A warm Love Bytes welcome to author Mimsy Hale joining us to day here at our blog
Mimsy kindly answered some questions for us , shares an excerpt and there is a giveaway to participate in!
Welcome Mimsy 🙂
Book Name: 100 Days
Release Date: April 7, 2015
Author Name: Mimsy Hale
Publisher: Interlude Press
Cover Artist: Front cover concept by Abbi Lawson
Cover design by Buckeyegrrl Designs
Blurb:
Jake and Aiden have been best friends—and nothing more—since the age of six. Now 22-year-old college graduates, they take a road trip around the USA, visiting every state in 100 days.
As they start their cross-country odyssey, Jake and Aiden think they have their journey and their futures mapped out. But the road has a funny way of changing course.
Fifty states. Two boys. One love story.
Pages or Words: 346 pages
Categories: Contemporary, Fiction, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, New Adult, Romance
Buy Links:
IP Web Store: store.interludepress.com
Tell us about 100 Days, what was your inspiration behind the story?
I truly drew inspiration from so many places for 100 Days. I’ve always loved to travel, and so in part it was inspired by wanting to take a couple of characters and let their story unfurl while they were getting that sense of time and obligation slipping away. It’s something I always look forward to when getting in a car, on a train or on a plane.
I was also inspired by my own love of movies, music and pop culture in general—and this is where the characters themselves came from. Music especially has had (and continues to have) such a profound impact on my life that whenever I’d hear what I call a “driving song,” it would put me in mind of being on the road to somewhere exciting and new, somewhere I’d never been before.
The biggest inspiration for the story, however, was definitely the idea of there being a rigid timeframe. It made me wonder what such a limit would mean for Jake and Aiden’s relationship as it stood at the beginning of the book—would it be one last hurrah before they moved into their new, post-college lives, or would it only bring them closer together?
Is this a trip you would like to make?
Absolutely! At this point, I feel like it would be something of a pilgrimage for me. Not being from the US myself, I had to do a staggering amount of research if I was going to have a hope of even being slightly accurate, and I uncovered so many little nuggets of information about the more “off the beaten track” aspects of the country. Whenever I see or hear a reference to somewhere that the boys visit in the book, it makes me miss these places I’ve never been to. And some day, I will do it.
What is your favorite place to travel to?
America, of course! There is so much of it that I haven’t seen yet, so much I haven’t been able to discover for myself, and I can’t wait until I can travel more. The top of my list is the more western states like Colorado and New Mexico—being a country girl, I’ve always loved wide-open spaces, and Santa Fe calls to me.
How long have you been writing?
Ever since I first picked up a book in my first year of school. When I found out that people made up characters and stories and wrote them down, something just clicked inside my head, and I was forever scribbling down shaky, jumbled sentences in my exercise books. It wasn’t until 2012, however, that I started writing long-form stories—up until then, I never really had faith in myself that I could finish something of that length. This is why 100 Days is something that I will never not be able to be proud of—I’ll look at it on my shelf and think, “I did it. I actually finished something!”
What is your next project?
I’m currently toying around with about three or four ideas that I haven’t fully committed to just yet. When I commit, I get consumed by it, and I want to know that what’s coming next is the right story to tell at this time in my life. What I can say is that of the three or four, one is extremely autobiographical and would probably be the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to write—though I’m sure I’d feel very Lena Dunham-esque! Another is a dystopian future idea, and the other is a merging of two separate ideas I had, both with an element of magical realism. All very different, so it’s difficult to choose!
Because anything really could happen, couldn’t it? What if what happened in Philadelphia wasn’t a total mistake, but simply the prelude to Jake finally listening to what his instincts have been telling him for weeks? What if, what if, what if…
“What are you doing? Come see this!” Aiden calls out.
Jake takes a deep breath and steps out of the shadows. Aiden is silhouetted against the fading sun, the light picking out the auburn in his hair, and as he stretches his arms up over his head, one finger hooked through the woven bracelet he bought earlier, he grins out at the horizon. Jake feels as if he’s watching Aiden through brand new eyes; he knows that there is rescue in those arms. Suddenly he wants to fall into them and hold on until he feels safe.
Aiden turns away from the vista, pushes his sunglasses up on top of his head and looks down at Jake, his eyes sparkling with warmth and light. He leans forward and holds out his hand, and he looks… beautiful.
Mimsy Hale has been a contributing ghostwriter to several bestselling nonfiction books. She is also an established writer in online fan communities, where her stories have hundreds of thousands of reads. 100 Days is her first novel. She lives in Suffolk, England, with her roommate and four cats.
Where to find the author:
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/themimsyhale
Twitter: @mimsyhale
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mimsyhale/
Tour Dates & Stops:
7-Apr
Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves
8-Apr
9-Apr
Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews
Book Reviews and More by Kathy
10-Apr
Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
13-Apr
14-Apr
15-Apr
16-Apr
17-Apr
20-Apr
Rafflecopter Prize: $25 Interlude Press gift card; Five multi-format eBook editions of 100 Days
Thanks so much for having me!
Road trip theme is getting quite popular…