible. It was the lighthouse beaming through my fog, guiding me to a question that I really didn't even wish to contemplate.

Incalculable times I exhaled loudly, ousting all of my frustrations in one simple breath, but it didn't help. My frustrations and alarm was as visible as the flat-cap on Irish’s head. Every fleeting moment which passed alongside a groan, had my agitation escalating, scaling higher and higher like one of those carnival attractions, where you hit the button with the hammer to see how strong you are. And I was very close to reaching the jackpot.

Air was expelled in hefty grunts, while my fingers had become a knotted mass in my lap. Teeth were grinded and temperatures had rocketed as the silence turned into piercing bells ringing in my already aching head.

“How do we…? How long have we…?” I wavered, my attention shifted from my blue woven cover, to the well-defined man at the foot of my cot. “How do I know you?”

Seeing the corner of his lips curl into a smile, albeit a sad one, I felt the atmosphere in the room begin to normalize and adjust. It was no longer suffocating and awkward like it had been with Liam amongst the room’s occupants. With his hands hidden in the front of his dark, denim pockets, his arms pushing his plaid shirt back to showcase his white T-shirt that clung to his torso, he paced leisurely to my side.

“We've known each other for about eighteen months. I work for, Liam.”

“Eightee––” I sighed. Quelling the sense of uprising panic, I breathed in a deep breath, well, as deep as my smarting ribs would allow, and exhaled through pursed lips. Having a void that immense in my mind was too overwhelming. I instantly began to wish I didn't ask such a stupid question, a question which would trigger an immeasurable degree of anxiety that I just didn't need at that point. “You’re an architect, too?” I added.

He sniggered then hung his head for a moment. When he lifted his gaze, his head was cocked; he looked adorable with that shy expression. Shaking his head, he licked his lips slowly. “No, I um…” he hesitated, and I sensed a degree of discomfiture radiating from him. “I’m in construction,” he sighed.

“Oh,” is all I could muster, before he removed his hands from his pockets, and took position on the ugly green seat next to me. “Do you enjoy it?”

Resting on the edge of the chair with his elbows supported on his knees, he rubbed his hands together, making circular motions over each of his palms, opting for nonchalance. “Its work,” he answered simply through an unconvincing grin.

I could understand and appreciate that. Being a stripper was never on my list of desired employment opportunities. The way my stomach knotted, and the shame I felt every time someone asked me what I did for a living, was considerable. People always judge a book by its cover, that’s a fact. And it’s unnerving when you know people judge you because you’re not a doctor, a lawyer, an architect…but work is work.

My attention shuffled from Irish to the door as I heard the click of the handle being pushed down. Liam stepped inside, closing the door behind him.

“Hey,” I breathed.

His soft, loving expression turned cold and hard, as he was welcomed by the sight of his employee sitting beside me, leaning into his arms and only a few inches away from the bed itself. Liam may have been at the end of the room, but his jaw was working like Santa’s elves the day before Christmas Eve. Scowling, he stomped into the room with as much control as he could gather…which wasn't a lot for Liam DeLaney; he was never able to keep a firm lid on his emotions.

Still, Irish didn't even batter an eyelid, let alone shift out of the seat, which made Liam worse.

“What did the doctor say?” I asked, not only out of pure interest, but in an attempt to bring an end to the once again, thickening, hostile atmosphere.

Taking extra caution not to snag my IV, he took a seat on the left of my bed. I watched and blenched as his thumb traced over my cracked, swelling mouth before lingering over my lower lip. I couldn't help but smile when I met his green and blue speckled eyes.

“He said that…” he began but soon trailed off. The man to my right was shot a disdainful scowl. “You can go,” he snapped.

I glance to my right, a V scorched into his dark brown eyebrows, his molded, pale lips hardened into a stubborn, firm line.

“I said, go. There is no need for you to even be here now. Kady doesn't even know you; you’ll get her confused.”

“Very well,” Irish muttered on an outbreath. He pushed himself up slowly, and placed a kind hand over mine. Yes, you knew he definitely worked in construction, because callouses which covered his palm was scrapping across the back of my knuckles. “I’ll be around if you need anything, Kady. I won’t be far.”

I felt the mattress quivering beneath me, as Liam’s body shook frenzied and incessantly. “She has me. She doesn't need your charity,” he seethed.

“Even still,” he lifted his head, his eyes narrowed at Liam in silent warning, before returning them to me. “I’ll be around. Nothing will change that,” he promised with a smile.

“Thank you, that’s very kind, um…”

I remember how his eyes blazed and how a twitch kissed the left corner of his mouth, a tiny dimple making an adorable appearance. It was a look that was both sad and hopeful. And although I have no idea why, it warmed me.

“Walker. My name is, Walker.”

******

Thank you for reading excerpt #1, I hope you enjoyed.

If Seeking Nirvana (Dark Evoke, #1) still hasn't made it onto your Goodreads TBR, you can find it here.

Check in again next week for Excerpt #2

WELCOME TO MY BLOG

Hello readers,

I would like to take a moment to introduce myself. For those who do not know me, I am the author of romance novel Impulses and the upcoming romantic suspense/mystery trilogy, The Dark Evoke Series.

Raised in a creative family, witnessing one another expressing themselves through creativity, albeit musically or through a form of literature, it was only a matter of time before my passion for devising characters, their unique stories in their own world, began to form and grow. From there the seed was sown and flourished into a young girls dream.

Throughout the years I have often toyed with the idea of pursuing this path, yet unknowing where to begin. There are so many routes in this day and age to help get from A to B, so with that, I decided to self-publish, and that decision was most probably one of the best decisions I have ever made.

"Never let life impede on your ability to manifest your dreams. Dig deeper into your dreams and deeper into yourself and believe that anything is possible, and make it happen." ~ Corin Nemec 

Anyone who knows me, also knows undeniably that I am far from tech-savvy, so this blog is another chapter for me, and another steppingstone on this crazy but self rewarding journey, which I hope you will travel with me.

Much love,

V.L xxx