Changes by Jen Silver (plus 2 FREE books!)

Congratulations to Lisa and Cecilia!

Hi all! Look! Author Jen Silver joins us again, and this time, she’s giving away two copies of her newest release, Changing Perspectives. Drop a comment in the space below and we’ll draw the winner on Friday, Feb 2, 2018.

Good luck!

January is a strange month, I find. After all the build up before and during Christmas and on to New Year celebrations, it always feels a bit flat. I’ve been working on a new novel and although I have a good idea of where I want the story to go, the going has been slow. Yet this time of year is when it should be good for having lots of writing time. I have to keep reminding myself not to panic if the writing has stalled. You really can’t force it.

So I’m going to use this blog to talk about the book that took twenty-four years to finish. Changing Perspectives is set in London 1993. And the main reason is because that’s when I wrote a good portion of it. I started to review it again a few years ago to see if I could complete the story. I pondered briefly about bringing it into the present day, but soon realised that wouldn’t fit my characters and the story I wanted to tell. They are very much of their time.

And what a time it was. With all the technology we take for granted now, it’s hard to imagine a time when not everyone had personal email. For example, up until 2003 I only had a company email address wherever I worked. The same with mobile (cell) phones, I didn’t get my first one until 1996.

This is an old photo of me at work taken early 1990s. The style of the computer and 3.5 inch floppy disks are a giveaway. Luckily I had printed out my early draft of Changing Perspectives. All those many years later when I wanted to work on it, I wouldn’t have been able to retrieve the file from outmoded storage units.

In my story, Art Director Dani Barker creates advertisements with hand drawn storyboards. She has invested in Apple Macs for the art department of the agency but hasn’t got to grips with learning the software, leaving that to her two young assistants. The agency’s copywriter still uses WordPerfect. At that time, before Microsoft and Windows completely took over the pc market, this was considered to be the best word processing package available. And it was not what I would call user-friendly.

Anyway, the question is, why did it take me so long to finish this book? Over the intervening years I would take it out occasionally and read what I’d written. I thought it had potential. I liked the main characters. But I guess I wasn’t sure how it would be received. After all, Dani is into hardcore SM. She enjoys being beaten. But at the age of thirty-six, she feels she’ll probably never find a compatible partner. When she meets Camila Callaghan, there’s an immediate spark of attraction. However, Camila is so far in the closet, she could end up in Narnia and never find a way out.

Things happen, obviously, to bring these two together, to fan the spark into a flame. Is there enough fuel to build the relationship into a fire that can’t be extinguished? A change in perspective is needed, but can either of them find it before the fire burns out?

You’ll have to read the book to discover what happens.

Another reason, I hesitated to submit this story to my publisher was that my mother reads all my books. It would have been no good telling her she shouldn’t read this. Open invitation, that! She did read it and I loved her comment: “I really enjoyed it. Might have skipped quickly over some parts but people are entitled to their pleasures.” Thanks, Mum. That’s all the endorsement I need to know that I can feel proud of this book and pleased that I persevered to bring it to a conclusion. Thanks also to the team at Affinity Rainbow Publications for making it happen (and with a great cover, too!).

Because I absolutely love Women and Words, I’m giving away two copies of the book. The winners can choose whether or not they want an ebook or a signed paperback. Please leave a comment here to be included in the draw.

After retiring from full time work, Jen thought she would spend her days playing golf, shooting arrows, reading, and enjoying quality time with her wife (not necessarily in that order). Instead she started writing and Jen now has seven published novels to her name, a number of short stories, and not as much time as she thought for other activities. Book six, Running From Love, was shortlisted for a 2017 Diva Literary Award (Romance).

For the characters in Jen’s stories, life definitely begins at forty, and older, as they continue to discover and enjoy their appetites for adventure and romance.

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