Today I have Jayson James with me for his Pieces of Us Blog Tour! Welcome Jayson!
Thank you for hosting me on my first ever blog tour!
Although I have put out five previous books and three short stories, I have never done a blog tour before where I am visiting a different blog every day. I am quite excited! Be sure to follow me on social media to see where I will be each day!
PIECES OF US
“Into the lake?”
“Into the lake.”
For Jesse Stetson, a boy who knows he is different and Dylan Sterling, Jesse’s best friend, Sander’s Lake has served as a sort of scrapbook for them with sentimental items being dropped into the lake from their dock after significant events in their lives.
Life in 1988 was different from today. A boy and a girl being best friends were uncommon. Not that Jesse or Dylan cared, they had each other and that’s all that mattered. Or so Jesse wished. While Dylan has been meeting and dating guys, Jesse has yet to find the same connection with a girl. The closest he’s come is Dylan, but she’s a girl and a friend not a girlfriend. Jesse is struggling with his feelings and trying his hardest to be normal.
Dylan and Jesse are growing up and possibly growing apart. Dylan has a new boyfriend and is now splitting her time between him and Jesse. To further complicate things, Jesse meets Orion, a new boy in town. Jesse knows that his feelings towards Orion must be wrong, yet it feels so right. Even if Orion feels about Jesse the same way that Jesse feels about him, should they act on their attraction?
This story is a journey of friendship and discovery, finding out who you are as a person, and then being okay with who you are.
ARTWORK
Over 100 drawings were created, modified, merged, cropped and manipulated to create the cover for Pieces of Us. This by and far was the most labor-intensive cover on any of my books to date. I feel with how it turned out, it made all the work worthwhile.
WHERE TO PURCHASE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
My name is Jayson James. I am an Indy author of several novels and novellas. I was born and I have lived most of my life in Washington State. My interests beyond writing include drawing, reading a variety of books, watching movies and hanging out with his friends, family and dog. Besides an author, I am an artist. The cover art on every one of my published works are one of my own drawings. I take the drawing I do for each cover and then design the rest of the cover around it.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter: @jaysonjamesbook
1988 COMMENT QUESTION
What do you remember the most about the year1988?
What do you like most about the year1988?
What is your favorite movie from 1988?
What is your favorite comedy movie from 1988?
What is your favorite horror movie from 1988?
What is your favorite action movie from 1988?
What is your favorite romance movie from 1988?
What is your favorite song from 1988?
What is your favorite happy song from 1988?
What is your favorite sad song from 1988?
What was the most annoying song from 1988?
What is your favorite band from 1988?
What is your favorite television show from 1988?
What was the biggest pop influence for you from 1988?
What from 1988 would you like to see make a comeback?
Knowing what you do now, could you live back in 1988?
How old were you in 1988?
Name a business that was around in 1988 that is no longer around?
Name a brand that was big in 1988?
If you could go back in time to a particular year, what year would that be?
If you could go back in time to a particular time in your life, what would you change?
I’d like to hear from you! Please post your response in the comments below!
Be sure to check out other stops on the tour for more questions.
MORE BY JAYSON JAMES
How It Was Supposed To Be
Reese Kennicott and his family were living the carefree life of an upper middle class life. That was until one day when his father arrives home from work and shares the company he has worked for since he was Reese’s age has gone out of business. Adding to the stress of being out of work for the first time in the worst economic downturn the United States has ever faced. Hope comes in the form of a new job for Reese’s father. The downside is this job is across the country, forcing Reese to leave behind his friends and the life he’s always known.
Releasing Fall 2014.
T.E.D.
Tim-Eric-Delsin
Tim is being bullied. No one in high school wants to be known as a tattle-tale and to do so would only make things rougher for him. The repercussions would most likely make him an outcast, and without any friends.
Eric is frustrated with life. His parents are overbearing and if they ever knew the person he really was, they would throw him out of their house. His friends are not much better, they only like him when he is who they expect him to be.
Delsin is gay and ready to come out. Unfortunately, life at home is on the brink of falling apart with his parents constant fighting. Admitting the truth could bring his whole world crashing down around him.
Each of these three needs to decide whether the risks of being honest about who they are outweighs the importance of being true to themselves. This could mean ruining life as each of them knows it. Maybe it is better to remain miserable in order to play it safe. On the other hand, doing nothing doesn’t seem to working either.
Finding Our Way
Justin Parker and Derrick Wilson have been best friends since meeting back in middle school. Currently they are in their junior year at Chandler High School, and living the good life as teenagers. They have great girlfriends, plenty of close friends, their own cars, and parents who are well off. As nice as things might look to an outsider, something is missing from each of their lives.
Justin has become the invisible son in the midst of his parents failing marriage. In an effort to get his parent’s attention, Justin keeps getting into trouble. So far he has been able to get away with anything without facing any repercussions, while Derrick is feeling distant and tired of what he feels is a too “perfect family”. He just wants to have a normal social life and spend time with his friends without the pressures from his family to spend time with them. With blurring the lines of friendship in the process to realizing what was missing and discovering who they really are.
Justin and Derrick take turns narrating the story of their junior year in high school and all of the events that take place in their lives. Being a teenager can be tough. Being gay can be tougher. For Derrick and Justin they are both, and life cannot get any more complicated.
What happens when two best friends cross the boundaries of friendship? Will they be able to be happy together? Will they keep their secret?
Tormented Discovery
Justin and Derrick have a secret that they revealed only to their closest friends. They are gay and are now a couple. The story of Justin and Derrick continues as they learn more about being a gay couple in their senior year of high school and the complications that arise from it. Some friends will have their backs while others simply stand on the sidelines. Other friends will be accepting and others will ridicule them.
Sometimes love is almost not enough to save a relationship and both Derrick and Justin begin to have their doubts as they watch relationships around them rise and fall. Justin and Derrick both want to have new experiences, new choices and make new friends, which leads to them questioning their own relationship. They soon discover that some of the people they consider friends have their own secrets, some darker than others. The couple begins to see how people react towards homosexuality and just how people want to deal with it and them.
Will Justin and Derrick be able to hold onto each other while their lives and secrets spiral around them?
Or will they decide to step back and give up on themselves and each other?
Drifting
What happens when the person you love is having doubts?
These two boyfriends have been through a lot. Best friends since childhood, fell in love in high school and thought they would be together forever. They stuck together even when their friends and family found out about their relationship. Struggling with challenge after challenge, they have finally made it to college and are living on their own. Living together is a whole new world and being open with their relationship is even more so.
Spending every day together as a couple they begin to learn about their differences. Things that never bothered them are now annoying traits driving a wedge between them. Can their relationship survive their differences? Can it handle new friends and new romances? Will they find their way together or will they drift apart?
And now an interview. (I can't take credit for this one)
What inspired you to write Pieces of Us?
One evening I was watching the movie Peggy Sue Got Married for the thousandth time in my life. As I have done many times before I wondered what it would be like to go back in time knowing what I know now. This got me to thinking about back in junior high school in 1988 with my female best friend. Everyone used to ask us if we were boyfriend and girlfriend and when they found out we weren’t our peers would always ask us why. It wasn’t until after high school that I made the discovery about myself. Although in the back of my mind I think I always knew. Then I got to thinking if I would have known how differently my life would have played out.
There was also an idea on my head about a boy and girl who live on a lake. I was debating about writing a story about them falling in love, yet the female character in my head was my long time best friend. I combined her personality with another close female friend of mine in my head, yet I could not see her falling for the boy. I decided to combine the two ideas and liked where I could see they story going.
My best friend from way back then ended up giving me a call a few days later and I told her about the idea. She of course loved it and thought I should write it. A few weeks later I wrote what would later become chapter 4 in the book as the beginning, yet it wasn’t working for me. In talking with my best friend I realized that although we’d met at school, it was our meeting up and chatting on the phone was what defined our friendship and I knew this was what needed to define Dylan and Jesses friendship. I started at the beginning and wrote until what I already had written fit in and kept on going.
When you sit down to write, do you make an outline for your book or do you just go with what comes to you?
I do it in a variety of ways. It all depends on the book. Most of the time I have a general idea for what I want for a storyline and I will sit down and write it out along with notes (especially if I’m afraid I will forget what it was.) Sometimes I have a complete idea in my head and then I outline most of the book because as I get into writing there are other ideas that pop into my head. These parts (I call them inspirational parts) are often people’s favorite parts of the book. They are scenes that pop into my head and I will incorporate them immediately in the book.
I have a board by my desk, on which at some point during the project, I will jot down notes directly onto it or using Post-It notes. My board has always been too small for me, yet I have never gotten a bigger one! It is typically when it gets overflowing with idea that I buckle down and get these ideas written.
In short, yes, I do outline.
What are you reading now, and why?
Silent by Sara Alva. Over my vacation I recently returned from Silent was one of the books I’d read and I wasn’t able to get the characters out of my head. I love the way the story unfolded and played out. It is the best book I’ve read in quite a while. After being back to my daily life, I found I kept thinking about this book. I decided it would be a good idea to read it again. I am enjoying it immensely.
I have a pile of other books I want to take time and read a few here and there over the next few months. Knowing how important reviews are to book sales, even if it is only twenty words, I plan on writing a review for each book I enjoy.
Do you plan to draw all of the covers for your books?
If it were up to me, there are times I would like to say no. When I went to publish Finding Our Way, my friends were all over me to put one of my drawings on the cover. I thought I would later go back and change the cover to real models, if I could ever find one that looked just right (and not on other covers). My drawing was something I had always kept private, beyond my various cartooning and I was embarrassed about using it. I laugh at that now. I get more fan mail and various compliments about my drawing than I do any of my books.
What writing project are you working on now?
A book with the twins from my Finding Our Way Series, Tyler and Tyson Hensley, back when they were in middle school and before they moved to Chandler, Washington. I started writing this book several years ago and my friends liked the first chapter and hoped I would finish it. When I was writing Finding Our Way I decided to include them as Derrick and Justin’s friends feeling they were great characters. Although I have been fond of the twins and I wanted to finish their book, I have had other books I ‘ve wanted to get written. As I feel inspired, I’ve written more on the book. I have it all outlined and I’ve even started working on the cover. I really think that it will be complete over the next year.
What are some of your hobbies?
I like to draw. Pencil has been my favorite medium to use, but I also enjoy using crayon and oil pastels. Recently a friend introduced me to wet watercolors, which I used to create the cover and background image for Pieces of Us. Also, I like to read a variety of books, with my reading list forever growing. When I am working or relaxing, I enjoy watching movies.
This or that questions.
Pepsi or Coke? Diet Coke
Yellow or Purple? Purple
TV or Movies? Movies
Chicken or Beef? Chicken
Jason or Freddie Kruger? Freddie Kruger
Sunrise or Sunset? Sunset
Sausage or Bacon? Sausage
Chocolate or Vanilla? Vanilla
Facial hair or clean shaven? Clean shaven
Truth or dare? Truth
Make sure you hit all the stops on the tour. Thank you for coming by!
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