Dave Bond's "A Time to Build"

Title: A Time To Build
Publisher: Published by Desert Breeze Publishing.

Cover blurb: Brian Marshall lives a quiet, serious life. At age thirty-three, he’s content and reasonably prosperous. When a new client steps inside his office one July morning, and he recognizes her strikingly beautiful face, his thoughts are thrown back in time thirteen years, to a time when he committed perhaps the greatest mistake of his life.

Hallie Grover has come a long way in thirteen years. When she left central Pennsylvania as a dispirited seventeen-year old to live with her divorced mother in California, she couldn’t have imagined the path her life was to take. Will she be able to handle her new life, owning and managing a small café in McCane, Pennsylvania? And will she be able to rebuild a relationship with her sister, and a thirteen-year old girl she’s never had the chance to know?

Hallie doesn’t appear to recognize Brian. He fears she will one day remember him. He knows he needs to keep his distance, but it’s impossible.

Hallie blossoms, but is she ready to embrace a relationship she wasn’t expecting?


1) How did this story come to you?
Like most stories, it just did! This novel has actually gone through a number of significant “evolutions.” It was originally written in first person, but the publisher rejected it. I wish I could come up with a good answer to this question! Story ideas are always “popping up” in my head, and this is really the only thing I can say!

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
I already had a 3-book contract with Desert Breeze Publishing, and when an idea for another series came to me, I put together a proposal and submitted it. My proposal was accepted and I found myself contracted to write 6 full-length novels in a 2-year span. Concerning the journey for A Time To Build, as I just alluded to, this novel went through several iterations. It was actually originally entitled, “The Park,” based on a park where my main character loved to spend time. The last chapter was added after my editor suggested the ending, while good, needed a little more closure. And looking back, it was an excellent bit of advice.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
1st, I am blind. Second, I am a male who loves to read and write romance (there are some qualifiers which I won’t discuss here!). And, third, I am a type I diabetic.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
My next release (after A Time To Build) is the sequel to my debut. It is entitled, “Sweet Music,” and will be available in October (2012). The manuscript for Sweet Music has just been submitted, and as of this date in June, I am now beginning to work on the sequel to A Time To Build, entitled, “A Time To Heal.”

5) Parting comments?
Based on feed-back from male readers of (mostly) my debut (The Attaché), I’ve kicked around the idea of marketing my novels as, “romance men find worth reading.” Or something like this! Not sure though, since women enjoy my novels as well.

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
http://www.authordavidbond.com

Nancy Thelen's "The Color of Light"

Title: The Color of Light

Cover blurb: Can a kindness make up for a crippled body? Or heal a distrustful heart?

Jackie lives alone on the edge of a small lake. The broken stained glass in the abandoned church camp across the way is a good image of her life: beautiful although fractured. When she wins a free house makeover from a TV series, Jackie remembers how others need more than she, and decides to give it to her friend Kat who is paralyzed from MS. The house becomes a new lifeline for Kat. Jackie, though, doesn't realize her soul is as broken as Kat's body... afraid of being abandoned yet again... until she visits the church camp one more time, and finds Doug, one of the show hosts, waiting for her in the wings...

1) How did this story come to you?
I was an avid fan of Extreme Makeover-Home. As I was watching the show one evening, the idea began to form for my book, which starts out with the fictional TV show On Board.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
This is the first of a series, and is actually my second book. The writing of the book was completed three years ago, but it wasn’t until this summer that I realized there were ways to publish my book that didn’t require the use of a publishing firm. I met Amy Deardon through the ACFW. She offers her services for publishing an ebook. She has walked me through all of the difficult and confusing tasks of ebook publishing; producing the final product.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
My favorite TV channel is National Geographic
The first thing I do every morning is ride ten miles on a stationary bike
I have four books written, and am working on the fifth

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I’m working of the fourth book of the series and I’ve retained the publishing rights of my first book, Lost and Found, and hope to have it published as an ebook for Kindle by the end of the year. I’m also working on a cookbook which will include recipes for one or two servings, and I hope to publish that in the early part of 2013.

5) Parting comments?
I believe that my imagination as well as my ability to write is a gift that I have been blessed with. The world provides a vast amount of information that can be used to create stories, and I hope to be able to utilize just a sprinkling of it in my books.

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
My blogspot: nancy-thelen.blogspot.com