Q: Please tell us about yourself.
Um, well... I'm a thirty-something child of God trying to figure out how to get this life right. I'm a wife, who recently picked a fight with my hubby, a mom, with a daughter upset that I don't talk to her enough, a fitness and writing enthusiast, with insurmountable goals for 2015 glaring at me and an accounting clerk for a big business, with too much work to get done in one day and enough wife/mom guilt to keep me feeling inadequate for a lifetime. I escape it all in make-believe worlds where I do not exist and therefore can't be found wanting.
Q: Tell us about your book
Waiting on Justin is a love story between Justin and Haylee, two characters who grow up with parents who abuse and neglect them. They are forced to rely on each other for all their needs and eventually grow to love each other. Because there is a significant age difference between them they must keep their romance a secret. And then, as it often does, life interferes and they are torn apart. The story follows Haylee on her path through abuse, neglect, addiction, shame, denial and Justin's ever present love for her.
Q: What inspired you to write Waiting on Justin?
The story was inspired by the JAG students I worked with at the Wenatchee Valley Tech Center. I asked them to give me ideas for the book I would write for NANOWRIMO 2012. From the teleporting, to the California setting so much was because of their influence; however the two main characters aren't specific to any of my students. I created Justin and Haylee to be representations of children who grow up in high-risk homes.
Q: How much time per week do you spend writing/editing your work?
If I'm good and stick to my regular writing schedule, or especially inspired I usually spend about ten hours a week solely writing or editing. My regular schedule is to get up between 4:30 and 5 in the morning and be up in my beautiful little writing loft by 5-5:30. I read a Proverb a day, then crack my knuckles and get to writing or editing for an hour before I have to get ready for work. On the weekends Saturdays are my free-write days. The kids are doing their thing, the hubs is in his shop and I create imaginary worlds of love to the beat of my Pandora station for hours on end until I can't write anymore, or I can't justify the isolation any longer.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
I'm constantly dreaming up stories to tell. Right now I'm finishing up "Catching Tatum," which is in edit phase with my publisher, Booktrope. It is the first book in the series that Waiting on Justin will be a part of and covers some of Justin's time away from Haylee. I'm drafting "Finding Jordan" the third book in the series, where poor rebound boy, Jordan, finally gets a girl of his own. And I'm polishing up a sultry story called, "Scandalous Affair,"that will be out later this year as well. It's a hot and steamy story about a high profile lawyer, Wren, and the choice he has to make between his long time Hollywood lover, Chelsea, and the executive assistant Rowena, who sparked the scandal.
Title: Waiting on Justin
Author: Lucy H. Delaney
Genre: New Adult
Can everlasting love grow amidst never-ending despair? Best friends Justin and Haylee learn early on that the answer is yes. Their parents would rather spend time drinking and partying than raising children, so the two rely on each other for the care and emotional support they need. Over time, Justin and Haylee become lovers despite the age difference between them.
Theirs is a forbidden romance that would destroy them both if discovered.
The older of the two, Justin is more than a little rough around the edges. He does everything he can to protect Haylee from as much abuse as possible, but when tragedy strikes there is nothing he can to do keep her from being taken into the foster system.
The system meant to save kids threatens to pull the two of them apart.
Haylee begs Justin to run away with her, but the powers-that-be force him into an inescapable corner.
Blaming Justin for the distance that separates them, Haylee shuts out everything and everyone from her past – including Justin. She tries to forget him. She tries to replace him. But he is always there. So is her own addiction. When it finally gets the best of her, she finds herself utterly alone.
She soon discovers what Justin has always known: Their love was worth waiting for.
Lucy H. Delaney lives with her blended family in the Pacific Northwest town of Leavenworth, Washington, nestled at the feet of the Cascade Mountains. When not tucked away in her writing room making up stories or standing in her cubicle in one of the offices of corporate America, Lucy spends her time with family and friends.
Along with her husband and four children, Lucy loves to be in nature: She can often be found on her homemade backyard swing, curled up with a good book, hiking the surrounding mountains or running country roads and game trails. A fitness enthusiast who regularly practices crossfit, yoga, and distance running, Lucy also volunteers for the Chelan-Douglas CASA organization and her church’s AWANA program to help keep kids safe and smiling.
Connect with Lucy online
Twitter: @lucyhdelaney
Facebook: Lucy H. Delaney
www.lucyhdelaney.com
Links
Available on Amazon.com in Kindle and paperback versions.
Available on BarnesandNoble.com in Nook and paperback versions