This Debut Author Goes Way Back

Sinclair Jayne is the pen name for one of my best friends.  I met her nearly 17 years ago introduced by our husbands.  Hers was my husband’s doctor and they suggested we talk to each other since we both wanted to be romance writers.  We met, and became fast friends, and we would talk writing–as that was our dream–but we’d talk writing in between taking care of babies and husbands and prepping meals and doing errands.

The years passed and our dreams shifted and reshaped as the kids grew and our work tugged us in different directions but still, we remained fast friends.  And then Sinclair moved from Bellevue, Washington to Oregon and I was at a loss.  She’d been there through everything–including an IVF procedure–what would I do?

Years passed again and I went to California and then Tule brought us back together.

Sinclair’s version of our friendship is below, so there are two things to know about her: she is talented, loyal and extraordinary, and her debut book, is very special indeed!

Sinclair, welcome to my blog and my wonderful readers!

While writing and publishing my first book, Wrecked, this year with Tule Publishing has been a thrill and wish fulfillment of a childhood dream, what’s really hit home for me was how much my friendship with Jane Porter has shaped my adult life and my writing.  We met through our husbands and clicked over our love of romance and challenges of trying to imagine and then write a sexy, romantic and emotional love scene in between diaper changes.  I still remember listening to her problem solve a tricky happy-every-after-scene with an alpha hero who could barely apologize even when he was so wrong while I was trying to dodge spoonfuls of chocolate pudding flung by one of her sons (who’s now driving)!

Jane is one of the funniest, smartest and most driven women I know, and those qualities are reflected in her intense and engaging novels, the way she lives her life and her friendships.  She has always been able to make me laugh, even when she made me cry, which was a lot when I first started writing because she could cut to the essence of a character, a scene, and the conflict with the precision of a neurosurgeon.  She would adamantly tick off on her fingers what was wrong and what was missing in the scene I’d given to her to read over coffee at our neighborhood coffeeshop, but it was up to me to fix it, and because of that tough love (and I wanted to think she was at least sometimes wrong, but no such luck ever), I learned how to write.  I actually started thinking GMC (goal, motivation, conflict) when people would tell me stories at parties.  I now intone GMC and other Jane writing advice to my kids when I am proofing their papers, and not surprising, they are not appreciative.  I was and am of Jane’s advice and one night over a lot of wine, I proclaimed my ever lasting loyalty, which turned out to be needed when she and her husband, Ty had fertility issues.  He was often in Hawaii teaching at his surf school, but Jane needed daily hormone shots.  Despite my needle terror, I said yes, and pressed down the plunger day after day, once even during a wine tasting party my husband and I were hosting.

When we lived close, we used to laugh about so much and many times during our rambling, excited, and imaginative conversations, Jane would take notes on napkins, tissues and scraps of paper during our conversations as inspiration for future characters and dialog so I always tried to be funny and clever even when I felt gloomy and crabby, which, in the Pacific Northwest, was often because I am still a So Cal girl at heart and every time I think of her writing in her beautiful home above the Pacific with all the doors and windows open so the breeze can bring in the fragrance of the ocean and flowers and the muse of inspiration, I am envious, but also grateful.  I can visit.  We can sit in the sand, dodging the sun, and talk about life and books and writing and the past and the future.  You can’t pick your family, but you can pick your friends, and sometimes your friends can even pick your last name of your pseudonym.

Sinclair Jayne

More about Wrecked:

Hollis Remington is slinking home to San Clemente, California. Needing to hide out at her grandmother’s beach cottage to lick the wounds from her latest professional failure, she’s stunned to find her ex lover and professional surf god, Kadan Carson, lounging in the only bed. Naked. Hollis can’t afford a hotel, and no way will she let her family or friends know she’s broke, but Kadan’s refusing to leave. He does, however, agree to share…
Professional surfer Kadan Carson is recuperating after his third ankle and foot surgery, and while it’s highly possible his professional career may be over on the brink of his most lucrative corporate sponsorship deal, he’s determined to fight the inevitable effects of age, gravity, and injury on his body in private. No fans. No nurses. No distractions. Until Hollis shows up, who has always been one hell of a distraction. Six years after she walked out for the last time accusing him of infidelity, she’s still the one woman he hasn’t been able to exorcise from his heart, head or body. And he doesn’t really want to.
There’s no way Hollis can forgive, but she also can’t forget. Kadan was and is her first and only love. Can she help him to heal without losing her heart again?

Look for Wrecked at these online retailers:
Amazon | iBooks | Kobo | GooglePlay

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Thank you, Sinclair, for your time and for introducing us to a great surf god like Kadan!  Love you, girl!!  Readers, please help me get the word out about Sinclair’s new release, Wrecked.  Be sure to download your copy soon and feel free to share your thoughts on Facebook and other reader websites too.  I would love to bring Sinclair Jayne to the attention of other readers.  And there’s more fun for you too!  I’ve got an awesome I Heart Sinclair Jayne prize package that celebrates Sinclair’s and my Bellevue friendship for one lucky reader! For a chance to win, leave a comment here for Sinclair and you’ll automatically be entered to win.  Contest ends Friday, with winner announced on Saturday.