Virtual Tour + #Giveaway: The Alex Chronicles: What My Friends Don't Know by Tracy Reed @readtracyreed @GoddessFish

The Alex Chronicles: What My Friends Don't Know

by Tracy Reed

GENRE: Contemporary Romance

BLURB:

Alexandra “Alex” Miller and her best friends are more like sisters.  They live by the code that a good girlfriend will stick by you and be honest with you not matter what. 

They’ve been friends over twenty years and have seen each other through marriage, divorce, broken engagement, death and other minor crisis.  But it’s the secrets they’ve failed to trust each other with.   Each of them is holding on to a secret they believe could destroy not only their reputation, but their friendship as well.

Alex and her best friends, Chloe, Taylor, Kendell and Dionne all long for one thing, a happy ending.  As they’ve gotten older, they’ve discovered, not everyone gets the fairytale happy ending they want, but the reality life has orchestrated for them.

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EXCERPT:

I couldn’t move. That was the most uncomfortable experience I’ve ever had, much worse than my first pelvic exam.  In fact, right about now, those stirrups are looking pretty good, because that would distract me from all the memories that brief encounter resurrected.  It’s been over twenty years and he still makes my stomach jump.

“Who was that man?”  Bas asked.

I couldn’t dance around his question like I did last night. “Uhm...did I ever tell you how I got the money to start my business?”

“Does it have anything to do with the couple we just met?”

“It has everything to do with them.”  I took a deep breath and continued.  “My girlfriends know about Jonathan, but only a handful of people know about Terrence.” 

“Come on, let’s sit down.”  He guided me back to the club chairs, we sat down and I stared out the window.

“I spent the summer before my junior year and my junior year of college working at Motif Magazine in Paris.  The short version, Terrence and I met at the Louvre.  We were both trying to see the Mona Lisa.  Unfortunately, so was everyone else.  Instead, we spent the afternoon exploring the museum and by closing time, we were in love.  He was in Paris working for his father’s company.”

“That’s your ex?”

“Have you ever wondered if it’s possible to be married and no one know?”  He looked perplexed.  “Let me answer it for you.  Yes.”

“Excuse me?”

“Towards the end of summer we were hooked at the hip.  We spent all of our free time together.  Instead of going home for the holidays, I stayed in Paris and spent them with Terrence.  Spring came and the air was filled with love.   He proposed and two weeks after Valentine’s Day we got married.  When his parents found out, they came over and yanked him out of our apartment.  The last time I saw him was that morning.”

Guest Post:

My Writing Process:

I am a Pantser…, there I’ve made my confession.  Sounds like I’m at a support group.  If you ask the plotters, they would probably tell you that us Pantsers should be in therapy.  Smile. 

I wrote an outline once, but forgot where I put it or I think I found it after I started the book.  Oh well, anyway, I didn’t use it. 

So here we go.  I don’t have a magic formula for getting or developing an idea.  When I get an idea, I usually kick it around in my head with all of the possibilities.  Even then, it takes a while before I commit any of those thoughts to paper.  For example, I have been kicking a line around in my head for almost a year.  I don’t want you to think I’m some supper intellectual over thinking writer.  I just haven’t really gotten a concept for where the story could go.  In my mind, I see the hero and I see the protagonist, but I can’t seem to get past the first fifty words.  What makes this thought a little more daunting is, if I can pull this together, it would be my first attempt at a Romantic Suspense.  I like reading that genre, but I’ve yet to write one.

Back to my process.  Not every book is birthed the same.  In the case of THE ALEX CHRONICLES SERIES, I wanted to write something similar to Sex and the City, without the sex.  Only thing is, as the story and the characters grow, the stories get a little steamier. 

Once I commit to the thought, I start thinking about names.  I try not to name my hero and heroine after people I know.  I don’t want them to think the characters are based on them.  Let me take that back, I do use the names of family and friends that have passed away for first names.  For secondary names, I will occasionally use a family member or friend. 

Next step is to get a visual of what the characters look like.  I know I should write some of the details down, but I don’t.  I keep a board on Pinterest dedicated to “Manly Research.”  When I’m trying to picture the love interests of my characters, I head over there.  Sometimes, I have the perfect picture to focus on and other times, it’s a combination of photos.  Then as I write them, their personality develops. 

In THE ALEX CHRONICLES, Alex’s love interest is an Alpha Billionaire who’s also a famous writer.  He comes from a very wealthy, powerful and socially connected family in New York.  However, he writes under a Pen Name.  One of his flaws is, sometimes he has trouble verbally expressing himself when he’s around her.  He also has a little self-esteem problem in an area, but that doesn’t come out until Part Two.

Sometimes, when I start a book, it’s the characters flaws that dictate the character’s looks.  In Generational Curse, I knew what the heroine looked liked before I knew her name.  I knew she had to be a very beautiful, confident woman that always turned heads when she entered a room.  She’s so charismatic, that even women are attracted to her.  But her flaw, was she only dated married men.  She never wanted to be with a single available man.  Her love interest, was the ultimate manly man, oozing with muscles, charm and compassion…a reformed alcoholic, that slept around a lot.  They were complete opposites.  The thought of these opposites getting together intrigued me.

Once the hero and heroine are set the rest of the story flows.  After the first draft, I step away from it for a few days and then I read it again to make sure the story makes sense.  I repeat that step again with a pink pin [pink is my favorite color], and do a light edit.  Then I implement those changes, read it again and put the book to the side for a little while and work on another project.  When I come back to the story, it’s as if I’m reading it for the first time and I’m able to catch and tweak things.  This is a major edit because I’m getting it ready for my mother to read…she’s my primary Beta reader.  When she finishes it, I do another batch of edits and then it’s on to my other Beta Readers.  When they finish, I review their comments and make any necessary changes and then it’s on to my editor. 

While my editor is doing her magic, I’m busy perfecting the cover.  Sometimes the cover idea comes early.  If it does, then I’ll get a rough proof in the pre-editing phase.  This way, when the editor finishes, all I have to do is correct the print format and send the edited version to my digital formatter.  When the digital formatter gets it, I know I need to start thinking about marketing.  In a perfect world, everything lines up.  Smile…Cry…Shout…Smile.  It hardly happens like this every time.

In a nutshell it’s:

Idea

Write

Edit…several times

Design Cover

Beta Reader One

Edit

Beta Readers

Review

Editor

Review

Print Format

DigitalFormat

Marketing Campaign

Release

Then start the process all over.

Thank you for hosting me and my book today.

AUTHOR BIO:

I am a single Christian woman who loves God, Fashion and Cute Guys. Not all women who write Christian fiction will admit to that.

The subjects I write about are considered taboo in Christian fiction. If you want to read about Christians dealing with unrequited love, apprehension to give love another chance, arranged marriages, physical attraction, divorce, annulment, controlling their urges, infidelity, abortion, dating younger men, being a single mother, slipping up and sleeping with your estranged ex, standing up for yourself, being honest about not liking your in-laws, still being attracted to your ex, battling postpartum depression, having challenges in your walk with Christ or if you aren't too proud to admit you sometimes get angry and yell at God, then you're in the right place. 

The people that read my books have a thing for designer clothes and accessories and aren't ashamed to admit it. To them a cute Christian guy on their arm is the finish to the perfect outfit. Sort of like lipstick, you don't have to have it, but it sure makes you feel prettier when you do.

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