Monday, September 09, 2013

Vintage Love Blog Tour + Giveaway

Full disclosure: Author Agay Llanera is a classmate from Mina V. Esguerra's #romanceclass. But when our online class started, I wouldn't know her from Eve. Since then I've actually learned a bit about her through our email exchanges and chats. I'm really pleased that she's making a book tour stop on Ficsation to share her contemporary romance novella Vintage Love.

About the Book:
26-year-old Crissy Lopez’s life is in dire need of a makeover. Her wardrobe revolves around ratty shirts and beat-up sneaks; her grueling schedule as a TV Executive leaves no room for a social life; and worst of all, she’s still hung up on the Evil Ex who left her five years ago.

When her fashionable grand-aunt passes away and leaves behind a roomful of vintage stuff, the Shy Stylista inside Crissy gradually resurfaces. Soon, she feels like she's making progress -- with a budding lovelife to boot! But the grim ghost of her past catches up with her, threatening to push her back into depression. To finally move on, Crissy learns that walking away is not enough. This time, she needs to take a leap of faith.

You can purchase the book through any of the following links:
Amazon
Smashwords
• Paperback: Contact the author (links below)

As I mentioned earlier, Ms Llanera and I met through Mina Esguerra's online #romanceclass. While I knew that she had begun her novella even before the class started, I also wanted to find out how the class had helped her.
WRITE AND WRONGS
How I Finished My First Novella

A year before I finished Vintage Love, I attempted to write a Young Adult novella with the"inspiration-will-come-when-it-comes" approach. I had heard about writers talking about how their characters had written themselves, and how they had moved the story forward on their own.

After writing the prologue, I felt pretty good about it. So I moved on to writing Chapter one...and well, that was as far that I had gotten. My characters refused to budge. I didn't know what was going to happen. So after countless attempts to finish the chapter, I just gave up and shelved the story.

The following year found me pregnant with my first child. I felt the need to do something huge, to cross an item off my bucket list before I popped because I knew that being a mother would rob me of the luxury of free time.

I decided to write a chick-lit novella. Determined not to repeat history, I first did a bit of research on the net, on how authors wrote their novels. Then I read about five chick-lit novels just to get me in the groove.

First, I drafted a synopsis--nothing fancy; the important thing was I had an idea of how the story would begin and end. Then I stapled some sheets of paper together (recycled of course) and proceeded to write the synopsis for each chapter by hand. I felt like I was accomplishing more that way instead of staring at the blinking cursor on my laptop screen.

After I had mapped out the entire story, which took about a month, I proceeded to type at white heat, which meant I just wrote whatever came to mind without thinking of grammar or story flow. After finishing a chapter, I'd stop. Then I'd continue working on it the next day; this time, editing it as ruthlessly as I could.

I did this day after day, and after two months, I found myself with a finished novella.

The story didn't end there, what with the beta reading, editing, and publishing done a year later, but the main thing was that I finished it. And now, if you choose to, you can read it.
I'm really glad I picked up a copy of Vintage Love. I was hooked from the first page. Crissy and Vince are two extremely likable characters and their romance develops naturally. I could definitely imagine their story being on a Summit romance! I loved how going through her Nanay Maring's vintage things helped Crissy deal with her own past. But don't take my word for it -- get your copy of Vintage Love and read for yourself!

About the Author:
Agay Llanera is a freelance writer for television and video, and a published writer of children’s books. She is a member of KUTING, a private, non-stock, non-profit organization, which aims to be the Philippines’ foremost writers’ organization for children.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AgayLlanera
• Twitter: @agayskee
• Blog: http://agayisagirl.blogspot.com/
• Email: agay.llanera@gmail.com

Giveaway time! Get the chance to win one of three swag bags (including a paperback copy of Vintage Love and vintage-inspired jewelry and bookmark) Agay Llanera, one of three swag bags (including a paperback copy of Hello and trinkets) from Addie Lynn Co, and a grand swag bag from Addie Lynn Co, which includes a paperback copy of Hello.


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