Love Bytes says hello and welcome to author Alexa Milne who is joining us to talk about a special occasion.

Alexa also brought a fabulous giveaway for our readers!

Welcome Alexa

After all this Time – Ten Years of Books

Today, I achieve an ambition that has been nine years in the making with the publication of Brimming Over, book three in the Finding Family trilogy.

Many authors have those stories that they pick up and put down but will never let them go. Finding Family is that one for me. It all started nine years ago when I was on holiday on Anglesey and watched a programme about a biracial athlete who had been adopted—happily—by a professional white family with two children, who had decided to search for his birth mother. I thought this could be the basis for a good story and, as always, ideas swirled. I’d been looking for a partner for another person I wanted to write and I thought putting these two very different men together would be interesting. From all this thought, David and Linc were born and placed in Norfolk, another favourite holiday destination of mine. David became the quiet librarian who fostered cats and had an online following watching the kittens—I watched some myself, and Linc became my plus size, for want of a better description, craftsman character, a cinnamon roll if ever there was one, who like David had a found family after he’d been thrown out of his home as a teenager. I wanted to write someone who does not lose weight to find happiness. I have to say if asked to choose my favourite character, Lincoln Woodhouse would be the one.

David and Linc are an unlikely pair as you can see from the book cover models. So, I began to write all those years ago, got them together, and would have usually left things there, but as with many books I’ve read, I wanted to know more. I wanted to know what happened next and I kept writing every now and again when my health, the pandemic, and writing other books let me, until last year when I made a determined decision to get the whole of their story written down.

Last year proved to be a good writing year for me. Half Empty was joined by Half Full and Brimming Over with each being over eighty thousand words. There is also a fifteen-thousand-word bonus story of the American road trip to come. During this time, I also wrote a cat shifter story, The Cat Who Came in from the Cold, now the first in a series, and my second sapphic romance. When my usual publisher turned down the trilogy, I found a wonderful editor in Sue Laybourn and cover artist in Garrett Leigh then set about my first foray into doing things for myself. I can’t explain the joy of holding the paperbacks in my hands knowing how much time and effort has gone into them both from myself and all the people who helped to shape my words.

This year is the tenth anniversary of my first book, Sporting Chance, being published. In those years, I’ve published thirteen full novels, two novellas, and four short stories. I’ve come a long way from writing fanfiction which is where I started. I’m not a best seller, but I enjoy writing and making up stories. It allows me to live outside the restrictions health issues have created. Through writing, I get to do the things I can’t and go to places through the characters I create. Now David and Linc’s stories are published, I have to say goodbye to them living with me, but there are always others who have been patiently waiting in line. Next year, I hope to bring you another cat shifter story, The Cat Who went into the Woods, my second sapphic romance, Of Dungarees, Wellies, and Wedding Dresses, and the story of Murdo and Euan which may become the first of the Highlands and Islands series of novellas set in my beloved Scotland.

Before I go, I have a little giveaway. If you would like a chance to win an e-copy of all three books in the trilogy please comment on this blog post and tell me your favourite series of books and who wrote them.

All I need to say now is Happy New Year, and happy writing and reading.

Originally from South Wales, Alexa has lived in the Northwest of England for over forty years. Now retired, after a long career in teaching, she devotes her time to her obsessions.

Alexa began writing when her favourite character was killed in her favourite show. After producing a lot of fanfiction, she ventured into original writing.

She is currently owned by a mad cat and spends her time writing about the men in her head, watching her favourite television programmes, and usually crying over her favourite football team.

Links
You can find me here
Facebook – www.facebook.com/alexa.milne.5

Bluesky – Bluesky – www.alexamilneauthor.bsky.social

Twitter – www.x.com/Alexa_Milne

Goodreads – www.goodreads.com/author/show/8306423Alexa_Milne

Amazon – www.author.to/AlexaMilne