"Keep it real, Grandma!"

By Vonnie Davis

Over a year ago when my editor told me she wanted a romantic series about former SEALs suffering with PTSD, I nearly declined. First off, how could I possibly make post traumatic stress romantic? Second--and more importantly--my second oldest grandson was battling his own PTS demons. A year to the day after he returned from serving in Afghanistan, he put a gun to his head. Thank God, it didn't fire. We still don't know why, except for God's divine intervention.

Josh had texted me shortly after arriving back in the States: Don't tell anyone. I'm in Texas.

Cryptic, even for Josh. Had he been reassigned? Was he keeping the news from an old girlfriend? What? I texted back: Why? Hey, I can be cryptic, too.

I don't want anyone but you to know I'm no longer in battle. I was injured.

Tell me where you are. I'm on my way.

No. I can't handle seeing anyone. I'll be okay. I'll tell you when I'm released, but no one else can know. I need to be alone.

I was in panicked Grandma mode. Josh had always been a headstrong child and we'd butted heads many times. He said he found security in my honesty and "house rules." So what was I to do with the few kernels of information he'd given me?

True to his word, he told me when he was released, again asking me not to tell his mother. I didn't understand all the secrecy or his refusal to tell me about his injuries. I told him about the new series I was writing, hoping it would prompt him to share. All he said was "Keep it real, Grandma."

I pushed. "What do you mean." And he finally opened up. His first injury had been to his bicep where a bullet wiped out his tattoo. He lost 2 close buddies in a mortar attack, their body parts covering him. He was standing in the hole of their vehicle, manning the machine gun, when a roadside bomb blew the vehicle up, causing a severe back injury and sending him to a hospital in Texas.

Josh told me about his triggers--for instance, he can't handle riding on the passenger side of a car because that side of the road goes "Boom!" There are night terrors. Depression. Avoidance of loud noise. He's on medication and seeing a counselor. He's making steady progress. I'm proud of his efforts to overcome his internal battle scars.

"I've ordered the first book in your new series, Grandma. You better have kept it real."

I hope I did.

BUY LINKS: https://amzn.com/B0174PTMU2

BARNES AND NOBLE: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/her-survivor-vonnie-davis/1122885268?ean=9781101967928

Time to Plant Flowers by Vonnie Davis

Finally, the manuscript for book two of my "Black Eagle Ops" series has been emailed to my editor. I was only 6 days past my deadline and--cough--19,000 words over what they'd asked for in the contract. But, really, who wants to read a piddling 70,000 word book? Besides, I'm a writer, not a mathematician.

Or so I'll tell Sue when she returns the manuscript and tells me to cut chapter 9 and eliminate a character or two because this mess is wa-a-a-y too long.

She sent me 3 pictures of men today to use as models for the cover of the book. The graphic department at Loveswept is working on the book now, even though it won't release until Thanksgiving week. I have to admit they were all handsome looking devils. Each swoon-worthy in his own way. The only problem being they all had two arms and my hero, a former SEAL, lost most of his arm in Syria. Calvin and I studied them and both agreed number 2 was the best, tattoos and all. Would a prosthesis have a tat, I wondered? Still, it's too early in that process to get up-tight. I might end up with a completely different male. Who knows.

Meanwhile, it's time to plant flowers!

Yay me, I love to play in the dirt. There aren't just newly bought flats of annuals sitting outside the garage and hanging pots from the roof of the front porch, but there are also 5 new indoor plants to replace the ones that had the audacity to wither and die while I wrote like a mad woman.

Seriously, just because I forgot to water them for a few little ol' months. Can you imagine? Where was their loyalty. Hadn't I talked to them? Sung to them? Gee, you don't think my singing was what killed them, do you? After all, what do plants know about hitting the right notes?

I really miss the six-foot palm I'd nursed from an eight-inch plant in a basket assortment given to me after I'd been in a car accident back in 2000. The palm had survived my moving from Pennsylvania to Maryland when Calvin and I got married. I'd lovingly set it on the floor of the car when we moved from Maryland to Virginia in 2005. It looked fabulous in the corner of our living room when I started writing HERS TO HEAL. Maybe the book's title should have been A PLANT TO KILL.

Read more about my books at www.vonniedavis.com

In the Time Crunch by Vonnie Davis

I’m pushing toward the deadline for book two of my wounded warrior series, Black Eagle Ops. Turn in date for HERS TO HEAL is April 8^th.  I won’t mention how many more words I have to write to meet contractual demands. The thought only gives me more wrinkles; and I’ve got enough already.

These books are a little different for me. They're stretching my comfort zone, which is good. A writer has to keep growing. So, I'm trying a few new things and digging deeper into emotions.

How do you feel about Prologues? My former agent hated them and wouldn’t contract a book that had one. I enjoy them if they’re brief and bring a historical or mystical edge to the story. Author David Morell writes the best prologues, bringing in past historical events that have direct influence on todays' events.

I’m using the same prologue for all three books of the series, except for the final line. Here it is:

In the Hill Country of Texas, a community developed around an old Apache legend about “Wounded Warrior Falls.” Myth or truth, the story has been handed down, generation to generation, that the rocks in Warrior Falls carry magical healing powers. Wounded Apaches would stand or be carried beneath the waterfall for the healing-infused water to pour over them.

Over time, the small town Warrior Falls has grown to a population nearing six-thousand. Its few streets boast quaint shops, restaurants, and supply stores kept afloat by the townsfolk and nearby ranchers. Many of these businesses are owned and operated by salt of the earth, often quirky people who love their community just the way it is. That’s why the deep secret of Warrior Falls is so closely guarded.

Until a team of present-day wounded warriors slowly trickle into town…

This is Reece “Steelhead” Browning’s story.

Do you enjoy prologues? Or do you like background information dribbled into the story. This is my first time at doing this, so I’m understandably nervous. 

Not as nervous as I am about meeting my deadline though. Okay, who moved my chocolate?

www.vonniedavis.com

 

 

Give Me a Different Font and a Partial Face on My Cover by Vonnie Davis

I'm continuing the discussion Brenda started on book covers. Do they make or break sales? Do we expect the cover to closely match what's inside? I do. I don't want a blonde woman on the cover and a redheaded heroine within the story. It strikes me odd to see spring flowers on the cover and have the story take place in the fall.

I write eBooks and read books only on my Kindle. Some people enjoy the feel and smell of a paper book. I like the lightweight convenience of having over eight-hundred books on my eReader, including my own paltry fourteen stories.

Authors do care about their covers. We have a vision of how we want our story or characters portrayed. Do we always get what we want? No. Heaven's no! But we can politely suggest once the team for our books sends three or four prototypes for our covers what suggestions we'd like and why. I write for Penguin Random House's romance eBook line--Loveswept.

Let's talk about my Highlander's Beloved series. Book one was A Highlander's Obsession and book two, A Highlander's Passion. I wrote book three as A Highlander's Heart, but the team wanted something leaning more toward the paranormal side of the series, so they changed my title to Bearing It All. These were romances about bear-shifters. The team thought a change of title would improve my sales.

They emailed me 3 cover concepts. The one I liked had a font I thought was hard to read. I asked for the same font used in books one and two. I also wanted the bear larger than they had him since he played a larger roll in the book. He was quite the lovable bear, impetuous, and a nervous eater--and not prone to obey the shifting rules. Here's what they gave me...

 

 

 

 

I'm writing a series now about wounded warriors, former SEALs, who form a covert ops team stationed in the hill country of Texas on Eagle Ridge Ranch. The team--editor, editor-in-chief, online marketing, advertising, graphic artists--chose all three of the books' titles for me.  My hero has an amputee below his one knee and deals with PTSD. He had short dark hair and a square chin.

 

The first concepts they sent me ranged from a man in military-style clothes and a plaid ball cap--plaid, I tell you!--to a skinny armed guy to a young kid. My hero had been in the SEALs for ten years so the kid shot was out. A person with a leg amputee would exercise his upper body to build up muscles to overcome the change to his lower mobility. With that thought in mind, the skinny armed man was out. That left the plaid hat man. I asked to have his hat removed, showing only his chin. The font they used was grey. I wanted colors that popped out. I asked for a few changes and this is what I got.

 

 

 

 

I'm not shy about stating what I want. I give them example pictures and links to covers I like AND dislike. I'm polite, but insistent. Do I always win. No, but we usually come to a happy compromise and that's all I ask.

 

Visit me on my Amazon page http://www.amazon.com/Vonnie-Davis/e/B0059HUKMC/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1456371206&sr=1-2-ent