A warm welcome to our next author in our GRL Featured Blog Tour : Bru Baker!

Bru talks to us about her GRL experience , answers the question by Lex Chase and there is a giveaway to participate in!

Welcome Bru 🙂

Hi, everyone! Many thanks to Dani and Love Bytes for hosting me today as part of the GRL blog tour. Sitting down to write this piece really hammered home how close we are to GRL! It’s the same every year—it seems so far away when author registration opens up in March, and then somehow I still find myself scrambling to get things prepared in the weeks running up to GRL. You’d think I wouldn’t procrastinate about something that I take such joy from, but you’d be wrong. I can—and will—put literally anything off, and my GRL prep is no different. Even though we’re a few weeks out, I guarantee you I’ll be packing the night before, no matter how good my intentions to do it earlier are.

 

To be honest, my GRL scramble has happened in two parts. The first was trying to get a book out by October, since I like to have something new to talk about when I’m at GRL. I scraped by on the skin of my teeth on that deadline in April, and I’ll be promoting my new novella, More Than Okay, at the conference this year. A pivotal scene in the book takes place while one of the characters is eating a s’more, and I’m tying in my latest release by giving away s’mores kits at my author spotlight panel. I’ll be joined by Rick R. Reed and Brandon Witt as we talk about the important role food plays in our books and why there’s such a strong link between romance and food. Books You Can Devour will be a delicious panel on its own, but hopefully the promise of that sweet treat will lure a few more readers into our discussion!

 

I’m also putting together gift baskets for Daring Author Trivia, which will be one of the offerings during the fun fair hour this year. The wonderful Hans M. Hirschi has put together a motley crew of authors to host a trivia game for readers, and we’ll have a pretty awesome spread of prizes, from a Kindle loaded with ebooks from all ten participating authors to gift baskets and books. After the trivia the authors will be playing a game of Truth or Dare for charity. Readers who buy tickets can ask us questions or challenge us to dares, and all proceeds will go to our chosen charity, The Trevor Project.

 

This will be my third GRL, and it’s the first time I’m not apprehensive at all. My first year, I went as a supporting author and I had no idea what to expect. Chicago was great and I met so many amazing people, but the next year I still had all the butterflies and anxiety over attending, since it was my first time as a featured author.. This year, though, the only butterflies I have are from excitement. I can’t wait to see old friends and make new ones. The best thing about this conference is that there are no strangers. Just friends you’ve already met and friends you haven’t had the chance to meet yet. There’s something indescribable about being surrounded by hundreds of people who share your passion, and I think those who’ve attended before would agree with me when I say it’s addictive!

Question from Lex Chase: A man in a business suit gives you a briefcase with ten million dollars inside. He gives the instructions that you cannot keep any of the money for yourself or your family. You must pay it forward. Where do you spend the money?

 

There are so many amazing causes that could use donations, but given what we’ve just gone through with my nine-year-old son, I’d have to say I’d give it to a children’s hospital to expand their mental health services for children in crisis. My son has given me permission to share a bit of background, since he wants to do whatever he can to educate people about mental health issues, including how many barriers there are for people—especially children—to get the help they need.

Earlier in September, he was admitted into a pediatric psychiatric facility for an in-patient stay for a little more than a week. I’m not being dramatic when I say that very likely saved his life.

 

The most horrifying part was how hard it was to get him that help. We live in a major metropolitan area, and all of the four hospital systems here turned him away, either because he was either too young for their programs or because they didn’t have any beds, especially for kids who have dual diagnoses. We had to drive two hours away to find a dedicated pediatric psychiatric facility. Luckily, we had the means to travel that far and the financial resources to take him to an out-of-network hospital. So many children aren’t that lucky. So I’d take that briefcase full of money and do my best to change that.

 

Meg Bawden is in the hot seat next, and here’s my question for her: What’s an unconventional place you’ve seen beauty lately?

 

New Release Blurb

More Than Okay

Something in Jake’s relationship with Connor is changing, and not for the better. The only thing that’s been growing between them recently is silence, and when Connor starts lying about where he’s been and slipping out of bed at night, Jake fears the worst. Jake gets the surprise of his life when he finds out what Connor has really been doing. It couldn’t be further from what he’d expected. Instead of ending the relationship, Connor has been building up to taking the next step together with a huge romantic surprise for Jake. The scare shows Jake what’s really important, and the ordeal might make them stronger and bring them closer together than ever before

 

Order links:

Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, B&N, ARe, Kobo

About Bru
Bru Baker spent fifteen years writing for newspapers before making the jump to fiction. She now balances her time between writing and working at a Midwestern library in the reference department. Most evenings you can find her curled up with a mug of tea, some fuzzy socks, and a book or her laptop. Whether it’s creating her own characters or getting caught up in someone else’s, there’s no denying that Bru is happiest when she’s engrossed in a story. She and her husband have two children, which means a lot of her books get written from the sidelines of various sports practices.

 

Visit Bru online at www.bru-baker.com or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.

 

Bru is graciously offering a ecopy of this new release to one lucky reader!

Leave a comment to enter !