Friday Interview - Iyana Jenna

Art for promotional purposes only
RJ, thank you so much for the chance to visit your blog! And thank you for the questions. They are all so intriguing but only three? Hmm, let’s see. :D

What made you decide to start writing? What was your personal "kick-off"?
The one that made me go madly in love with writing is Frodo Baggins. My love to him made me want to read and write anything about him. Yup, they were fanfics. I never passed a day without writing at least 500 words. I had tried writing before but without inspiration I just couldn’t go far.

Do you ever compare yourself to other authors and feel like you're lacking and if so how do you overcome that feeling of being not good enough?
This is my absolute problem. I guess from the seven deadly sins, the one I suffer most is envy. It’s like my middle name, being envious, especially during my fanfic writing years when I wasn’t quite secure yet with myself and my writing. I was never good enough. I might still feel the same now, but I try not to overthink it. I just keep telling myself that everyone is created different. One might be good in writing but they lack in others. It’s also useless wasting time thinking about others’ writing. I’d rather spend it to improve myself.

Is there a solution to global warming?
There is, but it has to be done together by everyone in the world for that to take effect. It might be already a bit too late to do anything now, too. The glass house effect has turned worse and worse.

*****

Title: A Part of Me

Length: 4,500 words

Price: £0.39 / $0.60

Publisher: Alfie Dog Fiction

*****

Summary

In the middle of the snow on their way to get home for Christmas, Connor Williams crashed his car into a tree. He was badly injured but his boyfriend that was also in the car, Zach Tyler, was barely alive. How then, that morning in Connor's room, was Zach by his side, waiting for him to wake up?

*****

Excerpt 1

Zach found Connor still awake in the middle of the night, eyes straining at the screen of his PowerBook; his forefinger never stopped clicking. He didn’t even realize when Zach entered the study and came to stand behind him.

Zach yawned. “What are you doing?” He tried to peep into the screen. It looked like the website of a local airline. Zach got no reply until he repeated his question. This time he got a grunt.

“Is something wrong? Hey, Connor?” He leaned over Connor’s shoulder. “Why are you checking a flight schedule? Don’t we have tickets?”

Excerpt 2

The road was dark and empty, but Zach kept running and he nearly wept in joy when there was light from a car coming from the opposite direction.

“Hey! Over here! Please!”

The car drove past him, as if he didn’t exist, to where he’d left Connor. Zach called out once more and chased after it. He hoped against hope that it would see their car stuck into a tree.

Reviews

4-star review from Slashsessed:

When Connor forgets to purchase plane tickets for himself and his boyfriend, Zach, for Christmas, he's beside himself. Zach is disappointed, but takes it in stride. However, Connor is determined to fix his mistake and get the two of them to their families. Unable to find a flight home, Connor and Zach decide to drive. Unfortunately, the weather is not good and the roads are very slippery....

This short story captivated me from the very beginning and I found myself immersed in the characters' lives. I felt like I could feel their feelings of disappointment, frustration, joy and immense pain. Since it's such a short story, I don't want to give too much away, but I would definitely recommend giving A Part of Me a try.

It would be nice to read more about Connor and Zach and how they make their new relationship work in the long run.

4-meow review from Cathy Brockman:

I really liked this story. You don’t really get to know much about the characters since it is a short story but you do get how much they love each other. The story is sweet, full of love and also bittersweet at the same time. It’s beautifully written and my heart went out to Zach. It is always sad when death strikes someone so young and seemed to be so in love, the supernatural twists made this story even more heart stirring. I didn’t know whether to cry or just go AWE!!! I would like to see how Conner goes on after this tragedy, hint, hint.

Recommendations: If you like bittersweet stories, stories of young love, and ghosts this is for you!

BUY LINK: http://alfiedog.com/products-page/iyana-jenna/a-part-of-me-iyana-jenna-4500-words-ghost/

*****

About me

Iyana reads, writes, and watches her favorite series in her spare time. She first published her work when a publisher took an interest in her short story in March this year. She tries not to be obsessed with writing and publishing world but finds lately that she wants to keep writing and doing promos for her books rather than doing her RL job, teaching.

Find Iyana here:
Blog
Website
Amazon
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter

1 comment