Please welcome author Martha O’Sullivan to This Writer’s Life…
This Writer’s Life-(TWL)-Welcome to This Writer’s Life, happy to have you join us today. Introduce yourself and tell us about yourself, your writing and your books.
Thank you for having me. My name is Martha O’Sullivan and I write contemporary romances. My fifth book, Sierra Fall, was released in February.
TWL-Why and when did you decide to become an author?
I’ve always loved reading, especially romance novels, so it wasn’t a decision, per se. Writing chose me! After college I worked for two publishing houses before staying home with my children. When they got older and more independent, I pursued my other lifelong dream of writing. It’s been a huge learning and growth experience for me. Next to being a mom, it’s the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.
TWL-What’s a typical writing session like for you?
Now that my girls are grown and on their own, I write most days outside on my lanai. When started writing I wrote when they were in school.
TWL-What have you learned most from being a writer?
That it really is true, the more you write the better you get. And that slow and steady wins the race. Most overnight successes aren’t really overnight.
TWL-What’s been the biggest struggle and how did you overcome it?
Having the confidence to put my work out there for anyone to see, especially my friends and family. But the more I wrote, the better I felt about what I wrote. I just kept going.
TWL-What’s been your biggest victory?
In terms of writing, self-publishing five books in five years. But my life’s biggest win will always be my kids.
TWL-If you could give advice to your pre-author self, what would it be?
You can do it! You’re going to make mistakes, you’re going to have to reset, go back to square one time and time again. And don’t rush getting a book out there. Best foot forward.
TWL-What writing tip would you offer to a new author?
I didn’t know what I didn’t know and neither do you. Believe in yourself and the rest will fall into place. Go with your gut.
Blurb:
Mackenzie Bishop was looking forward to spending the summer in Lake Tahoe. Recently widowed with two young kids, a change of scenery would do them all good. But she never expected Bren Banks to be part of that scenery. Or that he would come to mean so much to her in such a short amount of time. Bren is just as surprised as she is; he’d long ago accepted that falling in love wasn’t in the cards for him. But keeping his promise to wait until she’s ready is proving increasingly difficult. And while Mackenzie tries to find the courage to trust Bren with her broken heart, Bren has to decide if he can trust her with a secret. One that could cost him everything, including her.
Sierra Fall Chapter One excerpt
The news had been a shock to say the least, but the gossamer, cocoon-like brume that followed had been a bittersweet blessing, a double-edged sword. A seductive, insidious blanket that swaddled Mackenzie Bishop and held her tight, then cruelly and indiscriminately released her with no respect for time or place. And as that fog lifted, reality set in.
She was a widow.
She’d gotten word in the middle of the night and had initially convinced herself it was just a bad dream. So much so that she forced herself to go back to sleep so she could wake up again to prove it. But when she did Kenzie found herself trapped in a nightmare that would become her new normal. And the worst was yet to come.
Telling the kids.
She went through the motions on autopilot—the service, the luncheon, the Honors Ceremony. Whenever reality tried to rear its ugly head, Kenzie traded it for denial. Matt was deployed. One of those missions where he was out of touch for weeks at a time. If something happened, she’d know.
But she did know.
A routine training exercise had taken Matt away from them forever. It was ludicrous, really. He was only two states away, not flighting on some foreign battlefield. He was coming home in time for the Spring Fling at school next weekend.
But he didn’t.
*****
Brennen Banks killed people for a living. And as is often true of things we love, he was good at it. But the best part about it, aside from the inordinate amount of money he made doing it, was that nobody knew. It was his little secret. Well, his mother knew. But she wasn’t going to tell anybody. She liked her swanky condo with the sporty two-seater parked in the garage. All courtesy of her favorite son and only child, the greatest thriller writer who never was.
Bren had loved sports growing up. It had been an outlet for his boundless energy, a channel for his unrelenting competitiveness and had served as a coping mechanism for not having a father in his life. But unlike most of his teammates, his passion for reading was just as voracious as his passion to win. And from an early age, Bren had seen no reason why he couldn’t combine the two things he loved most into a career. He’d sell millions of copies, sign over his movie rights and live happily ever after writing his next novel from his yacht with his beautiful wife and two perfect children.
Instead, Bren found himself rejected time and time again. So he’d had little choice but to take freelance work. What started as copy editing evolved into reworking storylines, creating subplots and layering characters before he knew it. And that had not gone unnoticed by the literary agency representing an aging thriller writer who shall remain nameless.
He could live anywhere in the world but chose to live here among the soaring pines and pristine waters of Lake Tahoe. He loved the seasons, the way the lake bore patient witness to them, never freezing, never warming, always stalwart and undaunted. He loved how the snowcapped peaks stood in perfect relief to the blinding blue sky in winter, the way the meadows came alive with the lushness of spring, the wall-to-wall sunshine of summer and the colorful reckoning of fall.
But his mother not so much, which is why he’d set her up in a retirement community in Scottsdale where she could want for nothing. To his mind it was the least he could do. She’d raised him alone, rarely thinking of herself, while never ceasing to remind him that he was the best thing that had ever happened to her, her life’s greatest gift. However unexpectedly that gift had been bestowed.
He’d always assumed he’d get married, have a family. Not to any woman in particular and without much thought to a timeline but eventually, someday.
He hadn’t given it much thought again until lately, but something about turning forty last year had brought it top of mind. Sometimes when he grabbed a beer to watch the sunset Bren wondered what it would be like to have someone to share it with. Someone to run dinner ideas by, someone to ask about their day and relay the highlights of his, someone to plan a vacation or a holiday celebration with. Maybe even someone to watch play baseball or help with homework. A partner, a family. The family he’d never had despite how hard his mother had tried to check all the boxes—mother, father, sibling. There was always something missing and that something eluded him still. He couldn’t help but wonder if it always would.
Bren remembered his first visit to Tahoe all those years ago like it was yesterday. They’d pulled over just past the fork in the road where the lake first comes into view, peeking through the gaps in the trees. He’d dropped his mother’s hand and ran to the water’s edge, then looked back at her. She’d nodded in silent permission and within an instant the cool water covered his shoes and spit spindrift on his ankles. The sun’s rays bounced off the sharp crests of the waves like millions of tiny diamonds glittering under a cobalt blue haze. And that was it. He was hooked.
It had taken him a couple of decades, but Bren owned his own piece of Tahoe now. Where the crimson sun burst through the charcoal dim of the mountains in the morning. Where the air carried the sweet scent of pine straw and was so fresh and crisp it snapped. Where the star-studded night sky guarded the lake and cradled the basin as he slept. Where he had the privilege to live.
Alone, Bren reminded himself and took a deep pull from the bottle.
Buy Links:
https://books2read.com/marthaosullivansierrafall
https://www.marthaosullivan.com
Bio:
Martha O’Sullivan has loved reading romance novels for as long as she can remember. Writing her own books is the realization of a lifelong dream. She is a graduate of Illinois State University where she wrote for the school newspaper and was a member of Zeta Tau Alpha. She is also a former Acquisitions Editor at MacMillan Computer Publishing. Martha writes contemporary romances with male/female couples and happy endings. Her Chances Trilogy, Second Chance, Chance Encounter and Last Chance, and fourth novel Christmas in Tahoe, are available in print and digital formats at online retailers everywhere. Her new book, Sierra Fall, was released on February 18, 2025. A native Chicagoan, she lives her own happy ending in Florida with her husband and daughters.
Social media links:
https://www.marthaosullivan.com
https://www.instagram.com/authormarthaosullivan
http://twitter.com/@m_osullivan26
https://bsky.app/profile/mosullivanauthor.bsky.social
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7254612.Martha_O_Sullivan