Excerpt - Past Reflections

The fire was roaring when they arrived. Everyone seemed to be scattered about. No one seemed to notice that they had arrived together. Hopefully no one would. But if they did, Julie would be ready. “We can sit over here.” Kevin took her arm gently. “Mike brought a blanket. He won’t mind if we sit there.” They walked over together and Mike looked up.

“Hey, Kev. What’s up?” He gained his feet respectfully. “And you’re Julie, right?”

She nodded. “Sit down. Kev, get your lady a drink.”

Julie almost choked at that remark. “Unless you’d prefer a beer.” Mike had lowered his voice significantly. “I have a few tucked away for safe-keeping.”

“No thank you.” She took a seat at the edge of the red heavy blanket while Kevin went to get their drinks.

“You’re Tracey’s friend,” Mike said taking a pull of his beer. “Nice girl, that Tracey.”

If Julie didn’t know better she would have thought that Mike had one too many of those beers he had tucked away. She knew that whole scenario rather well. After all, she’d been through it enough times with her mother, to know. Marie Finch, at one point, had a major drinking problem. However, that was something that Julie didn’t even want to think about now. She was far enough away that Marie’s drinking couldn’t touch her. Physically anyway.

“Is punch all right with you?” Kevin sat down beside her.

“Thanks.” She took the cup with a smile. The punch was excellent, like nothing she had ever tasted before. Although it had an unfamiliar twang it had a nice mixed berry taste. It went down cool and was refreshing. She drank it all down rather quickly, actually within seconds as she had been quite thirsty. “Can you get me another?” She met Kevin’s eyes.

“That good, huh?” He handed her his cup. “Drink this one nice and slow.” He scrambled to his feet. “I’ll be right back.”

As Julie watched him walk away she took another sip. “Did that come from Jake’s private stock?”

“Excuse me?”

At that moment Mike leaned over and peered into her cup. “He makes the best berry punch around.”

“What’s in this?”

“Probably a little bit of everything.”

Julie looked into the cup. “You mean alcohol?” She whispered, brown eyes wide.

“Yeah.” He gave her this odd look as if to say, ‘haven’t you ever had a drink before?’ Well she hadn’t and she had no intention of starting now. If Rob knew what was going on he’d have all of their hides. No Alcohol! Rule Number One. They were breaking the rules.

“Did you miss me?”

“There’s alcohol in here.” She whispered before he sat down. “That’s against the rules.”

“What Rob doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

“Oh really?” She wanted to be serious. In fact, it had started out that way. Only now she felt airy and light. So instead of telling him what she had at first intended, she sighed. She felt too good to argue with him. Why bother with it now. They were here. They were together. “Sit back and relax. Tracey is right about one thing,” he placed an arm across her shoulders. “You worry too much.”

She leaned into his embrace. He was so warm that she snuggled even closer. “This is nice.” Kevin took a sip of his own drink. “Being here with you.” His breath was warm on her neck. He was so close and for once in her life she felt completely at ease. “I like spending time with you, Julie.”

“Yeah?” She met his eyes.

“I like you.” He whispered. “And more than just a friend.”

Julie was hypnotized by those blue-green eyes. “I like you too,” she returned softly, meaning every word. If it weren’t for their current predicament she might be able to fall in love with him. However, at this point in time that was definitely out of the question. Not under these circumstances. The time wasn’t right. Then again, when love came knocking, would the time ever be right?

http://www.wings-press.com/Bookstore/Past%20Reflections.htm 

Interviewing Dana Pratola

Hi Dana and welcome. I am so glad you could join me here at Sandrastuff. To start, will you please tell us a little bit about your current projects?

Hi Sandra, thanks for having me! I have about seven projects going now, but the one I’m working on now is a four book series. The first of the series is almost ready for publication.

I can hardly wait, please keep us updated!

How did you celebrate the sale of your first book? Who did you call first?

I don’t remember celebrating that, but I did celebrate the release day with champagne and Chinese food!

Do you find it easier to write with a deadline or without?  How do you feel when you write “the end” - are you ready to send your characters on their way?

Without. I HATE deadlines. I stress myself out so much I’m basically useless. The first time I wrote THE END I cried. It was such a relief to be done and I knew I had written the best story I could at the time. Also, I was optimistic about moving onto the next work right away. Definitely mixed emotions. As for sending the characters off, I don’t think that ever happens. It hasn’t for me anyway. With marketing, interviews, reviews, etc., Gunnar and Tessa are still very much present.

If you could have a maid for a day or day at the spa, which would you choose and why?

I would take the maid, absolutely, but not for my whole house, just my stove. Cleaning the oven/stovetop is the single worst job for me. I’d gladly pay someone to do that.

When finishing a project, are you ready to move on to the next one, or do you take a bit of breather first?

I haven’t breathed yet, LOL. I’m working on a few at a time right now. I can lend more attention to one story, but I’m always thinking of the others, adding notes, scenes, lines, to one or more as I think of them.

Summer is in the air!  What signals summer for you?  Do you do the fun in the sun thing at the beach?

Barbeque smoke is a good indicator that summer’s here, LOL. As soon as I inhale that first whiff I know it’s time to dig out all my sandals and flip flops. I get to the beach as often as I can but not as often as I’d like =-/

Name the one bug that will have you run screaming from the room?

Hmm. That’s a hard one since in my family, I’m the executioner. Everyone – and I mean EVERYONE - comes to me to kill things. One day I’ll figure out why that is. But I don’t like things that sting, and I hate those spiders that jump AT you instead of away from you.

I know those little black hairy spiders.  I call them “Jumpers”. 

Do you edit as you write, or finish the first draft and then begin editing?

Unfortunately, I’m an edit-as-I-go writer. I get little done and it turns out it doesn’t help in the end anyway – I have to edit just as much.

When first beginning a new project, how do you begin? Do you know the names of your characters right away?

I’ve started projects from every angle. I’ve started from a rough idea for a character, I’ve started from scenes, movie lines, “what ifs”… Quite a few are started from songs. I listen to a song and it might spark a whole scene in my head and I go from there.

When did you first know you just had to be an author?  Do you remember your first writing project?

For me there’s never been anything else I’ve wanted to do. I’ve always loved to read and writing was just a natural progression. It became obvious that it’s God’s will for me. He said He’ll give us the desires of our heart. That’s because He puts them there in the first place.

Amen to that.

What does you're writing space look like? If you could, what would you change about it? 

I’m usually at my kitchen table but I have an “office” in my husband’s walk-in closet. I have a desk in there, even pictures and a candle.

Is your desk organized or complete chaos?

Organized. But it’s the only part of my life that seems to be, LOL.

What kind of pets did you have while growing up?  Do you have any now?

I always had dogs – usually two at a time. I had guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, rats, mice – okay, basically anything from the rodent family. I also had fish, ferrets, ducks, chameleons and cats. My brother had snakes, a tarantula and a scorpion, so I was always exposed to unusual creatures. Wow, this is like therapy! I think I just figured out why I’m not afraid to kill bugs =-)

Wow!  Now that’s what I call an array of different animals.

Have you ever experienced the dreaded writer's block, and if so how did you overcome it?

I get blocked like most writers. I usually just quit and watch TV. Not very helpful for getting a story down though. When I want to get serious about it, I might try writing a random scene, something I have no intention of using, just to get things flowing again. Often, if I like it, I wind up working it into the story somewhere or it goes into my notes to be tweaked for another story. It also helps to write characters into scenes they wouldn’t normally be in. For example I might write Gunnar as a ballet teacher, or Tessa as a prison guard.

I could never imagine Gunnar a ballet teacher!

What is the best way to spend a quiet evening at home?

Writing. If not that, watching TV. I’m waiting for Flashpoint to come to DVD beyond season 1 ;-)

What screensaver do you have on your computer at the moment?

Just the Toshiba blue field.

Do you listen to music while you write? Have a favorite beverage or snack by your side?

I can’t really work to music unless I’m being distracted by other noises, like family, etc. Then I put on my headphones and listen to something instrumental, like Dave Matthews Band #34 from Under the Table and Dreaming. I’m always eating or drinking something. It’s part of my procrastination process.

There are many stories and movies about superheroes. What in your view constitutes a real-life hero?

Someone who gives to the greater good, with little or no thought for their own sacrifice. 

Do you prefer sunsets or sunrises? 

Sunrise. The promise of more to come. …unless I’m really tired, then I’m looking forward to bed.

And lastly, no interview of a writer would be complete without this question:  what is your favorite comfort food?

I can’t possibly answer that. Maybe some kind of pasta.

Thank you for sharing with us Dana.  We’re looking forward to your next series…

Past Reflections - a contemporary first love story that transcends time!

http://www.wings-press.com/Bookstore/Past%20Reflections.htm

Julie Finch had always led a sheltered life, from attending catholic school to the no boys rule. Now on the verge of womanhood she is beginning to look at life through different eyes. First love is painful but picking up the pieces of a broken heart prove even more difficult when there is no closure and tragedy strikes!

Struggling and Adversity

Just when you think you’ve got the meaning of life figured out you get blind-sided! There are things that are well within our control and some that are not. I have thought long and hard about some of those things. Thought about ways to change them. Have, in fact, racked my brain with many different scenarios on how a scene might play out and then return to nothing at all. I guess the bottom line is to never take anything or anyone for granted. We’re all guilty of it! The question is – will we admit it?

However, it takes two to make a relationship work! And if you’re being fought at every turn you tend to back away. I know – been there – done that. I try to see the glass as half full but there are times when it looks more than half empty.

I’ve raised three children and I remember struggling in those early years. I remember how buying a gallon of milk had seemed monumental. We had macaroni more suppers than not but we survived. God always provided. And those things may have been small but we needed those things to survive.

Remembering the struggles brings tears to my eyes even now. We are talking more than twenty years ago – but those struggles had been necessary to survive. A little adversity never hurt anyone. It made you come out stronger. It made you realize that when you got a little extra that you were grateful for it and didn’t take it for granted.

There’s more to life than giving your children everything they ask for. Just as there is more to life than making money. All I had ever wanted to instill in my children was my love for God. Integrity, morality, and loyalty. Traits that I felt defined who I was. Who I am today. When we ask God for something and He doesn’t immediately deliver do we turn our back on him and try to get what we want another way, or do we wait? I’m choosing to wait this time. When my reward comes it will have been worth the wait!

Forever Purple Flowers

Remembering a special place...

Every year around this time my heart feels that ache. A little bit more this year because I'm doing second round edits for Past Reflections.

Forever Purple Flowers...

Past Reflections

Julie Finch had always led a sheltered life, from attending catholic school to the no boys rule. Now on the verge of womanhood she is beginning to look at life through different eyes. First love is painful but picking up the pieces of a broken heart prove even more difficult when there is no closure and tragedy strikes!

Coming Soon (May 2012) Wings e-press

A dream come true

I believe I became an actual writer before I had acknowledged that truth. I mean seriously – I had been writing since I had been twenty. My youngest had been barely three months old. The words that had been trapped inside of me for so long had begun working their way out. I felt as though I couldn’t get them down on paper fast enough. The steady rhythm began straight from my heart to the paper with the pen becoming the medium.

When I was writing I was creating my own world - My own happiness - My own fairytale – My own Happily Ever After. I could write the story any way I wanted.

Enter - Past Reflections
It had taken me close to a year to get the book down on paper. It was written longhand in a spiral bound notebook. Through it all, I knew the story was special. After all, there was so much of my heart in that book – I knew the story inside and out.

I was bothered that I didn’t have a title. I had written the entire book and no title. And then the title came to me in a dream. I believed it was God’s way of letting me know that Past Reflections was real in every sense of the word.

For a while there… Long while… My life had been as crazy as a roller coaster. But even a roller coaster has to stop sometime and it had landed with a couple of bumps along the way.

When I left my first husband all I had been able to take were my children. Once I was able to return for my belongings I had discovered I no longer had any belongings. My clothes had been destroyed and my writings for the past four years, including Past Reflections had just vanished into thin air! Devastated had to be an understatement for what I had been feeling!

Writers have a tough skin. We need to with all of the criticism we receive on a daily basis. I had always known that I would write – rewrite – and yes rewrite Past Reflections again. That story was in my blood. Twenty-seven years after the fact – Past Reflections is getting published.

Here is the moral to my story - Never – Ever let go of your dreams. Believe in who you are and you will succeed. With God on my side I knew I was destined to get this dream realized! And I haven’t begun to scratch the surface on my potential.