Welcome Amy Lignor, author of Until Next Time to the blog!
Belief?
There’s nothing better than having the freedom to believe in anything you want to. I believe in my child, my family, my words…I have icons and idols, and I have stars in my eyes when a painting or sentence takes my breath away. But at thirteen, I believed in nothing (except the fact that being a teenager was a real pain in the butt). I’ve stated before, that was the year my grandfather died, and I needed something. I was done, literally. Emotions had blown me out of the water. Hate, anger, love, the power to destroy, heartache – it was all a great big mess. If there was a Hell, I was convinced it was Earth – because we definitely had all those ‘bad things’ that Dante spoke about so long ago.
That’s when I saw Matt. He was a kid, like me, who I talked to in my dreams. (I know…but Mom always told me I had a vivid imagination). Matt showed me places. I call it ‘Heaven’ just because it was a lot nicer than where I was when I was awake. This friend of mine would say that he wanted what I had. That was confusing to me, because if you live in perfection, what on earth would you want the pain of Earth for? Over time, I came to realize that a ‘perfect’ life needs nothing. A ‘perfect’ life doesn’t get better. That should be a good thing, right? But, it wasn’t. If you had it all, there was nothing more to do. Nothing to strive for, nothing to shoot for, no accolades to win, no desire, no yearning, no surprises, nothing.
As I grew up, Matt disappeared. As I matured, I began figuring things out on my own. I slipped, I fell, I brought a girl into the world who’s changing it for the better with her huge heart. I accomplished things, failed things, fell in love…lost love…I’ve had a life. When my father passed on too early a few years back, Matt returned, and I knew that it was time for everyone out there to meet him. I wondered what a ‘team’ would do down here ‘amongst us English’ J. How would ‘beings’ that came from perfection survive in a world that was messed up? I knew they could fight and win, but could THEY keep their faith in a world that was attempting to rip them apart?
I believe in angels. I still have a hard time with ‘God,’ but – as you will see in the book – I do look at angels, archangels and saints as fun. They are knowledgeable, yes, but they’re the friends you can sit down and talk to, laugh with, and have a cup of coffee with.
Faith is a personal freedom that no one has the right to dictate. The words, “religious overtones,” still confuse me, and as an author they shouldn’t. But a religious overtone, to me, is a label. Every book in the world has religious overtones. A YA book about vampires has religious overtones if even one of the characters has faith in someone else.
Emily and Matt are a team that I love because they do what needs to be done, and they struggle the whole time doing it. One wants emancipation and the other is hurt by the human life and what it brings. But they never regret the life they’ve been given. Even when they’re stuck in bad situations and want to say, “Forget it, I’m going Home,” they continue around the next corner just to see what’s there. Why? Because they have faith in each other.
Check out her really cool website.
Read some excerpts from the novel.
Purchase on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
And her publisher, Tribute Books was kind enough to offer up an ebook to one commenter! Please leave your email and tweet too!
I enjoyed the insight of how your story came about. It’s fascinating what pieces of our lives become fodder for stories…
I know Traci – things come out of nowhere for every one of the things I end up writing – from funny to romantic – I guess that’s the part I love the most about life, the constant journey and the people you meet (not to sound like a bad Hallmark card LOL).
Cool premise and I love the cover. This sounds a different take on the angel theme. I’ll definitely add it to my list. 🙂
I really hope you enjoy it, Stina – I tried to be unique! (And I thought the cover artist did an extremely great job, too :))
Laura – thank you so much for having the angel/warrior team on your fantastic site. I really appreciate it!
Laura, I can’t thank you enough for hosting Amy today. Glad to see folks are digging what she had to say about her book.
No problem, loved having her!
Love the idea of a kindred spirit guiding you through an incomprehensible time of life. Nice to meet you, Amy.
Sorry everyone, Amy responded earlier but I had to approve since she was a new commenter and I’ve been out!
Thanks everyone!