Sawyer Bennett's Blog, page 22

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. For those of you who read Off Limits, you know that the main character, Nix Caldwell, suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and received psychiatric help. I have been so blessed that this book has touched a few people, two in particular who reached out to me because suicide has impacted their lives.

Darlene Avery lost her son, Matt to in 2010 and Denise Milano Sprung from over at Shh Mom’s Reading lost her brother, Keith Milano in 2004. Because of these two ladies who so bravely talk about suicide, I started learning more about it.  I’ve also had a lot of discussions with my husband, Shawn who has his Masters and Ph.D. in psychology. The problem we face is that mental health disease has such a negative stigma attached to it, we tend to sweep it under the rug.  The mere fact that Darlene and Denise are so open about it, gives me such hope that mental disease can be fought and defeated.

To honor Matt and Keith, and their brave family members for calling attention to suicide, I’m going to be donating a portion of my profits from Off Limits to the Keith Milano Memorial Fund, which was set up to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

There are a few other authors who are doing the same, and you can find links to their books on Keith’s Facebook Page.

Click here if you want to make a direct donation to Keith’s fund.

To learn more about suicide prevention, visit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Jay Byars – Scott Hoover Photography

When I start out to write a novel, the first thing I do is search the internet and find pictures of who I think my main hero and heroine would look like. Then I write my descriptions of  them based on the photo.

When I set out to write Off The Record, my lazy internet searching brought me to a picture of model, Jay Byars. I immediately knew that he would be the perfect, Linc Caldwell, who you all came to lust after when he was introduced in Off Limits as Nix Caldwell’s  younger brother and star goalie for the New York Rangers.

When it came time to create the cover for Off The Record, I searched and searched through hundreds of images to find the perfect representation of my book. But nothing was striking my fancy! So I thought to myself…I wonder if I could get Jay Byars for the cover. I thought it was a long shot but I also figured, “nothing ventured, nothing gained”.

I shot off a hesitant email to Jay’s agent, Tom Winslow at Major Model Management in NYC. Tom responded promptly and led me through the process.  After I pitched the book, Tom put me in touch with Rick Day Photography, who shot the photo I was interested in.  And before you know it…BOOM…I had a lovely high res photo of Jay in my hands to use for my cover. *happy dance*

In the days coming up to the cover reveal, which said cover I’m happy to say is FREAKIN’ AWESOME, I’m going to be posting some comparison facts between Jay and Linc. You’d be surprised how eerily similar the two men are.  There may even be a few more photos of Jay…I mean Linc…I mean Jay…

Stay tuned…

*please note:  this photo above (by Scott Hoover Photography) is not the photo for the cover. You won’t see that until May 23rd during the Cover Reveal.

 

 

 

I am so psyched to have been asked by my friend and wonderful author, A.M. Hargrove to participate in The Next Big Thing. A.M. is a wonderful writer of young adult and adult romances. You can visit her website or check out her Amazon author page. I can personally highly recommend her newest release, Kissing Fire.

Without further ado…. (and what does “ado” mean anyway?)

1.What is the working title of your next book?

I am getting ready to release the third book in the “Off Series”.  It’s called Off The Record and it will be available 6/11/13 on Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Smashwords and iTunes.

2.Where did the idea come from for the book?

The idea was spawned after a lot of my fans wrote me after reading Off Limits, telling me that they wanted a story about Nix Caldwell’s brother, Linc.  They asked, I answered.

3.What genre does your book fall under?

Contemporary Romance, New Adult

4.What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

This is an easy one since I always start with photos of what I envision the main characters would look like. Here are the two muses I used for Linc Caldwell and Ever Montgomery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Boy meets girl, who pisses him off causing him to seek revenge, yet their mutual attraction sort of gets in the way!

6.Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Self-published.

7.How long did/will it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

I wrote the first draft in about ten days. It takes a lot longer, though, to do my read through, additions, edits, etc.

8.What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Oh, gosh. Nothing is coming to mind. I would have to say I compare it to the other Off books (Off Sides and Off Limits) because my writing style for New Adult is pretty set in stone. It’s much different than my paranormals.

9.Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Again, my fans asked for a book about Linc. I honestly had not thought much about him when I wrote him into Off Limits, but he had some appeal apparently. I’ve amped that appeal up a lot in Off The Record.

10.What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?

Well, it’s written from the POV of both main characters. It’s the same style I employed with the other Off Books. It let’s you get into both of their heads so you can see how they are reacting to the same situations. It also takes place in three different settings.  New York, Wyoming and North Carolina.

This past week, I have been consumed with the release of Off Limits. I’ve been obsessively checking my sales, and my Amazon rankings. I’ve been reading reviews while holding my breath and checking FB and Twitter about a million times a day. Then yesterday morning, an amazingly wonderful woman contacted me by email to let me know that she had just finished reading Off Limits and it had been a major balm to a very rough day she was having. You see, 3 years ago, she lost her son and she had been saving up to be able to lay his headstone, which they were doing yesterday. She wanted to let me know that Off Limits had really helped her, particularly Nix’s tattoo messages of inspiration. Since then, we’ve been emailing and she’s shared pictures of her son, Matt with me. She made me realize that numbers are just numbers. In the grand scheme of thing, there was something far more important to my writing than how well I’m doing in the rankings. I just want her to know that she impacted me as much as my writing impacted her, and I can’t thank her enough for that. She’s given me some fresh perspective that will guide me from here on out…

In appreciation for all of the fans that have joined my Facebook page, I’m running a giveaway from April 23, 2013 through may 1, 2013.  I’ll be giving away four prizes which include three individual Amazon Gift Cards for $25.00 a piece, and the fourth prize will be a $25.00 Amazon Gift Card plus a sterling silver and amethyst necklace designed and created by Sawyer Bennett. Check out Off Limits, Released 4/16/13    4.9 out of 5 star reviews.

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Off Sides is on sale for $.99 in celebration of the upcoming release of Off Limits.

Click here to purchase on Amazon.

Add Off Limits to your Goodreads shelf.

Off Limits Releasing 4/16/13

Two years ago, Emily Burnham, had an epiphany about the shallowness of her life.  And she made it her mission to become a different person…a better woman.  Out from under the controlling thumb of her mother, Emily is tasting the real world for the first time.  And she likes it.

Nixon Caldwell has served his time in the Marine Corps, surviving two brutal tours in Afghanistan. He is back home, surrounded by what he likes best…isolation.  It’s certainly the easiest way to avoid confrontation of the consuming guilt that is weighing him down.

When an accident brings Emily and Nix together, he soon learns he is not the master of his own fate. Struggling with his own pain, Nix tries to guard himself against Emily’s charms.  He wants her in his bed, but he doesn’t want her in his heart.

Having grabbed life by the horns, Emily wants it all.  But is she willing to accept just the small part of himself that Nix is offering?  Or can she reach the part of his soul that he has deemed to be Off Limits?

 

I have no clue what that slow dance of passion was.

I think many women would coin that to be “love making”.

There wasn’t love involved but it was without a doubt the most sexually charged, softly passionate experience of my existence.

I know I’ve never come harder in my life.

I know I will probably never replicate that moment again. Ever.

I know that Emily has just become so much more to me than she was just this side of ten minutes ago. – Nix Caldwell