Love Bytes is welcoming to their blog author Kelly Jensen, talking to us about their new release Building Forever.

Welcome, Kelly!

Hobbies

I nearly always give my characters one or two hobbies. I like to think it rounds out their personality, but it also gives them something to do for the scenes in between. People rarely sit around doing nothing. Doing nothing is actually really hard. So I usually have a scene in every book where one or the other character is indulging in a hobby, either alone, or hanging out with friends.

Simon’s hobbies are art and music. Art feels kind of obvious for him, but not because he’s an architect. It’s more that while most of his design work takes place on a computer screen, he’s the sort of person who likes to sketch something out by hand first. When he’s in a meeting with a client, he’ll jot down their ideas in a visual way, for them and for his own reference.

He also draws for pleasure, but not very often. Toward the end of Building Forever, Simon’s best friend Frank finds Simon sitting with a stack of sketches he’s made of Charlie’s house and just Charlie. After looking at the drawing of Charlie, Frank asks Simon if he’s really that good looking. I kind of love this moment because it shows terrific insight into Frank’s friendship with Simon and into Simon, himself.

Simon has obviously drawn Charlie with emotion. He’s made Charlie beautiful, because that’s how Simon sees him. But while I’ll willingly agree that Charlie is a good looking guy, he’s not supermodel handsome. I never intended him to be. In the book he’s described as fairly regular. He’s the guy next door. He has friendly brown eyes. He’s not just a face, though, he’s a person.

Simon’s other hobby is playing the piano and it’s one he indulges often enough and with the sort of passion that requires a finely tuned instrument. His piano—a grand—features in his very first scene, and he frets about how well he packed it, about the movers possibly dropping it, and about where it should go in his house.

The first time Charlie hears him playing, Simon is feeling quite emotional and this is how he deals. I like to imagine he was playing “Clair de Lune” in that scene. Classical music is wonderfully interpretive—a lot of it, anyway—and without knowing the particular story behind a piece, it can be either haunting, sad, uplifting, or triumphant (and any number of other adjectives). Sometimes all of it. Charlie thinks it’s movie music, and “Clair de Lune” is quietly theatrical in my opinion.

My own taste in classical music is fairly mundane. I like Beethoven. I’m not that fond of Bach. I love Elgar and I can definitely feel Chopin on occasion. I like big and rhythmic, and beautifully serene. Simon’s taste might be more sophisticated!

Charlie’s hobbies couldn’t be more different. He likes to run (for fun) and play video games. While Simon is quiet concentration, Charlie is all movement. For Charlie, running is also one of his escapes. (His writing started out like that as well.) It’s how he gets out of his head for a while. And, given the fact his diet is whatever looks good to eat, running is good for him too.

But while running is a great way to clear your head and burn a few extra calories, what I’ve always loved about it is the sheer physicality. Feeling my body work, my muscles warm and stretch. The idea that my legs are doing this thing they’re designed to do. I love the high I get from even a short run. Our bodies are fascinating instruments and that’s something I appreciate when I exercise. Accordingly, I infused Charlie with the same feeling. He runs because it’s good for him, but also for the sheer joy of it. He’s a physical guy—he loves to build things (and knock them back down). He loves to feel his body working.

He and Simon in bed together—oh, yeah.

Charlie’s other hobby is video games. For me, games have always been a combination of elements. First, I tend to choose games that challenge me. Where each level is a puzzle that draws on the skills I’ve learned thus far, but also pushes me to think in new ways. Obviously, I like games that require strategy and logic. So, shooters. But not just ducks in a row. I need a reason to be stalking through any environment—which brings me to the second element: story.

I love games that have good role play elements. Where the character you play feels integral to something—even more when the line between you and the character blurs and you feel like you’re integral to something. Believe me when I say that I, not my Warden, saved Ferelden. And in the play-though of Dragon Age: Origins where I sacrificed myself (me, my Warden, and I), I was so overwhelmed emotionally that I couldn’t play for three days.

Charlie’s game of choice in Building Forever is Call of Duty, which is a personal favorite. Not all CoDs are created equal, however. What I love about the game is the challenge of each level. You always have to do something different. Sometimes you have to take a skill you’ve already learned and apply it in a new way, or just get better at it. Then you learn something new. It can be frustrating. The game is HARD. But the feeling of accomplishment is pretty good.

My favorite CoD is Advanced Warfare. It’s a combination of story and tactics that set it apart, and that’s the game Charlie and his best friend Phil are playing. Charlie acknowledges that CoD has moved way beyond Advanced Warfare, and like me he’s tried a few of the newer iterations, but he keeps going back because like most hobbies, gaming is meant to make you happy.

I’m looking forward to discussing the hobbies of all the characters in this series, and would love to hear about yours too. Any comment on one of my tour posts counts as an entry in my giveaway, but if you want to talk about music or gaming, or something else, please do!

 

Building Forever is the first in a series of standalone novels focused on older characters who think love has passed them by. I loved writing these second chance romances, and I hope you enjoy reading about the books—especially this one because Charlie and Simon will forever be the characters who started me on this journey.

About Building Forever

A new town, a new neighbor, and a new chance to build a forever.

Charlie King is doing fine. Sure, he’s a widower raising a teenage daughter who just got her first boyfriend, his book series isn’t writing itself, and he has a crush on his new neighbor — the guy next door. But everything’s just fine.

Simon Lynley is doing better. He moved to Bethlehem to fall out of love and rebuild his career. An affair with his neighbor isn’t part of the plan, but the attraction between them is too hard to ignore.

But when Simon’s ex follows him to Pennsylvania seeking reconciliation, and Charlie’s life starts to feel like a video on repeat, everything comes apart. Charlie worries that he’s failing as a father, and Simon is a distraction he can’t afford. Meanwhile Simon doesn’t know if he could survive being left again, and he hasn’t come all this way to make the same mistakes. But despite their fears, it’s only together that they’ll find the strength to slay old foes and build the forever they’ve been waiting for.

Now available from Riptide Publishing!

Amazon

About the This Time Forever Series

Small towns and second chances.

Simon, Frank, and Brian think love has passed them by. Each is facing down his fiftieth birthday—Simon in a few years, Frank next year, and Brian soon enough. Each has loved and lost. But for these men, everything old really is new again, and it’s only when they return to their roots that they’ll find their second chances and the happily ever after they’ve been waiting their whole lives for.

This time it’s forever.

This series includes:

1. Building Forever — releasing October 15, available now!
2. Renewing Forever — releasing November 12, available for preorder!
3. Chasing Forever — releasing December 10, available soon!

If aliens ever do land on Earth, Kelly will not be prepared, despite having read over a hundred stories about the apocalypse. Still, she will pack her precious books into a box and carry them with her as she strives to survive. It’s what bibliophiles do.

Kelly is the author of a number of novels, novellas, and short stories, including the Chaos Station series, cowritten with Jenn Burke. Some of what she writes is speculative in nature, but mostly it’s just about a guy losing his socks and/or burning dinner. Because life isn’t all conquering aliens and mountain peaks. Sometimes finding a happy ever after is all the adventure we need.

Connect with Kelly:

• Website: kellyjensenwrites.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/kellyjensenwrites/
• Twitter: twitter.com/kmkjensen
• Tumblr: kmkjensen.tumblr.com/
• Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/kmkjensen/
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/kellyjensenwrites/

 

To celebrate the release of Building Forever one lucky person will win a $25 Riptide Publishing gift card and a swag pack of stickers, art cards, and bookmarks! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on October 20, 2018. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following along, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!