Wednesday Guest Author-Sierra Brave - Authorship, Publishing, Books and More

It’s time for our Wednesday guest author spot and this week say hello to Sierra Brave.

This Writer’s Life-(TWL)-Welcome to the Wednesday blog, happy to have you join us today. Introduce yourself and tell us about yourself, your writing and your books.

Sierra Brave (SB)-Hello, I’m Sierra Brave. I call myself a semi-retired romance author. My first romance novel was published in 2015 with Ellora’s Cave. I’ve published the Horse Mountain Shifter series and The Triple Passion Play series as well as many standalone stories.

When my son was diagnosed with cancer in 2019, I took a hiatus. I couldn’t find the words until he had a period of remission. I managed to polish up and publish Scarlett and the Big Bad during that time. He relapsed in May of 2021 and passed away later that year in December. He was twenty-two. I’ve had a few false starts since then, but I’m just now able to consistently peek my head out from under the covers and come up for air again.

I still haven’t been able to consistently work on my romance writing projects yet, but I am writing romance again, which is a start. I’ve also been writing about my grief and my son’s story. I believe telling my son’s story to raise awareness and help other families, who might be going through what we experience is helping me.

TWL-Why and when did you decide to become an author?

SB-I have a wild imagination. I always have stories going on inside my head, and I needed to write them down.

TWL-What’s a typical writing session like for you?

There is no typical session for me. It’s all about finding the time and motivation. As long as I have my laptop, I’m good. I’m not someone who has to sit at the same place or have all the same conditions to make the words flow. They flow in the car while I’m driving or in the shower while I’m washing my hair or while I’m trying to sleep. It’s just about making the time to get the words written down. Sometimes I write in my living room or my car in the parking lot of my daughter’s school. I’m writing at the library right now.

The only time I had trouble making the words flow was when my son was sick. Writing wasn’t fun anymore. Nothing was fun except when my kid felt well enough to hang out.

TWL-What have you learned most from being a writer?

SB-I’ve met a lot of wonderful people in the writing community. In some career fields, there is a lot of backbiting, and sure, even here, there is the rare rude or arrogant comment by a lone person, but overwhelmingly, I’ve learned that the people in the romance writers’ community stand together to hold each other up and to help one another.

TWL-What’s been the biggest struggle and how did you overcome it?

SB-Losing my son to stomach cancer has been my biggest struggle, and I don’t know that I will ever fully overcome such a horrible gut punch. However, not long before Roger went into hospice, he caught his sister and me commiserating about his relapse, and he sat us down and served us a harsh dose of reality. He said, “Let me tell you something. You two are going to outlive me. You’re going to need to learn how to mourn and go on with your lives.”

He was blunt but his heart was in the right place, and he meant it too. A few months after he passed away, I got angry and decided to slap back at the enemy who stole him from me. I joined up with Debbie’s Dream: Curing Stomach Cancer and participated in Advocacy Day to raise awareness and spoke with my congressmen about research funds for stomach cancer. Although stomach cancer is usually diagnosed in advanced stages and only 1 in 5 people survive to the five-year mark, its research is one of the least funded. Last year we asked for stomach cancer to remain eligible for funding under the DoD’s Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program, and it did.

TWL-What’s been your biggest victory?

SB-My biggest victory is that I’m back up and running and have started to write again after suffering a personal tragedy. If asked, I still say I’m semi-retired, but I have begun adding episodes to my serial, Alice in Shifterland on the Radish Fiction App. I’ve started to polish up book two in the Fated Fairy Tale series, Taming Goldie and I’m working on the outline to write the prequel.

Another victory I’m proud of is reclaiming my web presence. I let my author website lapse after Roger passed, but I had backed it up, and after much arguing with my hosting company and purchasing a new and improved domain name (Sierrabrave.rocks wasn’t doing much for me.), I’m back up with all my files at https://fairytalestothrillers.com/

I wasn’t great with SEO when I started as a writer, so I’m still cleaning the old files up. Still, I think it looks amazing. More importantly, I recently started a personal writer’s blog at https://writerwonderland.com/ which will serve as a place to share my son’s story and advocate for stomach cancer awareness as well as a spot for grieving parents to leave comments and connect.

TWL-If you could give advice to your pre-author self, what would it be?

SB-Life’s too short. Remember what’s most important.

TWL-What writing tip would you offer to a new author?

Read a lot of what you like to read. Study story structure. Network with other authors. Oh, and don’t use your pen name as your website domain if you are unknown. Also, study up on SEO if you’re going to have a website.

TWL-What would you like to promote today?

I love Saving Suki, Book 4 in the Horse Mountain Shifters series. The story is special because the series has evolved with my writing style. The bones are still the same, and each book is a paranormal shifter story, featuring at least one lead from the Horse Mountain Clan. The first two stories are quick reads. Book three has more meat, and by book four, I wrote a full romantic suspense thriller. I hope I’ll find time to add more. Before my son was diagnosed, I had plans for a spin-off series, but right now, I’m limiting myself to expanding the existing material.

Saving Suki

Tagline: A beauty he can’t remember. A hero she can’t forget. A fate neither can deny.

Buy links – Available with Amazon and Kindle Unlimited:

US/UK/CA/AU

Summary:

Suki always knew Malcolm Patterson would return to Horse Mountain one day. The day he rescued her from bullies, she found her fated mate and the man of her dreams though he only saw a little kid. He even dismissed the superstitions and rumors being spread about her family. After he graduated from high school and left town, she couldn’t forget him. Now, he’s back, looking irresistible as ever, and every time he’s near, her body goes crazy.

A college scholarship provided Mal the opportunity to escape his alcoholic father and the abuse that left gaping holes in his memory. He built a new life for himself away from the mountain, but when his old man passed away, he felt obligated to come home to bury him. Tormented by conflicted emotions, the only solace his heart finds is in the company of a beauty who says he knows her.

Just as things heat up between Mal and Suki, his dad ruins everything from beyond the grave, using his will to set him against the woman who might be his fated mate. To make matters worse, a dangerous shifter-purist movement brewing among a small segment of the Horse Mountain Clan targets Suki. Determined to prevent her from passing on her genes to a new generation, an unknown assailant stalks her. Will Malcolm be able to work through his past in time to secure his and Suki’s future?

Author’s Note: Saving Suki is a smoking hot romance with graphic, put-you-in-the-moment love scenes. Warning: Some readers may find triggering – adults only.