Author Archives: Jalpa Williby
Chaysing Memories: Book of the Month Poll through Long and Short Reviews!
This is so exciting! Just found out that Chaysing Memories is up for the Romance Book of the Month Poll through Long and Short Reviews! Yeah!!!! Would love your support! Please vote. The voting is only through Thursday and it’s listed amongst some great authors- Yikes! The winner will be announced Friday (so you have to vote soon). Thank you in advance!
Here’s the link to vote: http://www.longandshortreviews.com/uncategorized/march-non-erotic-romance-book-of-the-month-poll-2/
And here’s the link to their review: http://www.longandshortreviews.com/book-reviews/chaysing-memories-by-jalpa-williby/
Here’s their full five star review:
They say you can’t beat Fate. Maybe they’re right.
What would you do if you can’t remember the one person in your life that means the world to you? What if you don’t have any of his memories?
Chaysing Memories feels so personal. I think this is where I congratulate the author. Though the first book was good, this second book was incredible. The writing was exceptional, emotional and descriptive.
Tess doesn’t remember Chayse but her world comes crashing down when she realizes she has lost three weeks of her life. From then on starts a fight where life and happiness is at stake. Chayse is trapped in hell and the only person who can save is the one who does not remember him.
Maybe I am being a little cheesy but this story shows you the power of love and of the mind and how fate has a hand in our lives.
A lot of secrets in her life are unraveled. A myriad of different events occur that will make her much stronger. The plot was well developed and the author made sure the mystery and suspense element of the book stayed through until the end.
I loved every part of this, from the beginning to the end. My heart went out to them every time it felt like they are going to lose each other. But they stayed strong until the end. The ending….I was surprised. I think that’s all I can say without giving something away.
For readers, I would very much recommend they read from book 1 first. l loved the second book. It made me cry and hope for more of this story to come. Those who love an epic love story should check this series out.
Review of Insurgent the movie
I just came back from seeing Insurgent. Once in a while, I see a movie, and the first thing I want to do is to tell everybody what I thought about it. So I decided to blog about it. I’m so glad I went to see this movie. I was feeling tired, and almost talked myself out of it. But as soon as the movie started, I was wide-awake. I think while I sat on the edge of my seat, my heart was beating fast during the entire movie. So much was happening so fast! This movie is a great sequel to Divergent. I loved Divergent and I loved Insurgent just as much. First of all, we got the badass heroine. Absolutely can’t go wrong with that. She’s tough as they come. But what I really enjoyed was watching her vulnerability. Tris has her fears, and her conscious is killing her.
Shailene Woodley plays her perfectly. I almost think that she may be one of the best actresses of her generation right now. Shailene is able to portray her weaknesses, her strengths, her fears, her guilt, and at the end, her finally forgiving herself. Let’s talk about Theo James for a minute. Again, a phenomenal actor. Well, his good looks don’t hurt either. But truly, he plays Tobias (Four) perfectly. I can’t imagine another actor playing that character.
The two of them sizzle on screen. Tobias by now has fallen hard for Tris and will do whatever it takes to protect her. When the truth serum is injected in him, he confesses that he has fallen in love with Tris. Sigh… And both of them together really can kick some ass. They take on the evil and the battle begins. I love movies like this. If you’re looking for some entertainment, a movie full of action, suspense, and some butt kicking scenes, this is a great movie. Oh, and let’s not forget the hot romance between these two.
“You die, I die.”
Quick, what’s the meaning of life?
Who remembers that line from St. Elmo’s Fire? For all you young folks, this movie was out in 1980’s. I remember seeing it in high school with my friends. Of course, we all loved it. I it was one of the movies from the Brat Pack genre. And who didn’t love the Brat Pack?
As teenagers, we were all trying to find our way in life. You know, figure out what we’ll be doing when we grow up. Basically, what was the meaning of life for us. So often, we found ourselves asking one another, “Quick, what’s the meaning of life?” Sure, we were trying to be funny, but in reality, we were just a bunch of lost kids, trying to figure out where we fit in this world.
Now, years later, I find myself asking the same question. So many times, I wonder if I’ve done everything that I’m supposed to do. Did I make a difference? Did I leave my mark with anybody? Am I supposed to do more than what I’m doing? Am I just stuck in the” cycle of life” and not doing enough soul searching?
We’ve all been there. How many times have we asked ourselves if we are doing what we love. I mean, what if we made wrong choices? What if we had taken the other path when we reached the crossroads in our lives?
Ah, so many what ifs. I guess we can’t really worry about the what ifs. But I still think it’s important to do some real soul searching. It’s easy to just get caught up in all of our responsibilities; we go to work, pay our bills, get some sleep, wake up, and go to work again. Yep, that vicious cycle we loath so much. Don’t get me wrong. It’s imperative that we are responsible and make a living. Obviously, we have to pay our bills on time. Sorry, we can’t get away from that. And of course, if we keep our jobs, we can take care of our family and perhaps afford the nicer things in life.
Still, I can’t help but wonder if this is all there is. Is there more I should be doing? Sometimes I think that because of that vicious cycle, we forget to live. I mean really live. We forget to do things that make us happy. That’s what I mean by soul searching. We all have to find our own happiness.
I’m not whining at all about my life. I do believe I’ve accomplished quite a bit actually. I’m quite content, if not proud of many things. I’ve practiced physical therapy for over 20 years. And truly, I’ve learned so much from some pretty amazing patients.
I’ve been married for almost 20 years to this crazy but amazing guy. That’s pretty damn awesome!
Oh and did I mention that I have three beautiful children? They’re my everything.
And lastly, I’ve published three books. I mean to be able to say that I’m a published author is pretty cool, not to mention all of the awards and recognitions they have received.
And yet, I still find myself wondering… what’s the meaning of life?
Featured Author: Celia Kennedy
Today, I have a wonderful author, Celia Kennedy, vising me. I have read both of her books, Venus Rising and Charlotte’s Restrained. Truly, they were a joy to read. I am happy to announce that she has recently released Kathleen’s Undressed.
Here’s what she shared:
“Writers are always looking for inspiration; how to put a new twist on an old topic, how to add the unexpected, put a lot of sparkle in what could be just an okay story. I’ve always believed that to be a great writer, you have to be a passionate reader, and that includes your own work! After publication of Book One of The Accidental Series, Charlotte’s Restrained, The Accidental Stalker, I realized that I had one character who, though a great contributor to Charlotte’s story, was really quite unknown.
So, I looked at Kathleen as I would a person I’ve never really gotten to know well. Why had Kathleen remained undeveloped? What wasn’t I seeing? Was there something she was hiding? From there, Kathleen’s Undressed, The Accidental Enigma was born. In my coming to understand Kathleen, I realized that I could create a character who still meshed well with the intelligent, quick-witted, high-fashion, well-travelled, group of women from book one – but I could make her so much more – give her that sparkle, and add twists! So, she becomes an enigma. As book two unfolds, readers quickly come to see that there is much more to Kathleen than Charlotte, Tiziana, Hillary and Marian – her five closest friends – know. She has secrets, some quite dark.
As for location, I write books that takes us travelling, help us enjoy a side of life we might not get to otherwise know. Kathleen and cast are a driven group of successful business women. Kathleen works for a well-known company in Paris, The City of Lights, and is far enough up the ladder of success to be invited to designer showing during Fall Fashion Week. What’s better is that her friends join her for a week of food, fashion, and fun… just as Kathleen meets a special someone.
Much like Charlotte’s Restrained, this book is very much about the strong bond of friendship between these five women. As in real life, there are highs and lows, love and heartbreak, chipped nails and bad hair days, they just happen to take place in some of the most glamorous settings in the world.”
So what is the second book about?
Kathleen’s Undressed
Book Two, The Accidental Enigma
The ladies from Charlotte’s Restrained are back together! Joining Kathleen in Paris, France, for Fall Fashion Week, the ladies and their men mingle with celebrities, royalty, and the fashion elite.
Kathleen’s thrilled to have her friends in town, but what should be a week of camaraderie and fun is about to take a darker turn. Because Kathleen has secrets. Dark secrets her friends would be devastated to learn.
A special someone enters Kathleen’s life who urges her to reveal what she’s kept hidden. It becomes clear she will have to make a choice when the group reunites for an unexpected wedding.
Will Kathleen continue deceiving her friends at the risk of their friendship — or reveal the truth at the risk of herself?
Let’s get to know this wonderful author!
Celia Kennedy was born in Wurzburg, Germany on a military base. Her parent’s penchant for traveling has stuck with her, she’s lived in and traveled through several countries.
The imagined world has always fascinated Celia. She has studied Art History, Interior Design, Landscape Architecture, and Architecture. Her thirteen year career at UW in Seattle ended in 1996. Not wanting to be homeless, she left the academic world and worked as a Landscape Architect, married the love of her life, became a mom, has been PTA President, Girl Scout leader and Boy Scout leader.
The unimaginable wealth in her life is the most fascinating thing to her.
Her love of travel, the designed and natural world, friendship, self-discovery, wine, chocolate, AND love are the foundation of her books.
Celia published her first book, Charlotte’s Restrained, The Accidental Stalker in December 2012, Venus Rising in August of 2013, Sugar It’s Cold Outside, Cupid on the Loose Anthology, April’s Fool, Fool’s Rush In Anthology, 2015 AND Kathleen’s Undressed, The Accidental Engima on February 23, 2015. Three other works are in progress.
Kathleen’s Undressed purchase link: http://www.amazon.com/Kathleens-Undressed-Accidental-Enigma-Book-ebook/dp/B00SAP05QG
Celia’s Links:
Amazon Author Page – Follow: http://www.amazon.com/Celia-Kennedy/e/B00AW5KEZO
Website: http://www.celiakennedy.weebly.com
Blog: http://www.womanreinventsself.blogspot.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMKAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KennedyCelia
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/celiakennedy/
Google +: https://plus.google.com/u/0/106475224814075459757/posts
Thank you for visiting! I can’t wait to read this sequel. We wish you all the best in your endeavors! Check Miss Celia Kennedy out, guys.
My Favorite Book Couples… Happy Valentine’s Day!
Chayse Pierce and Tessnia Sanoby from Chaysing Trilogy by Jalpa Williby: Yes, I admit, I may be a bit biased on this. But truly, I adore them. I mean, come on! He meets her when she was a young girl, and they go through so many adversities together. Both evolve through the series and so does their relationship… but their love never changes. And man, talk about that tortured love that just hurts your heart. I mean he’s her first everything… how can she possibly forget him? He’s always been her savior, her knight in the shining armor. But truly, it’s Tessnia that ends up saving him.
“I kept telling myself that I have to stay away from you because I’ll just end up hurting you. But I’m powerless. I can’t seem to stay away. Eventually, I find my way back to you again. Maybe I’m a selfish bastard.” –Chayse Pierce
“If you even think about touching her, I swear I’ll rip your heart out.” –Chayse Pierce
“I gave my heart to somebody a long time ago…when I was barely a man. And I never got it back.” –Chayse Pierce
“With the strength and power of my blood, I bond myself to you through eternity. You will always be mine, Tessnia.” –Chayse Pierce
“I’ll always be with you. I’ll always be protecting you. Even if you can’t see me, I’ll be there… watching over you.” –Chayse Pierce
“You’ve never walked away. And that day when you walked away from me, was the day you took my heart with you.”-Chayse Pierce
“My soul will always seek you out, in this life and beyond…for I will forever be yours.” –Chayse Pierce
Jamie Fraser and Claire from Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon : I mean need I say more? Virgin Jamie marries Claire to save her and then, the adventure starts. So many times, they both save one another… so many times, they would have died for another. Jamie stole my heart when I first read Outlander almost ten years ago… and I never forgot him. Oh and I’m loving the series on Starz about him. Sam Heughan is the perfect Jamie and Caitriona Balfe plays the perfect Claire.
“When the day shall come that we do part,” he said softly, and turned to look at me, “if my last words are not ‘I love you’-ye’ll ken it was because I didna have time.”-Jamie Fraser
“You are my courage, as I am your conscience,” he whispered. “You are my heart—and I your compassion. We are neither of us whole, alone. Do ye not know that, Sassenach?”-Jamie Fraser
“Claire,” he said quietly. “Tomorrow I will die. This child…is all that will be left of me–ever. I ask ye, Claire–I beg you–see it safe.” –Jamie Fraser
“Ye are Blood of my Blood, and Bone of my Bone,
I give ye my Body, that we Two might be One.
I give ye my Spirit, ’til our Life shall be Done.”-Jamie Fraser
Edward Cullen and Bella Swan from Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer:
“And so the lion fell in love with the lamb.” –Edward Cullen
“No measure of time with you would be long enough. But we’ll start with forever.” –Edward Cullen
“Look after my heart. I’ve left it with you.” –Edward Cullen
“If I could dream at all, it would be about you.” –Edward Cullen
Rose Hathaway and Dimitri Belikov from Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead : So much happens between the two of them in this series. I loved badass Dimitri, and Rose was easily able to give him run for his money.
“I want you because… my heart needs you. I just want you, Roza. We belong together.” –Dimitri
“You’ve burned into my mind forever.” –Dimitri
“If I let myself love you, I won’t throw myself in front of her. I’ll throw myself in front of you.” –Dimitri
Jace Wayland and Clary Fray from Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare: Again, another forbidden love. Love these two… Ahh, and Jace is well… Jace.
“I love you, and I will love you after I die. And if there is life after that, I will love you then.”-Jace
“If it’s a lack of forbidden you’re worried about, you could still forbid me to do things…” –Jace
“As long as I can dream, I’ll dream of you.” –Jace
Katniss Everdeen and Peeta from The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins: Man, these two were just trying to survive… didn’t expect to fall in love in the process. Although I do believe that Peeta had loved her since he first saw her in grade school.
“You love me. Real or not real?” –Peeta
“I wish I could freeze this moment, right here, right now, and live in it forever.” –Peeta
“I just want to spend every possible moment of the rest of my life with you.” –Peeta
Noah and Allie from The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks: Probably one of the most romantic couples… love them, love them!
“If you’re a bird, I’m a bird.” –Noah
“It’s not over. It’s still not over.” –Noah
“I want you. I want all of you, forever. You and me, every day.” –Noah
“The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire and brings peace to our minds.” –Noah
Aragorn and Arwen from Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien: And Aragorn and Arwen’s love survives against all odds. Such a beautiful love story.
“I would rather share one life time with you… than face all of the ages of the world alone.” –Arwen
“It is mine to give to whom I will, as is my heart.” –Arwen
That’s my list in no particular order. To all you romantics out there, Happy Valentine’s Day!!!
The Making Of A Cover…
“Don’t judge the book by its cover.”
We’ve all heard this a million times. But the reality check is that people do judge the book by its cover. Since I’ve published three books, I’m slowly learning different tricks of the trade, and a good cover for a book is a must.
I really think long and hard on what kind of cover I want. Colors are very important to me. I also like the covers to look unique. Unfortunately, the stock photos have already been used on other book covers many times. So, I used a professional photographer and a model for the covers of the Chaysing Trilogy. I’m very picky about the vision I have for my covers, so it’s imperative that both the model and the photographer understand what I’m looking for.
Chaysing Dreams Cover
In the first cover, Chaysing Dreams, the model is wearing a white dress. Tess, the main character, is young in this book, innocent and even naïve. It’s mostly a coming of age tale where she’s forced into situations, and she has to find inner strength to grow up. The white dress symbolizes her innocence. At the same time, the woods are dark and have a bluish tint to them. There is some suspense and mystery to this story, so this is portrayed through the dark coloring. In this first book, Tess is haunted by nightmares of being chased through woods. In the cover, the woods appear mysterious and intimidating, just like her dreams.
Also, the model’s pose is an important aspect of this cover. She seems like she’s lost and searching for something. At the same time, her posture is confident. She’s not timid or scared. She looks like she’s trying to find some answers. Athough Tess is a teenager in most of the first book, she’s still a strong young girl.
There are tiny stars scattered throughout the cover. For me, these shiny stars symbolize hope—light through the darkness.
Chaysing Memories Cover
In the sequel, a lot happens. Tess is growing up but has lost much of her memory, especially of the man she once loved. Although Tess is much stronger in this book, she is still lost, searching for answers. For the cover, I wanted to show this through her expression.
Also, the male character is added in this book cover. However, he is mysterious and we still don’t know much about him. Hence, in the cover, he’s hidden within the fog.
Tess is haunted by dreams of a man with gray eyes. To make the eyes stand out, the male model on the cover has glowing gray eyes. Again, this adds to the mystery and suspense of this strange man from her dreams.
Also in this cover, Tess is wearing a red dress. The color red symbolized love and passion. In this particular story, she learns to truly love, and the relationship eventually becomes passionate.
There are stars again around her, symbolizing hope through the despair.
Chaysing Destiny Cover
By now, Tess has gone through a lot in her life. She is a strong, confident woman by now. Tess has hardened herself and is fiercely protective of her loved ones. Oh, and she’s out for revenge.
It was imperative to have a fierce and confident pose in this cover (head/chin up, fists clenched, strong legs). The cover shows how much Tess has matured, and she’s not backing down from anything. And although it’s hard to see, the model is wearing a necklace with a heart and teardrop. This is the gift she had received from the man she had fallen in love with and eventually lost in Chaysing Memories. This necklace is a reflection of their relationship.
Color again is very important. She’s wearing a black dress in this cover because black symbolizes strength and power.
In the background, the sun is setting. I like the symbolism of this. As the sun sets, the light fades, overcome by the forces of darkness. This last book is a lot darker, so the setting of the sun is the perfect background. Also, the sun looks like an enormous fireball, which represents the fire that has been growing inside her through the years.
There’s a creek right behind the model. Again, this creek has a special meaning… it symbolizes perseverance. How? Well, you have to read the story to find out.
Oh and how can I forget? There’s that beautiful guy in the background. Yeah, about that… Who is he? What is his role? Is he one of the good guys or the epitome of evil?
So that’s my hard work on the covers. I’ve never been a director of something like this, but I did have a lot of fun directing these photo-shoots and eventually picking the cover shots. I think it forced me to work out of my comfort zone and really brought out my creative side. Besides, I had a fabulous model and photographer who did a fantastic job doing their magic and creating my vision.
Although the covers may not be like the big publishing house covers, they’re not bad for a little indie author like me. Besides, nothing beats the feeling of creating something yourself and having complete control over it. Now that’s priceless!
American Sniper (review)
One word: Wow!
There’s just so much I can say about this movie. Let’s talk about the acting first of all. Bradley Cooper blew me away! I was utterly impressed with his range of acting. I’ve always been his fan, but he really won me over with this movie. He was able to not only act as the loyal, tough soldier, but the wounded husband/father with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. He made the perfect Chris Kyle. It was obvious he took this role seriously and did his research.
I felt that Sienna Miller also did a phenomenal job playing Chris Kyle’s wife. Her acting made me feel. Being a wife of a soldier myself, it made it that much more real for me. When my husband was deployed to Iraq, it’s indescribable what it did to the family.
Besides the acting, I was thoroughly impressed with how much the movie held my attention. From the start of the show, I was sitting on the edge of my seat. Just when I thought I could breathe a sigh of relief, something else would happen and I’d find myself holding my breath in anticipation.
At the end of the movie, everybody in the theater clapped for “Chris Kyle.” And then there was silence. We all exited without making a sound. without saying a word… lost in our thoughts… remembering this fallen hero.
Chaysing Destiny Prologue
The images flash by at a lightning pace…
The pain sears through me, but the reward makes it tolerable. I have to push harder to bring my baby, my everything, into this world. As the fear for my baby’s safety engulfs me, an overwhelming sense of sorrow sends tears cascading down my cheeks.
The sound of the explosion has me running toward the source. I have to save him.
Screams and cries of women and children urge me to run faster. Blood everywhere. Too many dead, mutilated bodies are all around me. No, please, no! I’m too late.
Suddenly, I’m running through the field of beautiful wild flowers. I’m playing with Gem, and while I laugh, she barks with excitement. I glance over my shoulder to see Chayse running after me. He tackles me, his weight holding me down. I laugh.
When he turns me over to face him, his eyes are not happy. Without any warning, the force of his knuckles land hard on my face.
Everything goes black.
The nightmares continue to haunt me. The dread of not knowing if these nightmares are a part of my past, present, or future consumes me.
Too many questions. Not enough answers.
But the truth is out there.
I won’t back down. I will find my answers.
Happy New Year!
I can’t believe 2015 is almost here. How can that be? I still remember listening to Prince’s song “1999” and I used to think that 1999 seemed so far away. Man, if there was only a way to slow down time.
Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer to that. But as I’m getting older and hopefully a bit wiser, I’ve learned to force myself to slow things down. I’ve promised myself that if there’s a moment in time I want to remember, I’m going to stop what I’m doing and just feel. It could be somebody singing a beautiful song, or my kids opening their gifts, or my dog playing with her toys, or welcoming the birth of my beautiful niece, or finishing my manuscript…
Memories are very important to me. Since time is slipping away, I at least want to try to remember things that touch me—you know, just to internalize it all and live for the moment.
I know, I know…we all try to come up with a New Year’s Resolution, promising ourselves that this new year will be different. We all work hard on it for the first couple of months and then we fall back on our old habits. Trust me, I’ve been there many times!
But this year, I challenge you to come up with realistic goals. It could even be simple things that are easy to achieve. You just really have to look within yourself to see what’s important to you.
Somebody once told me that nobody is responsible for my happiness but myself. I thought about it for a long time, and I realized that the person was right. At the end of the day, it’s up to me whether I see the cup as half full or half empty. I’m in charge of my own happiness—not my family, not my friends, not my work. It’s up to me to find where my happiness lies. So guess what? I decided to laugh more, to appreciate the little things in life, to just live my life to the fullest. Because before I know it, things could be taken away from me in a heartbeat. Yes, life is moving that fast, folks.
What are your dreams? What are some things you always wanted to do? What is your calling? Only you can answer these questions. The only way to do that is to really do some soul searching. Sure, you may not be able to drop all that you’re responsible for and pursue your dreams. Unfortunately, that probably is not very practical. But maybe you can come up with some sort of compromise.
Let me explain. In my case, I wanted to see if I could write a novel. Granted, this has nothing to do with my career field. I’m a physical therapist for heaven’s sake. But I wanted to just challenge myself. And do you know what? I realize I absolutely love it. I enjoy creating my own world through my books, my characters, and most of all, I love bringing these books to my readers. Who would have thought that this was something that would be my passion? But does that mean I’m going to drop my job, go to other countries to do my research for my books, and just focus on my writing? That’s just not very practical for me. So what do I do? I compromise. I try to focus on my writing/marketing on evenings and weekends. Instead of writing two or three books a year, I write one every ten months. It’s the best I can do and that’s good enough for now. Like I said, I enjoy creating stories, and it’s a nice therapeutic escape to lose myself into my fictional world.
So don’t sell yourself short…just go for it! Don’t wait for the right time because it’ll never come. 2015 is YOUR year! Embrace it and take control of your own happiness!
As you think about what you want out of 2015, I’ll leave you with a little excerpt from Chaysing Dreams. This is actually New Year’s Eve party and Tess and Jack are nineteen years old in this scene.
Chaysing Dreams Excerpt (New Year’s Eve)
Jack takes my hand and leads me under the mistletoe. He lifts my chin up to look at him and says, “Ok, Tess, don’t freak like you did last time I tried to kiss you.”
“What? I didn’t freak. I didn’t know…” Before I can finish my sentence, he leans forward and plants his lips on me. It’s a brief kiss, but full of tenderness.
“See, not too bad, right?” Jack asks.
“Shut up, Jack,” I say, laughing with him.
Jack takes my hand, leads me to the rest of the guests, and we begin mingling.
Right when midnight is about to strike, we start the count down.
All of us yell, “10, 9, 8….4, 3, 2, 1!” We all jump around, hugging one another, and screaming, “Happy New Year!”
As I embrace everybody, suddenly my phone buzzes. I glance down at my phone and notice a text that says,
“Thinking about you as this new year starts. Happy New Year!”
I don’t recognize the number. So I reply:
“Thank you. Who is this?”
“Come on, Tessnia, you know who this is.”
Oh my god, it’s him! My heart skips a beat.
“How did you get my number?”
“You gave it to me, a while back.”
“I don’t remember giving it to you?”
I know I hadn’t given it to him.
“I guess where there’s a will, there’s a way. Have a good night, Tessnia.”
And that’s that. The conversation ends and I’m left wondering if that really happened. I quickly save his phone number, purposefully ignoring my shaky fingers and erratic heartbeat.
Miami Memories: Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards 2014
Recently, I attended the Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards in Miami because both Chaysing Dreams and Chaysing Memories won gold medals in the Romance Suspense category.
I had promised myself that if I won a medal, I would fly down to Miami to personally accept my medal. I figured I deserved it for all of the hard work I’ve put into the books.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect there, so at first I was a bit apprehensive. I’m normally pretty social, but still it’s a bit intimidating to be around other award-winning authors. After all, I’m a “newbie.”
Let me tell you that this trip was probably one of my most memorable trips. On Friday, I was watching TV (something I never get to do anymore) in my hotel room when there was a knock at the door. I knew one of my best friends was flying in so I assumed it was her. When I opened the door, I got the shock of my life! Yes, my best friend was standing there, but so was my other best friend. They totally surprised me! She flew in all the way from LA! I couldn’t believe my eyes. You see, all three of us have been friends since fourth grade. I mean we’ve shared everything with one another. We went to the same grade school, junior high, high school, and college. We were even roommates at the university! During all of our major moments in life, we were there for one another. Even though I hate crying when it comes to my life situations, the tears managed to sneak out when I saw them. Once the shock of seeing them diminished, I knew that it was about to be one of my most memorable girls’ weekends.
We were in Miami with no responsibilities. We were excited about being outdoors with the sun baking down on us. But Mother Nature decided to bring rain and wind instead. Yes, we could have just stayed in all day, but we didn’t let the weather deter our plans. No way! We were in Miami and we had plans, damn it!
First, we headed to the Miami Book Fair. Both Chaysing Dreams and Chaysing Memories were going to be displayed in the Readers’ Favorite booth, so we definitely did not want to miss that. Words can’t describe how proud I felt when I saw my books there. I got to meet the wonderful Readers’ Favorite Team as well as other award-winning authors!
Even though the rain was coming down hard, we still headed to South Beach after the Book Fair. There was no way we were going to be in Miami and not go to South Beach. It felt like the hurricane was coming, but that didn’t stop us from sitting outside at one of the restaurants, drinking Mojitos! Oh, and did I mention that they gave us free shots? We must have stayed at that restaurant for a couple of hours catching up on life. When we finally headed to the beach, it was completely abandoned because of the rain and wind. But hey, we weren’t going to wait around for everything to clear. Instead, we danced in the rain! Our motto for the weekend? YOLO!
When we finally headed back to the hotel, I went downstairs for the Meet and Greet while my friends decided to take a quick nap. It was so nice to meet some very talented authors. Afterwards, I also attended the seminars that Readers’ Favorite had for us. They were about marketing and since I hate the marketing part of all this, they were definitely useful. Now, the challenge is how to find the time!
After the seminars, we hung out at the bar and mingled with other authors. It was nice to hear their stories, and it just felt good to be around people who got it. Finally, there were people around me who put their heart and soul into something simply because of their love and passion for their story and their writing. Nothing more.
On Saturday, we headed to South Beach once again. We simply couldn’t get enough of it, and we wanted to eat some yummy food there. We walked the boardwalk and even ran into a guy singing while playing his guitar. Yeah, a guy and his guitar: my huge weakness! He sang beautifully and with the ocean breeze caressing us, peace and serenity overcame me. Something else that was long overdue for me!
Saturday evening was the big event! Although I was a bit nervous, I was definitely more excited! I was so ready to go on that stage and get my medals. At that point, I didn’t even care if I tripped on stage with my high heels. Hell, nothing was going to stop me from that tiny moment of fame!
Words can’t describe the feelings of pride that overpowered me when my name was called for the two books. As I walked across the stage, I just wanted to start doing cartwheels on stage. Oh, and I don’t even know how to do a cartwheel. I wanted to yell, “HELL YEAH!” My best friends were right there by the stage, cheering me on. And I thought, “Wow, this is what it’s all about.” It’s not about money or fame. It’s about being recognized for your hard work and sharing those important moments of your life with the ones who matter…the ones who will stand by you through thick and thin…the ones who have always supported you in life.
For the rest of the evening, I couldn’t stop smiling. The event was beautiful, and I was very impressed with Readers’ Favorite for all their hard work. I was in my own happy world, and nothing was going to ruin it. I mean it’s not every day that a girl wins not one, but two gold medals for her hard work. So for the remaining of the night, I let the feelings of pure bliss consume me.
We eventually headed to the bar and closed it down. I met more amazing people, and we even had a round-robin of “What’s the meaning of life?” While some kept their answers light, others gave some profound answers. Again, it was another wonderful memory for me to hold dear.
What was my answer to meaning of life? To create memories. It’s important to remember all of the events in our lives—the good and the bad. It makes us who we are today. So that weekend in Miami, I definitely created some beautiful memories not only with my best friends, but also some new friends.
Jalpa Williby 