Interview With Jennifer DeCuir, Author of Wynter’s Journey

I’m delighted to welcome Jennifer DeCuir for an interview and a look at her new contemporary romance, Wynter’s Journey.

Hi, Jenn, so glad to have you here today. Tell us a little about Wynter’s Journey. What inspired this story?

I love the best friends to lovers trope but I wanted to amp it up by making sure they haven’t seen each other in over ten years. A lot has happened in the time they’ve been apart, yet they still connect on a deeper level.

Blurb:

A childhood promise brings Wynter and Sam together again after tragedy ripped them apart over ten years earlier.  Fate has given him a second chance to tell her how he feels.  This time he’s not going to run.

What are you working on now? Do you have any releases scheduled for this year?

My current WIP is called Trapped In Tourist Town, about a small town woman who thinks the only way to find happiness is to move to the city. Too bad she’s leaving just as the most fascinating man she has ever met decides her hometown is the perfect place to put down roots.

If I can finish this quickly, cross your fingers that I can sell it in time for a 2014 release.

Do you have any good news you’d like to share?

I just found out that a friend wrote to our local newspaper and asked them to do an article on me. They accepted. Woo hoo!

How do you come up with ideas?

I have been known to come up with entire book plots in a dream. And I’ve gotten the most amazing (and desperately needed) “aha” moments in the shower.

Can you share with us “the call” story?

The call (or the email) came early on a July AM. So early that my husband was on the way to work and wasn’t answering his phone. My friends were busy with kids and breakfast routines and didn’t hear their phones over the noise. I ended up on a neighbor’s doorstep, because I HAD to tell someone. Apparently I looked half-crazed because she told me the look on my face freaked her out. She still teases me about it. And I eventually got to fill in hubby and friends. The timing was just… funny.

What is the best thing about being an author?

I get to create stories out of nothing, to explore my passions and share my stories with people who want to read them.

What did you learn from writing your first book or what do you wish you’d known before becoming published?

I wish I’d learned more about marketing my own books before I was published. Learning the ropes, after the fact, has been pretty overwhelming.

Do you have a favorite time of day for writing?

I am a morning person – provided I have enough coffee. I wake up thinking about my latest book and I’m off and running.

What is your favorite scene from this story and why?

My favorite scene in Wynter’s Journey is where Sam delivers Wynter’s baby at home, during a snowstorm. I wrote it in his POV and tried to keep it light and funny, while still showing that he was terrified and how powerfully moving the whole experience was for him.

How do you balance writing and everyday life?

Oh my goodness! If someone can help me figure this one out, you have a fan for life!

Where is your favorite place in the world?

My husband and I are Disney freaks. We honeymooned in WDW and bought into the Disney Vacation Club time share. It’s a second home to us – one where I don’t have to cook or clean (much) and is all about spending time as a family and making cherished memories.

Do you listen to music while you write? What are you listening to now?

Not always – but when I do it has to be instrumental. Words jumble my thoughts and distract me. Right now I’m listening to the Game of Thrones theme song. Is that weird?

Who first introduced you to the love of reading?

My dad was one of those people that had to bring a book with him, wherever he went. He worked on the shipyard and spent so much time borrowing books from the shipyard library that he had to develop a system so that he wouldn’t re-borrow the same book twice. He would circle page 40 in each book and then, if he lost track of whether he’d read it before, he just checked for his “secret mark”.

And now Jenn has a question for you all: If you could cast anyone (actor, singer, celebrity) as the hero in a made-for-TV movie, who would it be?

A Giveaway! All comments will be put into a drawing to win an e-copy of Drawn to Jonah, the first book in my Scallop Shores series.

Excerpt:

Now came the hard part. Sam wasn’t expecting her. More to the point, he’d been avoiding her for the last twelve years. She knew the reception she’d get wouldn’t be a welcome one. But that was okay. She had her trump card—a promise Sam had made years ago. Her baby’s future depended on him honoring that promise. Her means of escape having driven away, Wynter took a deep breath and knocked at the big red door.

She shuffled her feet, wishing she’d had enough money to purchase a thick pair of winter boots for her impromptu cross-country adventure. Okay, to be fair, there really hadn’t been much time. One minute she held a one-way ticket to Florida, purchased by her parents, the next she had changed her destination, and hopefully, the overall direction of her life.

At one time, too long ago for her taste, Sam had been her rock, one of her closest friends and someone she could go to in a moment of crisis. Now Wynter was newly widowed, about to raise a baby on her own. She could no longer afford the apartment she had shared with her husband in California. And, at thirty years old, she was forced to consider moving back in with her parents—an option she’d desperately like to avoid. If ever there was a moment of crisis, this was it.

Why wasn’t Sam answering the door? Wynter’s eyes flew to the curtain-covered window beside the door, looking for movement. Did he know who was out there? Had he seen the ugly green and orange cab pull up and dump out the last person on Earth that he expected to see? Was he hiding on the other side of the door, willing her to turn around and walk the five miles or so to town?

Well, it wasn’t going to happen. Wynter swallowed hard, past the lump forming in her throat. Her Sam wouldn’t leave her out on his doorstep to freeze. His mom had raised him right. Even if he didn’t want her there, he’d invite her in to warm up and rest. She rubbed her arms and stamped her sneakered feet. He wasn’t here. She hadn’t even considered that option.

A little bit wildly now, she paid closer attention to her surroundings. The next house over was barely visible through the spindly winter-bare trees on the other side of the road. Sam’s covered porch offered little in the way of protection from the wind. Fear clawing at her throat, Wynter eyed the glass windows and pondered how she might break in. But any rocks were buried beneath at least a foot of snow, and the only furniture on the porch was a swing, attached to the shingled roof with thick chains.

She crumpled onto the swing, defeat sapping the rest of her strength. Making herself as small as possible, she huddled against the cold wood, tears stinging the backs of her eyelids. Her idea had been to ask Sam for a place to stay, temporarily. She knew, through his sister, that he lived alone. She’d intended to look for a job, something she could walk to until she saved up enough for a beater car. Choking on a sob, Wynter realized the futility of her hastily made plans.

She hadn’t counted on Sam living in the boonies. She wasn’t sure where the actual town was, or if there was even the possibility of a job. Wynter was so desperate to stay independent, to keep her domineering parents from taking over her life and the raising of her child that she’d run to the one person she could think of.

“Where are you, Sam? I need you.” And the tears that had threatened from the moment the cab started to creep deeper and deeper into no-man’s land finally caught up with her.

Hunching into her thick parka and pulling her knees up as best she could, Wynter tucked herself into the swing and gave in to the hopelessness that she could no longer hold at bay. Wrapping her arms protectively around the life that grew inside her, she started to cry.

You can buy Wynter’s Journey at:

Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble

Other books by Jennifer DeCuir

Drawn to Jonah:
Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble

Five of Hearts:
Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble

Bio: I’ve been writing, seriously, about as long as I’ve been a mom, and still trying to strike a balance between the two. Living in the Pacific Northwest, where sun is rare but coffee is plentiful. Thank God!

You can find Jennifer at:

Twitter | Facebook | Website

Pinterest | Goodreads