How the World Turns
by Gay Yellen
Originally, I had planned this post to be all about what led up to the new release of my third book in The Samantha Newman Series. In it, I was going to detail the trials and tribulations that interfered with my ability to finish the story over the past five years, and to offer a free book at the end.
That post was titled “What a Writer Fears.” But with fresh horror happening in the Middle East, this novelist’s writerly problems seem too trivial to consider. Instead of a blow by blow account of the circumstances that held the book back, I’ll just say that for months and months and months, I struggled to create a coherent sentence, let alone a paragraph and chapter.
In short, I feared I would never be able to write again.
Someti
mes, moving forward requires taking a step back. Frustrated as I felt, I couldn’t abandon Samantha any more than she could escape her crazy, mixed-up existence—especially when she was about to save another lost soul from ruin and learn an important life lesson along the way.
And so, with the encouragement of my precious fans, and the support of Stiletto sisters Lois Winston and Saralyn Richard, and writer friends Patty Flaherty Pagan and Pamela Fagan Hutchins, Book #3, The Body in the News is now available in ebook and print.
Like the first two books in the series, I wrote the new book to entertain readers, and hopefully, to inform and inspire. I hope it offers a few hours of escape from the messy, scary times we live in.
Life goes on for us lucky ones.
And so—in honor of the debut of Book #3—I am offering the one that started it all: The Body Business, Book #1 in the series, FREE today only. If you haven’t read it, grab it now to follow Samantha as she survives, undaunted, book by book.
May peace reign everywhere in the world. Until then, may we find comfort in books, and joy wherever we can find it.
The Samantha Newman Mystery Series
Gay, got my copy. I already own The Body Next Door, which I’m sadly behind. Resolve to do better. So glad you had support to get you over such a huge hurdle. Life! It happens and thrusts out those hurdles. Congratulations on overcoming! And I get the news isn’t good and numbing.
Thanks, Donnell. Hope you enjoy the book!
Gay, Congratulations on your release! The blank page can be a scary place. So glad you were able to write the next book in the series. Best of luck with it!
Looking back, I can’t believe how difficult it was, especially since the first two seemed to flow so comfortably. Fingers crossed of this one!
Thanks for the shoutout, Gay. And congratulations on overcoming all obstacles and giving Samantha her next place on the world’s stage. We can’t control much in the real world’s stage, but I’m so thankful for books like The Body in the News to cheer us up.
And again, thanks for your support, Saralyn.
Gay, I’m so glad you persevered and kept writing. It’s not always easy. I had a similar reaction after 9/11. With everything going on in the world, I’m often reminded of a quote from Casablanca: “Ilsa, I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.” Sometimes writing seems like a really trivial pursuit given what others around the world are dealing with. Yet we keep writing, hoping that our words bring an escape to others.
True, Lois. When a reader tells us how much they enjoy our books, it feels like confirmation that we haven’t toiled in vain.
It’s a great book, and I’m so happy it’s out in the world being enjoyed now. Good job, my friend.
You are an inspiration, Pamela. I am forever your fan and follower.
Book purchased . Remember when I bought the first one at Killer Nashville. Because I picked it up while you were talking to someone else and I didn’t care about a signature, I’d walked away from the table. I was paying for the book when you ran up to me to thank me for the purchase — your husband had noticed me picking up the book. And that’s how I met a good writer and series. Glad you found the way to write the third book!
Thanks so much, Debra! I’m so glad Killer Nashville brought us together!
Congrats on getting the third book finished. I need some escapes from reality, and fiction absolutely helps with that.
I totally agree, Mark. When I was struggling with this book, my best escape was reading other books for pleasure.
Aren’t all these comments wonderful. Grand advice and the knowledge you’re not alone. Congrats again, Gay!
Thanks, Donnell. Sometimes it does take a village.
Got my copy! Thanks for a great post. It’s hard to continue and sometimes moving forward does take a step back. So glad you persevered. I look forward to reading The Body in the News!
Thanks a bunch, Mary Lee. Enjoy!
Gay, congratulations on the latest Samantha.
I also feel that our “stuff”, whatever we are busy with, is so trivial compared to the horror in the Middle East. I pray reason will prevail and the horror will stop.
Thank you, Kathryn.