#ThursdayThoughts Guest post by Tina Gayle

Good Morning Friends!

Tina Gayle is no stranger to us. She is the inventor of the various blog exchanges I participate in (Egg-Cerpt Exchange, Fall Romantic Travel, etc.).

Today, Tina would like to share some thoughts with us...

How do You Recover from Pain of Grief?

I’m sure there are an infinite number of stories of how a person recovers from the loss of someone they loved.

I thought, I would share with you my story. As you may know, I’m an author. For some writers to lose someone they care about puts them in a blue funk and makes writing extremely hard. A writer’s block is what some people call it.

Luckily, I was at the beginning of my career as an author and didn’t know about this problem. So I did what I always do when I’m struggling to adjust. I let my imagination go wild. For me, I need the comfort of my family. At the time, I was living in California while my sisters and most of my family were living in Texas.

I had picked up a book by Sylvia Brown about the Other Side. This book set sparked my imagination. I began to wonder what it would be like if I could communicate with my ancestors on a day basis. Could they in some way direct my life and help me grow as a person?

This question led me to ask more questions and soon I had a story idea that set me on fire.

While writing Summer’s Growth, I felt as if I had Jonathan the main spirit in the story on my shoulder. He and the other spirits helped me understand the difference between a ghost and a spirit. How spirits appear in faded colors while ghost were black and white.

Jonathan showed me something that my characters didn’t seem to get. Just because things aren’t going great doesn’t mean they aren’t going according to plan. We all need to grow and learn. Different things happen for a reason. Our job is to find the positive in what happen and grow.

So after working on this book for months, I felt better. I had my family walk me through the story adventure. They talked me through the pain of losing a loved one and helped me emerge on the other side. Granted, I still miss my mother, but I also know she’s still with me.

I hope you enjoy my story, and you’ll check out my book “Summer’s Growth.”

All the best,

Tina

Read First Chapter of "Summer's Growth"

Purchase a copy at Amazon.

What a sweet story Tina, thanks for sharing! I know what you mean about missing your mother. 

Tina Gayle grew up a dreamer and loves escaping into a good romantic book. She is currently working on two different series; the Executive Wives’ Club and the Family Tree series.

Married twenty-five years, she and her husband love to travel and play golf.  She can’t wait for Mike to retire so they can do more of both.

Read the first chapter of any of her books by visiting her website.

Find Tina Gayle everywhere

Home - www.tinagayle.net
Blog - www.tinagayle.blogspot.com
Twitter - https://twitter.com/#!/AuthorTinaGayle
Goodread - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1641826.Tina_Gayle
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/tina.gayle
Google + - https://plus.google.com

Linkin - http://www.linkedin.com/pub/tina-gayle/11/689/759

Hope you enjoyed today's post and that you'll return each week for Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlight.

Until next time, take care and God Bless.
PamT

#TuesdayTreasure: Last #RockingSummerRomance: #Summer'sGrowth by @AuthorTinaGayle

Good Morning Friends and Welcome to the final Rocking Summer Romance Read blog post. This week we end with another book by the same lady we began with....Tina Gayle and her book, Summer's Growth!

I asked Tina some questions about her writing process....

Which comes first, characters or plot?  Most of the time plot or open scene comes first.

Plotter, Panster, or somewhere in between?  Trying my best to become a plotter but I find I'm somewhere in between

What is the one question you wish interviewers would ask (answer)

Among those that you’ve written, which is your favorite book and why? 

Summer's Growth because I wrote while trying to recover from the loss of my mother. In many ways, it felt as if she helps me write it.

Find out more about Tina by visiting her Website, Blog, Facebook page. She is also on Good Reads, Google+, Twitter @AuthorTinaGayle and LinkedIn!

Forced by the family spirits to get a life, Mattie Winston has to train her replacement Amber Harrison to be in charge of all the workings of the Winston estate. Reluctant to make changes in her life, Mattie forms a bond with Amber, when strange accidents start happening which threaten their lives and an unknown ghost makes an appearance.

After being rescued by an old flame, Quincy Miller, Mattie faces old wounds of rejection. As the general contractor for Amber’s redecoration project, Mattie is in constant contact with Quincy and realizes she still in love with her childhood sweetheart.

Amber, learning her new role in the family, wants to discover the identity of the ghost who keeps appearing. After several appearances, Gwen, Amber’s distance grandmother, shifts the book into more of Amber’s struggle to find out why her grandmother disappeared two hundred years ago without a trace. In a fight to claim her position in the family, Amber searches for clues to solve the mystery.

Mattie and Amber are both challenged when the family spirits decides Amber shouldn’t be the keeper. Battling for Amber, Mattie realizes she wants a life with Quincy outside the Winston estate.

Amber realized the importance of her new spiritual family, and she works to discover how Gwen died.

Can these two women achieve their goals?


Read the first chapter at http://www.tinagayle.net/SGchapter.html Find at www.smashwords.com www.amazon.com

Excerpt:

Standing by the bay window in the front room, Mattie watched the car approach. Her new recruit’s arrival had goose bumps popping out on Mattie’s skin, adding to her anxieties.

She wanted to run, but instead glanced at the kindhearted spirit of Opal, her distant grandmother. Dressed in her best early American gown, the many layers of her petticoat swished with a soft hiss when she moved.

“There’s no reason to be nervous. Once you meet Amber, you’ll see she caps the climax,” Opal voiced in a soothing tone. “Your Aunt Rachel is absolutely thrilled to have a descendant from her branch of the family as keeper.”

Looking beyond her at the rest of the room, Mattie searched for the other members of the family council. They always offered her their support when she faced a big decision. Yet, today they were conspicuously absent.

“Don’t worry. The whole family is behind you. We just thought it better if we didn’t all hover.”      

Shifting from foot to foot, she wrung her hands together. A simple process of a changing of the guard for them, Amber’s arrival marked the end of the life Mattie loved.

The beautiful spirits around her didn’t understand how cruel humans could be to each other. What if she screwed up and the girl left? Or the girl hated living with a house full of spirits?

Unease pricked at Mattie’s mind. She had no experience in dealing with strangers. All her business associates understood her likes and didn’t force her to attend any social events.

A quick glance out the window, and a car rounded the fountain. She wasn’t prepared to entertain Amber. How could she be? She never invited guests to the estate.

“Now, Pumpkin, there’s no need to worry. It’s time another branch of the family realize what a pain it is to be keeper.” Opal smiled, offering her special form of reassurance. “We’re all here to help with the transition.”

The high notes of Beethoven’s Fifth sprang from the piano. Mattie jumped in surprise at the sudden noise. She whipped around to see Uncle Samuel, the artist of the family, standing next to the piano.

“The game is afoot.” He arched his eyebrows and grinned, then disappeared.

“I’d better leave.” Her aunt patted Mattie’s shoulder. “Just remember, the girl is uneasy too.”

Opal disappeared.

With a deep breath, Mattie turned and gripped the cold metal knob in her hand.

Soon her home would belong to a stranger, and then what would she do?

Get Summer's Growth at: Amazon (Kindle), Smashwords, B&N (NOOK), Kobo & Apple.

Hope you enjoyed the Rocking Summer Romance blog hop. If you missed any, you can find them on my Pinterest board! Also, the authors in this promo group will be doing a #FallingintoLove blog hop. I may not be able to post many because my Tuesday Treasure, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlights are filled through the rest of this year, but I will be tweeting the posts and pinning the books to my Falling Into Love pinterest board, so find and follow me!

Until later....take care, God Bless and remember.... What you believe in your heart & confess with your mouth you create in your life!

Something to think about!
"Inspirational with an Edge! ™

Tuesday Treasure: Egg-cerpt Exchange with Tina Gayle

Good Morning and welcome to the 2nd installment in our Egg-cerpt Exchange event!

Today is the host of this event, Tina Gayle....

"Summer's Growth." - part of the Eggcerpt Exchange fun.


Blurb -

In the spirit-haunted Winston estate in Ohio, rooted in time and occupied by the lingering ghosts of a great family, the torch is about to pass...

Mattie Winston, sober, sensible, and steady, has served as Keeper to the family for decades. Amber Harrison, hovering on the edge of flunking out of college, unsure what she wants out of life, has barely even heard of the Winston estate. The family, however, has decided that it's time for the changing of the guard. These two exceptional women soon find themselves dealing with violence, murder attempts, and old family mysteries while each finding the love of her life. Two romances and a growing friendship, all twined around a brooding family tragedy, make for an outstanding paranormal mystery offering depth and charm beyond the commonplace. The growing love of Amber and Carter and of Mattie and Quincy offer readers a tender and engaging first novel in a winning new paranormal series.

Now the eggcerpt

“Trust us child to find a soul who will honor your position. Nothing will remove your fears until you can reclaim your life’s mission and enjoy the rest of your days on earth.”

 “But what if Amber doesn’t like it here? She’s a young college student from sunny California. Why would she move to Ohio where it’s cold? Even in the summer, we don’t have beautiful weather. The rain can last for days.”

 “There is no dispute,” Jonathan growled. “Amber is a Winston. She longs to live here.”

  “But you don’t get it. There’s no guarantee. Josh has lived here all his life. He’ll do a good job.” Mattie wished Jonathan could see her point. Things might not turn out like he’d planned.

“Besides Cynthia will be deeply hurt when she finds out everything is under the control of a stranger instead of her son. She won’t understand.”

 “The Council’s point exactly. Cynthia cares only for gold, not for others. It’s best for the family to have someone else as the keeper.”

  The havoc this decision would cause in Mattie’s life washed bitter bile through her mouth. She swallowed, hard. -

Purchase at:

Or read more at @authortinagayle

Thanks for letting me share,

Tina Gayle

Hope you enjoyed this egg-cerpt! Stay tuned every Tuesday (and maybe some Saturdays) until Easter for more great excerpts!

Until later...take care, God Bless and remember....Jesus is the reason for Easter too!

Pamela S Thibodeaux
"Inspirational with an Edge!" ™