Forever and One Day spin-off is now available

I am thrilled to announce that the long-awaited spin-off of Forever and One Day, Before the Footprints Fade is now available for preorder for only $0.99. The official release is March 31st.

This book was difficult to write. Readers had asked for more of the characters from Forever and One Day and I wanted to continue their story. But I didn’t want to fabricate drama just to be able to create a compelling narrative. So, I decided to write a spin-off rather than a sequel. I don’t want to give anything away. But I can say that readers of Forever and One Day will be thrilled to see the continuation of the beloved characters’ story in the last third of Before the Footprints Fade. It also does read as a stand-alone.

Like Forever and One Day, Before the Footprints Fade, is first a love story, but it also has deeper themes, delving into how we love, how our memories change with life experience, nostalgia, and how the path not taken creates a ripple effect on the lives of those close to us.

Here is the synopsis:

 ...a must-read for fans of emotive and realistic fiction which deals with overcoming personal demons in order to find happiness.
- Readers' Favorite

Amanda knows what she wants and what she doesn’t want. Raised by a mother who tore her down and made her feel unworthy, she’s now determined to finish her journalism degree and stand on her own two feet.

But when an irresistible connection tempts her, will she find the love she never had with Harry, the talented and gorgeous musician with secrets behind his eyes? Or will she once again learn that she can’t depend on anyone but herself?

In a story that delves deeply into how the past choices and unlived lives of those close to us affect our own journey and how difficult it is to change when everyone expects you to be the same as you’ve always been, there’s even more at play than Amanda and Harry’s passionate and tumultuous relationship. Lurking in the past are secrets that hold the key to and threaten to change the lives of almost everyone close to them.

Will they be able to hold on to their love, even when they are their own worst enemies? Or will the answers to long-asked questions blow their world apart?

Before the Footprints Fade is a love story that explores philosophical themes about love, memories, nostalgia and how the path not taken creates a ripple effect on the lives of those close to us.

This book is a spin-off of Forever and One Day but can be read as a stand-alone.

*I don’t want to give any of the story away. I promise, it’s filled with drama and emotion. At the end of the book, in a note to my readers, I go into the inspiration behind the characters. If you have questions, please always feel free to write to me. I love hearing from my readers. And thank you for your interest in my work.

Love's Remains and the inspiration behind the Where You'll Land series

Love’s Remains, book 2 in the Where You‘ll Land series is now available. If you follow my writing, you know that all of my books have underlying psychological themes. When I switched from non-fiction to fiction, part of my intent was to expand and deepen the exploration of psychology through my characters as well as offer readers the opportunity to see how psychological theory looks in action, the way we see it as psychotherapists, the way that we come to understand people through observation. I wanted to put words to motivations that people have often asked me about. The ‘whys’ behind human behavior.

When I began my studies in psychology many years ago, it was psychoanalytic theory that first interested me. The rich complexity of the dynamics within us and between us. What makes people act and do what they do, nothing was (and still is) more fascinating to me. Soon after that I discovered existentialism, which I love just as much. What a rich exploration and examination of the things in life that both break us and make us, all of the universal experiences that define the essence of human nature.

Switching to fiction allowed me to create characters and set a scene, hopefully making it real enough and interesting enough that it would grip readers who wanted a good story, while also affording those who wanted the opportunity for deeper contemplation to have a window. That is, I wanted to offer readers almost what you’d get in early psychotherapy sessions: questions that lead to thinking about yourself, your circumstances, and others in a way that might provide insight and growth. I also wanted to offer those outside of the field a deeper understanding of why we do what we do while also giving a story that was compelling, emotional and real.

True growth and understanding has to come from within the individual. As you will read in Love’s Remains personal history, personality and social context all influence our emotions, our actions, our decisions. Therefore, answers about life and relationships are different for everyone. That’s why instead of answering in therapy, we learn to ask in a very precise manner. This way, we offer the person the opportunity to find what I believe we all can. Our own way. Our own potential for better decisions, more authentic living. Our personal resilience.

The path to growth comes not from answers but from asking questions, helping people look at their lives a little differently. As the character of Dr. Wright tells his students in the book: “Create curiosity.” Well, in my experience this is the essence of psychotherapy and/or for any type of change for anyone: asking the right questions.

It is for this reason that I created this series with characters in a psychology program. I mean, write what you know, they say and so I did; but I also wanted introspective characters, each of whom would offer the opportunity – to those readers who wanted it – to learn something about themselves through their story arcs, through their questions. I wanted to give readers the opportunity to think deeper about love, if they wanted to. And for those who didn’t, I wanted to give lots of drama and entanglements. I hope I’ve succeeded.

Love’s Remains is book 2 in the Where You’ll Land series. These characters’ journeys will continue; all the books will explore various aspects of love and relationships. I already have ideas for the next book in the series. If you have a question, please write to me. I just may place it into one of the character story arcs.

I’m working on two others books right now. One is the spin-off from Forever and One Day, Before the Footprints Fade. The story is complex and is taking a much longer time than I had expected, but my hope is to have it out early next year. The other book is a story written from my cat’s point of view. Trying something different. Life through his eyes. It’s turning out to be really interesting writing. It’s witty, but also lightly philosophical as he observes humans in action and how complicated we make our lives. I think it’s going to be a bit of tearjerker, heartwarming and fun.

I post about my books as I’m writing them, teasers and excerpts as well as a little about the journey of writing on my Instagram and Facebook pages. If you’re interested in following the progress of the books, you’ll find daily posts there. I love connecting with my readers!

Thank you again for your interest in my work.

Where You'll Land (now available on prerelease)

Where You’ll Land is now available on preorder!

If you follow my writing, you know that I am always looking to understand more about the human experience through my characters’ journeys.

I usually write from multiple points of view, because I’m very interested in the way each character’s decisions and motivations influence the others. In Where You’ll Land, I explored the interrelationships between people; how our choices affect not only us, but those around us, and then how those choices affect their lives and so on. I also wanted to show how we come together and break apart, then come together and break apart again, revealing how even painful relationships may be part of a larger growth process.

As you’ll read in the story, the tendency for us to repeat what we are most afraid of is something that seems uncanny, but is a dynamic that we all encounter. We all have narratives that shape our sense of self, our purpose, our understanding of who we are in the world with others. We interact within our world anticipating confirmation of these narratives and sometimes they are painful and false; for example, “I am not loveable,” may be one. Although incorrect (because we all deserve love), confirming this narrative becomes an unconscious quest that we often recreate over and over, until we realize what we’re doing and can change the emotions and concomitant false narrative. Someone with that mindset will push people away to confirm that they aren’t loveable. I tried to show how insidiously this happens; meaning, it happens without us even realizing it and even when the beginning seems different, we often find ourselves at the same end.

“She kept making the same mistake over and over, until she realized that if she wanted a different ending she needed to have a different beginning.”

I don’t think psychology should be exclusive to those of us who study it and are familiar with the theories and jargon. My hope is that this book will not only grip and entertain, but will also provide some deeper understanding of relationships and the various dimensions and complexities that arise as we come together, for better or worse.

Where You’ll Land is the first in a series of books that will continue with these characters’ stories, added new ones, all with the intention of exploring various dynamics that arise within our relationships.

I am currently working on rewrites for two books. One is a spin-off of Forever and One Day, called The Crooked Path. I have started a nostalgia column through the blog which ties into the plot of The Crooked Path. This is a place for people to write in to others, words that have remained unsaid, words you may have only understood you wanted to say in retrospect. If you are interested in submitting a piece, please write to me through my blog, my Facebook page, Jacqueline Simon Gunn, or Instagram page @jacquelinesimongunn. You don’t need to be a writer to submit. This is place for anyone to share messages, those words we’ve carried for too long that beg to be written.

The second, is the next book in this series; both can be read as standalones. I already have an idea of where the third in the series will go too. I’ve been posting more about the books and my writing journey on my Instagram and Facebook pages if you’re interested in following the progress of my work.

Here is the synopsis for Where You’ll Land:

After a bad breakup, I packed up my life and moved to Miami to study for my doctorate in psychology. I made one promise to myself: Do not get romantically involved while I was in school. I needed to heal.  

And then Will Easton came into my life. He was warm and sweet and intelligent. And he got me. What I didn’t know was that Will was running from a tragedy of his own.

When you try to escape your past without confronting your emotions, you repeat those same past patterns over and over. And that’s just what happened to Will and me, along with a few others who got swept up into the storm that was our relationship. Then came the awful secret. The one that changed everything.

Sometimes the most painful relationships are the ones that help us grow into who we are and to find the love we had been searching for all along.

Which begs the question: Can we choose who we love?

Thank you for reading. Always feel free to write with questions. I love hearing from my readers.

I Just Wanted You to Know (Nostalgia Column - 2)

It’s this thing I have. I’m sorry if it scared you. I feel other people’s feelings. I imagine crumbling insides and splitting hearts, goodbyes that hang in the air before they break into tiny pieces. I hear words that aren’t said, the echoes of lonely hallways and hollow footsteps. I hear sobs that soak pillowcases when all the lights are out and the world is sleeping. I carry this inside of me, all of it. I knew you paced the floor at night, trying to walk over all the things you didn’t want me to know. But I felt every wound you ever endured when I rested against you. I felt the ache that I have, deep inside of me, on your lips. Every time we kissed, I tasted a lifetime of tangled paths and bumpy roads woven with joined hands. Love isn’t blind, you see. I felt everything you were and could be if only you stopped hiding in the same darkness you sheltered me from. I knew who you could become if someone loved you just right.

I’m sorry if that scared you.

Just in case you were wondering, I still love you and I’ll keep the lights dim.

 Come home.

© jacqueline simon gunn

Welcome to the second nostalgia column, a place for all of those words we never got to say. The inspiration for this column came from the plot of one of current WIP’s, called The Crooked Path, which is currently with my beta-readers. My next book is called, Where You’ll Land, and is scheduled for release in January. It’s a romantic psychological fiction. I will be posting the synopsis shortly.

If you want to read a little more about the inspiration behind the nostalgia column, please see the previous post for details. Nostalgia is something we all experience. We remember things as we are in the present and therefore, the past is constantly changing. I hope this provides a place for people to write in what they only understood they wanted to say in retrospect and that readers will find pieces that resonate.

*Thank you to all of the wonderful writers who contributed to this edition of I Just Wanted You to Know. If you would like to contribute a piece for the next blog, please message me through the website or through Facebook or Instagram. Thank you all for reading.

In retrospect, I find that in my search for love. it is that very search that destroyed me. My self-destruction has become exhausting. The warmth of another no longer keeps me safe or calm, but rather, shakes me to my very core. I, and only I, have made myself fear what should be one of the most cherished feelings in this world. What is a beacon of hope for others now drives me to a catatonic and catathymic state that while I wish didn't exist, I hope to never awaken from.

The issue with burning bridges is not the lost connection or solitude, for those are easily surmountable. It is the fact that sooner or later, you are not only burned, but you are engulfed in the flames. The ensuing somnambulism is a fate worse than death, because in my most subconscious of thoughts, I will forever be seeking a treatment for wounds that can never be healed.

So this is how it ends. I can still smell the metaphorical burning flesh of the anthropomorphic conceptualization of our love. A plane ride to a distant land where the search begins again, when I already found that love here. In my heart of hearts, at least what is left of the one I destroyed myself, knows that everything I needed was in some southern sandbox, in a sunburned country, in the foothills of what is now a personal hell ablaze with hatred. The worst kind of pain, what cuts the deepest and twists its serrated blade in the cavity where the remnants of a functional heart used to be, is the pain one has inflicted upon themselves. The self destruction due to a contrived messiah complex, where the dichotomy dictates that I was the villain. I am fueled by my disdain for myself, and it has given birth to a sick form of a hopeful misanthrope. For the first time, I feel alive- but you're not here. For the rest of my days, I will sit here by my wishing well, throwing in my coins, hearing the hollow "plonk" as they hit the water as your return, my last wish, is never to be fulfilled.

© Philip Raus @theory.of.sisyphus

Part of me wishes we could go back. Wishes we could go back to those two people who didn't know any different. Who only had eyes for each other and nothing else seemed to matter. I wish we could go back to your bed, lock the door, and throw away the key. But life doesn't happen behind doorways in the bedroom—its everything on the outside, the living room, the kitchen, the front of the house where strangers pass us by. Life is in the moments we can't take back. It's the line drawn in the sand and everything on one side as after the fact and everything on the other as before. There is no going back, only forward. 

~ Naomi Boshari, @naomiboshari 

an evanescent memory skitters across my mental screen
of a day that still tints my cheeks blush pink
the sky had peeled of all its blues that day
adorned in an ombre of spun sugar, honey and molasses
kindling a yearning to meld together as one ,
as a breeze scented with aphrodisia
incited our senses into a fervor of emotions
the sun caressing me warm on bare gold shoulders
the sand crisp and crunchy beneath my soles
sending frissons of anticipation up each nerve ending
our intense unbroken gaze locked across the crowd
a red velvet ribbon of passion connecting my heart to yours
as languid  waves of desire danced between us, both by design and default
and you slowly reeled me in closer, closer, closer, closer .....

Luckey
@myriadmadmusings

wading through my father's phone book
as I help him sort his contacts...

a random name whisks my breath away,
and my heart decides to abandon my chest,

a hollow ache resurging from deep within,
an ache I haven't been able to numb,
in a quarter of a century.....

and in all probability will never be able to...

this name reminds me of a soul that felt like home,

a love that bloomed though for one tenth of a season..
but its fragrance nourishes my breath for the rest of my life..

The chrysalis of words never fully dispelled from the the tips of our tongues, swirled, swallowed and sometimes ingested whole to cocoon a love we never gave a fair chance to.

The crippling fear of failure impeding our optimistic stance.
The ugly truth of our ineludible aloneness
sugarcoated with enchanting lies,
we indulge in a fantasy compromised.

Each day henceforth, poised on a fulcrum of infinite possibility, we evade being impaled by the trenchant hands of hounding inevitability, braced with mouths agape concealing our only route of escape.

Luckey
@myriadmadmusings

&
Ambica Gossain
@tryst_with_fiction

I miss this human, he was taken from me too soon. He was an amazing man, one of the best men who has ever walked this planet, and he was mine, then.

My soul bleeds at times, the pain is so bad I can't run away from it; it lays on me like a blanket of steel. Only darkness can fill the space between the sky and me, it hurts.

I try and breathe in the light, for now. I try and put it away, for now. I go on with life without you, for now. I will keep you tight inside my bleeding soul because for now, I'm here and you’re there. Until I lay in your loving warm strong arms again, I'll stay here, but, just for now. I love you then, now and always, but it hurts.

 © denise demartine

Thank you again for reading.