#GuestPost & #Giveaway! Summer Thunder by A. B. Gibson @abgibson1 @RRBookTours1 @KeriBarnum #SummerThunder #RRBookTours #Romance #ContemporaryRomance #Books

Looking for a steamy romance to escape into, check out Summer Thunder by A.B. Gibson!

Today, I have a guest post from the author and an amazing giveaway for you to enter!

Summer Thunder

Publication Date: October 15th, 2019

Genre: Contemporary Romance

A Modern-Day Fairy Tale That Will Have Readers Swooning

Lily is headstrong, independent, and stuck in a loop of bad luck. She makes fairy figurines that customers buy to bring them good luck, but her merchandise doesn’t seem do the same for her. Maybe it’s because she doesn’t believe in them.

Theos is handsome and charismatic, a kite-surfing superstar who travels the world. So why is he drawn to Lily and the store on a California beach she struggles to keep afloat? And could she be the one to trigger the awakening of his unusual destiny?

“Summer Thunder is one of the most anticipated romance novel debuts this year.” — Kendra Goldsborough, Four Seasons Books

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Excerpt

“Is there anything in particular I can show you, sir?”

He shook his head and answered without looking up.

“I’m not sure why I’m here. Something about this shop drew me in.”

She couldn’t place his accent, and while the unusual cadence of his speech intrigued her, his remark sent up a red flag.

“I see.”

His flawless tanned face with the sexy two-day stubble smiled back and briefly revealed perfect straight teeth that rivaled her tiara for sparkle. When he locked his eyes on hers, she felt the same magnetic sensation return.

“Perhaps it was you,” he added.

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Guest Post: Writing in the Time of Plagues

One story making the rounds on social media these days suggests that Shakespeare wrote some of his greatest works, including Anthony and Cleopatra, King Lear, and MacBeth while self-isolating during the Victorian Era’s bubonic plague. A quick search revealed some chilling cultural similarities between the Black Death and our twenty-first century COVID-19. Businesses and theaters were closed then, too, and people wore makeshift masks for protection.

When our stay-at-home order was imposed, I publicly announced my intention to finish the first draft of my second romance novel, Summer Lightning. I write fast under normal circumstances and thirty-days seemed a reasonable length of time. I normally work from home and typically have the house to myself, so I’ve not experienced enormous challenges to my daily life by being forced to stay inside. If Shakespeare could be prolific in similar circumstances, why couldn’t I?

But after only a few days in, I wasn’t making headway in my novel. I wanted to write yet somehow, I lacked focus and a sense of urgency. When I asked around, I discovered many of my author friends were facing the same challenge. It seemed a second epidemic was racing through the writing community: rampant distraction syndrome. Only a few were maintaining their daily word count goals.

I didn’t merely lose focus. During the first two weeks, I allowed the constantly breaking news of the depressing state of the world to get me stuck, and my writing output hit an all-time low. Like many folks it was easier to turn to the backlog of movies friends had recommended than force myself to write. This is not to say that I wasn’t being productive or writing at all. What made the difference was downshifting. Instead of working on my novel, I tackled those bite-sized, yet smaller bits of writing that have become crucial to modern authors, such things as fluffing up my social media account profiles and refreshing online book blurbs. I managed to develop blog ideas I never got around to writing, and I created and started posting new content everywhere.

Finishing smaller side projects was satisfying, but I credit two additional inciting incidents for pushing me back to my long form writing. The first appeared while I was killing time scrolling through folders of emails I’d filed away. That’s when I rediscovered links to what would become the real cure for my lack of focus: a couple weeks’ worth of online courses I’d paid for or subscribed to, which I either didn’t start or didn’t finish.

Instead of devoting the next ten days to achieving flatter abs, I binged on webinars created by writing and publishing experts whom I admired. I learned ten new methods to create more memorable characters and another ten ways to spice up my book’s second act. From revisiting the basics to deciphering social media’s secret algorithms, I ended each session with new resolve to both increase my Instagram followers and polish my plot.

What kicked me over the goal line was the second inciting incident. As an old advertising guy, there’s nothing like a deadline to make me deliver the goods. I was asked to write two guest blogs, and I had four days to submit. The offer was like catnip, and the rest is history. I’m currently as prolific as ever, and I may even finish Summer Lightning on schedule.

– A.B. Gibson

For your chance to win a $20 Amazon gift card and a paperback copy of Summer Thunder, click the link below!

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About the Author

With over four decades in the advertising business, Alan has written and produced television, radio, print and digital commercials and built his reputation as one of the most creative players in entertainment advertising. Not content with writing in thirty and sixty-second formats, he took to novel writing in 2015 and published three best-selling mystery/thrillers, under the pen name of A.B. Gibson. High Voltage is published by Story Merchant Books.

Alan’s first book, The Dead of Winter, is the inspiration for The Seeding, a feature film he is producing with Ken Atchity Productions. Gibson also is an Executive Producer of The Book of Leah, a feature film due for release in 2020.

He serves as Co-founder and Chairman of OneClick.chat, a video social engagement platform startup that often competes for time with his writing.

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