An Update on Building Courage

 

Hello Dear Readers!

I wanted to give all my readers a quick update and another short excerpt from Building Courage.

This book has been a long journey for me. My husband was bedfast for eight months. During that time, he required a lot of care. He passed in February 2023.  It took me nearly eight months to regain my writing rhythm, but I've found my feet.  I finished Building Courage May 1st,  and it is currently in my editor's hands.   

I want to give Delilah Devlin, editor extraordinaire and fellow author, a shout-out for taking on the editing of the book. She's truly a wonder. 

And I want to acknowledge Tracy Hacker my cover artist, who is an amazing graphic artist. She has done all my covers.  

And Paul Salvette, who always does a fantastic job formatting my manuscripts so you can read them in print and ebook. 

We authors don't work in a bubble, though sometimes it feels that way. None of us could produce a quality product without a team of experts helping us. 

If all goes well, I hope to release the book mid to late June. Keep your fingers crossed Dear Readers.  Here's another unedited excerpt to tide you over until the book is out. 

    Denotti glanced up from texting on his phone as he slipped into a seat next to him.

    "How are the scuba lessons going this week?" the big man asked.

    Brynn seemed to be taking to scuba like a duck to water. "She's a natural. She swims like a fish, surfs and Kayaks."

    "Cool."

    She videoed the trip to the dive shop and some of my instructions the first week. This week, we did a short dive at La Jolla cove, and she took some underwater photos with her camera. The next dive she'll use the rig she'll have to wear when she does the shoot in Australia."

    "Videoed?"

    "Yeah. She has a podcast." 

    "Denotti opened the phone again. "What's it called?"

    "Being Human." 

    He surfed the net, and the minute he came across Brynn's site, his brows shot up, and he grinned. "Whoa, Brother! If you're not going to tap that, I want her number." 

    Tucker resisted the urge to punch him and crossed his arms instead. If he put up a fuss, Knotty would be relentless in his pursuit. The guy had an unwavering sense of competition—unless he waved him off. A brother didn't trespass on another's girl. But he couldn't resist yanking Denotti's chain.

    "Not giving it to you, Denotti."

    Denotti challenged, "Why not?"

    "Trust me. I'm doing you a favor. She'd eat you for breakfast."

    "She's a ball buster?"

    "Yeah. And worse. The only thing she's interested in is her career. Her camera goes everywhere with her. I bet she sleeps with it. If she doesn't have it, she's got her phone. She's laser-focused."

    Denotti looked at her website photo. "She could laser-focus on me any time. And I don't mind a little camera action, in bed or out."

    Tucker laughed. "She isn't learning to scuba for pleasure, Knotty. She's training to take underwater photos of the Great Barrier Reef and the aquatic life in Australia, for the magazine she works for. 

    Denotti scrolled through the photos on the site. "I don't know jack-shit about photography, but even I can see she's good. Actually, better than good, exceptional."

    "Yeah. Photography seems to be her calling."

    "Everybody has to have one," Denotti said with a shrug. "Like us."

    He was right.

    "So, how far did you get with her?"

    Tucker finally broke and laughed. "We had dinner together the first night after the scuba lesson. She had a shoot she had to get to after this week's dive, so I'm going to ask her over for dinner and a movie tonight."

    "Asshole." Denotti punched his arm. "She's beautiful."

    "Yeah, she is. And I don't know if she sleeps with her camera or not, but I'll let you know."

    Denotti laughed. "Hold the pictures of yourself. I've already seen it all and I'm not interested."   

  

I hope you enjoyed the excerpt. 

I'll announce on my blog and my Facebook page when the book comes out!!!

Read On,

Teresa Reasor