Living Again (70 page)

Jason Mraz- I Won’t Give Up

Jason Mraz- Lucky

Hunter Hayes- Wanted

Hunter Hayes- Cry With You

Florida Georgia Line- Stay

Maroon 5- Sad

Phillip Phillips- Gone, Gone, Gone

Labrinth- Beneath Your Beautiful

Brad Paisley- Then

Blake Shelton- God Gave Me You

Blake Shelton- Mine Would Be You

Kelly Clarkson- Standing In Front of You

Tim McGraw- My Little Girl

Tim McGraw/ Faith Hill- It’s Your Love

Faith Hill- There You’ll Be

Rascal Flatts- What Hurts the Most

Rascal Flatts- Bless the Broken Road

Justin Timberlake- Mirror

Heartland- I Loved Her First

Lady Antebellum- Need You Now

Lady Antebellum- Ready to Love Again

Lady Antebellum- As You Turn Away

Dave Matthews Band- You and Me

Celine Dion- Alone

David Guetta & Usher- Without You

Daughtry- Start of Something Good

Adele- One and Only

Garden State- Let Go

Jason Derulo- Marry Me

Chantel Kreviazuk- Feels Like Home

I can’t remember a time that I didn’t write, that a story didn’t make its way into my head at any time, begging to be written. My mind has been creating stories since I was old enough to write. It has always been my dream to be a writer. This year, I finally decided to put myself out there and self-publish my first book.
Living Again
was born in my head, the characters screaming to get out and make me type faster. I wrote the majority of this story in a month’s time. I wrote eight to twelve hours a day, neglecting pretty much everything else. I wrote, I deleted, I revised, I wrote again. The characters told me where the story was going to take a turn I didn’t plan for, and I listened.

To give credit where credit is due, I wouldn’t be where I was today if my mom, Krista, didn’t think I was an absolute genius (she still does). She always encouraged my love of writing, buying me a typewriter so I didn’t have to write anymore, then a computer so I didn’t have to use the type writer. She will tell everyone who will listen how amazingly smart I was at every age. She’s biased, but I love her.

My little sister Blair was always my biggest cheerleader. She was always excited when I would tell her that I was writing a new story, and she would have me read it to her every night, but we
had
to start from the beginning. Even today, while reading my book, she would email or text me and gush on and on about how much she loved it, that she bawled her eyes out, and that I was meant to do this. I love you, Blair Bear (oh, yes I did). You have always been my #1 fan.

To my husband, Cameron, and my two children, thank you. I was physically present but not otherwise present during a lot of this process of writing. You were left to make dinner, watch TV, and amuse yourselves while I typed furiously into the night. Thanks, Cam, for always supporting me and wanting me to live my dreams. To my oldest son, who asked me if I was
still
writing, I’m done with this one but definitely not done. To my baby boy who asked every day if he could read it (no, baby, sorry, you still can’t), I love you for believing in me even when I said no every day. The three of you are my entire world.

To my best friend since childhood, LeElla, you have always been
so
much more than just a friend. You were also one of my biggest cheerleaders when we were kids, and maybe someday we will get to publish that best friends’ story we wrote way back when. I can never thank you enough for believing in me through this process, answering my many, many texts, and reading the story again and again and again until I could get it “just right”. Thanks for the advice, the lengthy phone calls, and just being you. I owe you, big time.

To my “assistants”, Kellie and Mindy. Wow. We had a blast at Book Bash over the summer, and I warned you that I was inspired to finish the book and get it out there. Since then, who could’ve imagined what has happened? I have loved our group texts, whether it’s me asking you a question, seeing if you could look something up for me, or needing you to read a section to see what you thought. Both of you dropped what you were doing many times to help me, and I will never forget that. Thank you for helping me contact people, post things on Facebook, and anything else I asked you to do.

Mindy, when we met at the young age of 9, who would’ve thought we’d still be friends so many years later? I’m thankful for your lifelong friendship, and how much you have been there during this whole process. Thank you for always believing in me. You are the true definition of a dedicated friend.

Kellie, we are just two peas in a pod. Our thoughts are often so on track with each other, all we can do is laugh. I love our late night texts, our book discussions, and our Google searches where we laugh until we cry. You are one in a million, Kel. Thank you for going way above and beyond to do anything and everything for me, whether it is book related or not. You are the greatest example of friendship, and I value you every single day. I promise I won’t make you do google searches for certain things anymore.

Brooke, you are the most dedicated friend any girl could ever ask for. Between our summer chats over lunch with our kids, to our phone conversations and texts, your encouragement that I could and would do this means more to me than I can ever tell you. You putting aside what you needed to do because you
just had
to read the story made me feel like a million bucks. That’s what you do every single time-make me feel like I matter. Meeting you three years ago was one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.

To my “beta’s”: LeElla, Mindy, Kellie, Blair, Brooke, Kari, Skye, and Barbara. Thank you so much for your priceless feedback, for encouraging me when I was frustrated, and believing in the story I was telling. And for the 5 star reviews from ALL of you! You sure know how to make a girl cry.

To Kari, my wonderful cover designer. You have become so much more than just the designer for my cover. You are an amazing person, and I can’t wait to work with you for a really long time. I will forever be thankful for the day I saw your name pop up on Facebook and decided to contact you.

To Angela, thank you for making it beautiful and ready to publish, and for answering my many, many questions before I even got it over to you. You are wonderful at what you do.

To all of the blogs that have agreed wholeheartedly to promote my small, independently published self. You are an amazing asset to this indie community. There are too many to list, but thank you. Each and every one of you spend your time and effort to help us get the word out about ourselves without any payment or reward. Ashley from Closed the Cover, thank you for setting up my blog tour and guiding me through this process.

To Gail McHugh, for answering me personally when I asked you question after question about the right path to publishing. It is amazing to me that you still take the time to encourage others to write, and give advice about what you have done to make it in this industry. You are a kind, selfless person. There needs to be more people like you in the world.

To everyone, past and present, who have believed in my dream and cheered me on, waiting impatiently for the finished product. Thank you. I hope you love it as much as I do.

Turn the page for a sneak peek of…

by LL Collins

Coming 2014

Five Years Ago…

She sat against the outside wall of her house, the dingy porch covering her from view, her head in her hands while sobs wracked her entire body. Her long red hair covered her like a curtain, shielding her from the cruelty of the outside world. It was like she was in a cocoon, but knew that it wouldn’t help keep her safe from this pain. She knew he was leaving, she could feel the loss of him like a limb was missing. A moment ago he had been standing there, watching her, love pouring from him like water rushing down a waterfall, but now, he was walking away. She did this. She was twenty one years old, but she knew that she would never love anyone the way she loved him ever again in her life. But, she had ruined it, just like everything else. Her innate way of screwing everything up had just made the man of her dreams walk away from her forever. She couldn’t tell him. She just couldn’t. She couldn’t let him ruin his career over her. So she let him think the absolute worst of her.

Hearing the engine of his motorcycle rev up, she couldn’t watch him pull away. She knew exactly what he looked like sitting on that big beast of a machine, his sexy, muscular legs straddling the body like it was a beautiful woman, his strong arms gripping the handlebars tightly, making his muscles contract. His dark tousled hair would be covered by the helmet, as would his dark blue eyes, but nothing could mask the pull, the draw of this man. The tattoo hidden under his short sleeve shirt would peek out as the wind rustled through his body, a tattoo she had memorized over the last two years. She had run her fingers over it, her tongue, and laid her head on it to fall asleep more times than she could count. It was the only tattoo he had, a tribal design that went around his defined bicep. He had gotten it one night on a dare from some of the guys, and she absolutely loved it. Most of the time, he was a clean cut, professional driving a police car and walking around with a stern face. She knew him differently, the edgy, passionate, love of her life. Devin Putnam. Just his name caused a reaction in her body. Four years older than her but her soul mate just the same. Their relationship had been combustible, passionate, and all consuming, but the fire had been instantly extinguished the moment he pulled away, riding that reverberating motorcycle. She knew one thing for an absolute fact. Though he had loved her just as much as she had loved him, once the rumble of that engine faded into the night, he would never come back to her.