Pulling an Adele
by Alina Popescu
One of the first things people ask about my book, The Edge of Hope, is what inspired it. It’s easy, I did what a lot of people do, use my creative outlet – writing – to exorcise my demons. I will probably never forget the moment this book started to come alive in my head. It was a personal lowest point, and we tend to remember those.
It was a very hot spring day, early afternoon, I had my MP3 player blasting in my ears, and I was rollerblading in my favorite park in Bucharest. I had my shades on, cause it’s not nice to cry and have people see you. I took a break on one of the park benches and started thinking about what was happening and as I was trying to sort it out, the feeling taunting me started to take shape, the state I was in being perfect for a character in a book.
Alexa, the main character, already existed, but she was part of a different story that I had abandoned. So I picked her up, dusted her off, and told her to hang on tight, cause there was a lot of struggle and heart ache coming her way. She facepalmed and sighed, but knew it couldn’t be helped.
What I thought at that point was the lowest turned out to be only half way down the hole and it took a bit more hits for me to hit bottom on an emotional level. I dealt with it through Alexa, writing her story and seeing how she was handling everything.
I’m certainly not alone in having my heart shattered and thrown back at me. I was lucky enough to turn it into something that people seem to like while healing. And here is where Adele comes in. Every step of the way, I thought I wanted to deal with my pain as she did, turn it into something inspiring and that people could relate to. The awards weren’t bad either! I consider my good reviews my awards and I am deliriously happy whenever I get one.
In a sense, Alexa’s story is mine. In another, it’s so different I tend to forget it was my experience that created her. She’s certainly a fighter, and she stubbornly gives love chance after chance. Deep down she’s a hopeless romantic, I suspect.
The moral of the story? Sometimes the darkest times lead to the most amazing experiences. Frankly, writing this book and then deciding to publish and promote it led to the most amazing friends during the past few years. Some I met in NaNoWriMo forums, some I met on Facebook. Writers, bloggers, readers, musicians, designers, more readers. They have all become part of my extended online family and inspired and motivated me to go further. And so I did, pushed through whatever personal mishap occurred, I had reconnected with my writing and I’m never letting go.
Over to you: how do you deal with your low points? Which is your outlet?
About The Edge of Hope
When tall, dark, and gorgeous shows up on your self-prescribed emotional recovery vacation, some would call it fate smiling down on you. If he also happens to be interested in your work and ready to make all the room you need in his life, it starts to sound too good to be true. Alexa skips the doubts and jumps right in, only to be thrown into the mysterious world of vampires.
The secrets of their origin and their very existence are far more important than her life to some of her new acquaintances. They are ancient, they are powerful, they have unlimited resources, and they are keen on controlling what the world knows of their kind. As Alexa discovers their complicated, blood feud bound world, she tries to better understand herself, heal old wounds and give love chance after chance. Will she survive the journey?
Available at: Smashwords, Amazon & Barnes and Noble
About Alina Popescu
Writer, traveler, and coffee addict; Alina Popescu has been in love with books all her life. She started writing when she was ten and even won awards in local competitions. She has always been drawn to sci-fi, fantasy, and the supernatural realm, which explains her deep love for vampires and is also to blame for this trilogy.
You can find Alina on her Website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Google+ and Amazon
This giveaway is going to be a little different because you’ll have TWO chances to win prizes.
Alina is having a tour wide giveaway where one winner will win a signed paperback copy of The Edge of Hope and THREE winners will win an ebook copy. If you’re interested click the link below and enter the Rafflecopter giveaway!
BUT don’t leave just yet! You’ll have ANOTHER chance to win an ebook copy of The Edge of Hope right here on The Blogger Girls!
The giveaway starts now and will end next Monday, April 21st, 2014, at 11:59 pm EST. After which the lucky winner will be randomly picked.
All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below with your email address and you’re in!
Make sure to follow the blog for the winners’ announcement post or check back next Tuesday, April 22nd, 2014, to see if you’ve won.
You can still purchase The Edge of Hope from Amazon and don’t forget to check out JustJen’s review to see what they thought of it!
Good luck!
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