Guest Author and Giveaway with Tibby Armstrong

Today I would like to welcome to Book Junkie author Tibby Armstrong! She is here to celebrate her latest release NO APOLOGIES from Loose Id. Please give Tibby a warm welcome and enjoy her Guest Post. Also, don't forget to enter the contest.

SEARCH FOR A STORY AND FIND YOURSELF

In the Summer of 2010 I published a novel called Sheet Music—a fun romp about an edgy, enigmatic musician and a reporter determined to get his life story at any cost. I wanted to follow it up with something equally glamorous and came up with a story about two screenwriters—a woman desperate to get her career off the ground, and a man whose Oscar winning career was on a fast-track to nowhere.

                                                                                                                                                                                      

As I wrote the story the character of Greg Falkner was born. He was everything I’d envisioned—sardonic, edgy, sexy, and brilliant. His back story blossomed in my hands effortlessly, and his best friend, Aaron Blake, virtually wrote himself onto the page. 25,000 words into the novel, however, the story simply stopped. I had an outline. I knew exactly what needed to happen next, but the words wouldn’t come. My critique partner suggested since the scenes with Aaron and Greg flowed the best, perhaps I needed to look at their friendship more closely. What if I explored their time in school together?

 

Thinking I was researching Aaron and Greg’s back story, I blithely tripped into my new novel with the words, “Your roommates’s a freak.” I remember sitting back, absorbing the animosity the secondary character had for Greg, and thinking, Why do you hate him so much? I put those words into Aaron’s mouth, and the story blindsided me with crystal clarity. Greg wasn’t in love with my heroine. He was in love with his best friend. From that moment of recognition, No Apologies was born.

 

For someone used to writing and reading heterosexual romance, this was quite a departure from my everyday fare. I felt excited and a little betrayed. After all, these were my characters. How come I couldn’t control their story? As I wrote about Aaron and Greg discovering themselves as two gay men in a rigid world, I realized that my psyche had labeled them as a couple long before my conscious mind recognized them as such.

 

I went through my own struggles for sexual identity in high school. At a Baptist Christian school and in public school, I faced many of the same degrading comments and some of the frightening physical reactions from people who didn’t understand the relationship I had with my best friend. I know I didn’t understand it—didn’t recognize the physical intimacy we tried desperately to hide as anything other than a need to connect with someone during some very turbulent life events at home. I rationalized my feelings for this person every way I could, reluctant to admit the truth to myself or anyone: I was in love for the first time.

 

First love is tumultuous enough without adding in all of the other things I and my friend were going through at home and school. We fought like banshees, often hurting one another as much as we helped each other muddle through. Much of the push and pull I wrote into Aaron and Greg’s story was the same dynamic we experienced, at least from my perspective. The joy was there too—the thrill of that first touch, first kiss. The moments burned into your brain forever because they’re so beautiful and so alien.

 

Every time I read No Apologies, I identify another layer of myself in Aaron and Greg. It’s not always pretty, but it’s forever enlightening. As a writer, it was at once the most difficult and yet the most easy thing I’ve ever written. I believe any time we approach fiction, whether as a reader or a writer, we are unconsciously searching to connect with a piece of ourselves. When it happens, it’s pure magic. I am lucky to be able to share that magic with readers in No Apologies.

Tibby's bio:

Romance and Urban Fantasy author Tibby Armstrong has a lust for books and a love of travel.
When she’s not writing, Tibby works toward defying librarian stereotypes; yet, she lives with four cats, two computers, and enough books to collapse a poorly engineered house.
You can find Tibby on Facebook as Tibby Armstrong and on Twitter as TibbyArmstrong. Or, email her directly at Tibby@TibbyArmstrong.com.

Cheerful and friendly, Aaron Blake has never met a puzzle that intrigues him more than brooding Greg Falkner. He wants to get to know his roommate, but it seems the only way past his shell is through it. When a reluctant friendship turns into a budding romance, can the two keep their feelings secret from their classmates? Or will their newfound love destroy them both?
Or so goes the story screenwriter Greg Falkner spins for audiences and his longtime partner, Aaron Blake, in No Apologies. Loosely based on their lives together, the film rocks Hollywood with its blatant portrayal of two teenagers falling in love and coming of age in a world that struggles to accept them, while they in turn struggle to accept themselves.
At the end of the evening, will Greg’s risky venture break a relationship that’s already foundering? Or will the real-life Greg and Aaron also find their happily ever after with No Apologies?

 

***GIVEAWAY***

One e-pub version of NO APOLOGIES, in the format of the winner's choosing !!!
Just leave a comment on this post to enter to win!
Winner Chosen May 12th
Open to all!!!