Hello Beautiful People,
2023 was quite a year! When I tell you last year was mixed with so many emotions. For me, the year started out with two uncles passing away within six days of each other. This happened two days after I celebrated my mother’s 71rst heavenly birthday. One was her uncle (my great uncle) and the other was her brother. Talk about the saddest time ever. It’s crazy how life goes. I ended up attending 5 funeral/memorials last year. I have always been an optimist and I have presumably dealt with death rather well since I buried my mother on my 17th birthday over 26 years ago. So once my uncle’s passed it only heightened my desire to enjoy life to the fullest because we don’t know how much time we have. I believe we all have a purpose. And while we’re fulfilling our purpose I believe in enjoying the journey and those precious moments along the way. So outside of normal trips from Austin to Houston, I finally received a stamp on my passport that was not Mexico! I finally traveled abroad abroad, lol.
At the beginning of July I went on a 6 day trip to Dubai for my friend’s 40th Birthday! It was just three of us and it was an entire vibe. We road ATV’s, a camel (this was my second time), we had dinner at Ce La Vi and we lounged at Aura Sky Pool at The Palm Tower. Ce La Vi, has an outdoor patio that wraps around the back of the hotel. The patio was directly in front of The Burj Khalifa. The view was to live for! One of the highlights of the trip was lounging at the sky pool which had 360 views of the Dubai skyline. The entire landscape of Dubai is breathtaking. It’s as if it were painted into thin air. Two weeks later, I found myself in Jamaica for my cousin’s 49th birthday. I mean literally, two weeks later. I was in Negril, Jamaica for 5 days. Negril is gorgeous. We didn’t venture out much as the hotel we stayed in had everything we needed. We just found ourselves lounging and enjoying each others company.
As I returned home I was hit with great anxiety as I found myself super stressed. As you may know I recently re-released my book Bonded by Hate Torn Apart by Love. And I added a second book making it a series. Here I was gallivanting around the world and I had set a launch date for Labor Day weekend to release the series and I still had to write the second book! To be honest 1/3 of the book had already been written, 21 years prior. But having to write the back story for Michael and write the introduction of Skyler and Michael proved itself to be extremely challenging. I literally had no inspiration and not a clue of where to start. As I struggled in the process, I found that I have to have some type of inspiration or memory to get inspired. And even in that realization it was hard. But I did it. Once I reminisced about past times, the words just started to flow. And before I knew it The Retrospective was completed.
The Retrospective is a novella, so it is shorter than the first book however it is very impactful. This book is broken down into three short stories with subchapters. The first chapter which is A Love Lost covers Michael and Kim’s relationship prior to Michael meeting Skyler. Michael’s story is told in first person and from his perspective. His story takes you through his growth, self discovery, and spiritual reflection as he deals with his feelings for Kim. In You Give Me A Feeling, you actually get to experience how Michael and Skyler met and how quickly their friendship deepened upon meeting. And lastly in Moments in Time, you finally get Skyer’s backstory. As you may recall in the first book, there isn’t much introduction to Skyler’s background outside of her meeting Gina at Tennessee State, her uncle and aunt living in Mesquite, Texas and that she’s from Arkansas. Moments in Time is told from Skyler’s perspective. Skyler’s story starts in Arkansas and follows her as she navigates the intricacies of young love. The reader will experience the brief but impactful moments in time that shaped Skyler’s perception of love, how she responds to it, and how she moves while in it. The Retrospective ends with Skyler writing in her book of thoughts. (her personal diary) Where this chapter ends the first book begins as the first book begins with Skyler reading through her book of thoughts. Moments in Time is special to me because every single thing that happened with the exception of one moment, happened to me in real life. Every butterfly, every laugh and every tear. I hope you continue this journey with me and purchase the second book to complete (for now) the story of Michael and Skyler’s flawed love. Bonded by Hate Torn Apart by Love: The Series can be found exclusively on www.realestateandromance.com. Talk to you soon.
