I’m delighted to introduce you to Tracy Brenton, whose favourite books to read are “kissing books” (full credit to ‘The Princess Bride’) and if there isn’t at least a little bit of romance in a story then she’ll probably lose interest. So it won’t come as a surprise to learn that all of the stories she writes have a romance at their core. Even the zombie ones!
Tracy love all things creative and take way too many pictures of sunsets and all the pretty flowers around her home on the Mid North Coast of NSW. She’s currently working hard on developing a taste for coffee and writing the next book in the Tempest Beach series.
Tracy, we’d love to hear your story behind the story. Take it away!
I’m an accountant by day and a writer by night (& morning, and weekends, and any spare 5 minutes). I started writing about five years ago when I realised I wasn’t doing anything just for me.
I tried a bunch of different things:
- Dragon Boat racing, which was awesome, but then I injured my shoulder
- Yoga, which I still do intermittently
- I joined Rotary, and have been President of my club the last two years
- And, I did a writing course with the Australian Writers Centre (AWC)
That course was the start of my writing journey. I joined an AWC writing group and wrote a short story for an Anthology we put together, just to see if I could. That story was High Tide and when I released it on its own recently it made number one in it’s Amazon category – short Romance stories – and stayed in the top three for over a week!
After High Tide, I decided to see if I could write a full length novel. After a great start, I got lost and couldn’t figure out what happened next (that book’s still sitting half complete on my cloud drive). So I set out to learn more about story structure, and plotting. When I felt ready for my second attempt at a full length book I gave myself a deadline, my birthday.
Deadlines are awesome. I finished it by my deadline, got feedback, got it edited and started submitting to publishers. It wasn’t quite what they were looking for, so that book’s sitting on the cloud drive too, waiting for its time.
In the meantime I had started writing the next book which turned out to be Spark. Again, I gave myself a deadline. I wanted to see if I could write it in twelve weeks. In the process I became a morning person (that was short lived) and hit my deadline. Mind you, it took another four months to get feedback, a professional editor, and to do all the edits.
I’d pitched Spark to a publisher at a writing conference and they said to send it through once it was finished. So, when it was finished I had to decide – submit or self publish.
I’m a business woman at heart, so have gone down the self publishing route. It’s been a huge learning curve, but my book went live on my birthday.
To make time to write I completely rearranged my life, selling my business and getting a part-time job. My part-time job turned into two part time jobs so I’m actually working full-time hours, but I still have more time than when I was working for myself and it’s made all the difference to getting my book finished.
Fun fact: I can only write first person. I tried third person at first and it wasn’t working. Then I rewrote it in first person and it just clicked. My story suddenly worked and it was easy, it flowed.
So that’s the story behind the story – my first full length book – Spark (Tempest Beach Book One).
I’m about to start writing the second book in the series – Sing. And I’ve set myself a challenge to write it, get it professionally edited, and have it ready to publish in six months. Just to see if I can.
Watch this space in December to see if I made it!
Here’s some more about Spark:
I might be inexperienced, but that’s not going to stop me from saving my brothers business. Even if HE gets in my way.
He might be a black belt mechanic, but that doesn’t make him the boss.
The only problem is, I can’t seem to stop KISSING him.
I won’t let him distract me. I won’t, dammit.
Sparks fly between a sassy business graduate and a black belt mechanic when they join forces to save her brother’s business while he’s in an induced coma after rescuing their parents from a fire.
But the fire was deliberate, and a shadowy underworld threatens not only the business, but their lives.
Throw in a kick-ass crew of sexy martial artists and you’ve got yourself a delicious mix of adventure, mystery and mayhem, complete with a gorgeous beachside location and love at first sight.
If you’d like to purchase a copy:
Amazon Australia –https://amzn.to/2HUEOat
Amazon US –http://a.co/apkoE5w
iBooks –https://apple.co/2rzjGPX
Google Play –http://bit.ly/2jPjPKD
Universal –https://books2read.com/spark-tb1
If you’d like to keep in touch with Tracy:
- Website: www.authortracybrenton.com
- Facebook: facebook.com/AuthorTracyBrenton
- Twitter: twitter.com/TraceBrenton
- Instagram: instagram.com/AuthorTracyBrenton
- Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15649221.Tracy_Brenton
Alli Sinclair 