Today I am so pleased to welcome Joanna Chambers to Joyfully Jay. Joanna has come to talk to us about her latest release, Tribute Act. She has also brought along a great giveaway. Please join me in giving Joanna a big welcome!
I have been known to procrastinate quite a bit when I’m meant to be writing, deciding suddenly that I need to wash windows, bake scones or carry out detailed research into the events of the second Anglo-Burmese war in 1852. But never has my tendency to procrastinate been more evident than with my newest book, Tribute Act, when I spent a whole day writing a Christmas song.
One of my MCs, Mack, was abandoned by his dad, Derek, when he was a teenager. Derek had had a modestly successful pop career in the 1980s, his biggest hit being a Christmas song called Christmas Stocking. Mack—also a talented musician—has been estranged from his father for years at the start of the story, but is persuaded to visit him and his new family when he learns the half-sister he has never met needs a living organ donor and Mack may be a match. But when Mack turns up at the family home, it is to discover that his stepbrother, Nathan, is none other than the man he hooked up with the night before.
Music is a big part of Tribute Act. Mack is an introvert who is more comfortable communicating through music, and music is also the only common ground that he shares with his father. For these reasons, I decided to make Derek’s biggest hit, Christmas Stocking, a feature of the story arc between Mack and Derek, in particular, by having Mack perform the song in a significant scene.
I was about halfway through my first draft of the book, when I decided one Saturday that I absolutely needed to know more about this song before I could write another word, so I decided to write a few lines of it and sketched out the lines of the chorus:
I’ll be hanging up my Christmas stocking
So, when Santa comes a-knocking
There will be a place for him
To put my Christmas presents in
But I don’t need no fancy parcels
I don’t want no bows or sparkles
All I want this Christmas Day
Is you telling me that you are gonna stay.
That was when I decided I also needed to know what these lines sounded like before I wrote the performance scene (like I said, I am amazing at procrastinating).
I was only planning to spend an hour or so, but before I knew it, I was borrowing my son’s ukulele and having him teach me a bunch of chords which I noodled around on for the next couple of hours.
But that wasn’t enough.
I started in on the verses.
Three full verses later and several truly pitiful recordings featuring my execrable ukulele playing, I was done. I had written my first ever song! The next chapter of the book would have to wait till tomorrow…
Blurb
Nathan Bridges hadn’t intended to settle down in his hometown of Porthkennack—he just ended up staying after saving the family business from ruin. The truth is, Nathan can’t stop himself from stepping in when problems arise. He’s a fixer, the man everyone turns to. But even fixers can’t solve everything.
When Nathan’s sister needs an organ transplant, it’s his stepbrother, Mack, who the family turns to as Rosie’s only potential living donor. Nathan’s curiosity about the stepbrother he’s never met turns to shock when he realises that Mack is his latest—and hottest ever—one-night stand.
Nathan and Mack agree to forget their single night together, but that’s easier said than done. When Mack moves in to Nathan’s place to recuperate after surgery, it’s not just the sexual tension between them that keeps growing. Against all the odds, and despite Mack’s wariness of intimacy, the two men grow close enough that Nathan begins to wonder what it would take to mend the rift that’s kept Mack and his father estranged for over a decade . . . and whether Mack might consider staying with Nathan in Porthkennack for good.
Bio
Joanna Chambers always wanted to write. In between studying, finding a proper grown up job, getting married and having kids, she spent many hours staring at blank sheets of paper and chewing pens. That changed when she rediscovered her love of romance and found her muse. Joanna’s muse likes red wine, coffee and won’t let Joanna clean the house or watch television.
Connect with Joanna:
- Website: www.joannachambers.com
- Twitter: @ChambersJoanna
- Goodreads
Giveaway
To celebrate the release of Tribute Act, one lucky winner will receive an ecopy of the book and a $25 Amazon gift card! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on January 20, 2018. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!
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This sounds great!
kimandpete123 at gmail dot com
That was a fun blog post 🙂
booklover-forever(at)web(de)
I have been enjoying this series and look forward to this book as well. Thanks for the fun post.
Sounds good!
jlshannon74 at gmail.com
Welcome, Joanna, from a fellow procrastinator! Best wishes on the publication of Tribute Act and on your current writing project.
Procrastination for the win!
Thank you for sharing and for the post =)
humhumbum AT yahoo DOT com
Definite read for me, stepbrothers romance is my catnip. Love the cover.
Congrats on the new release!
serena91291@gmail(dot)com
Thanks for the interview. i guess in this case(with writing the song) your procrastination was a good thing. This book sounds great and I love the cover.
heath0043 at gmail dot com
You didn’t *hear* the song, lol!
Joanna’s Enlightenment series is one of my favorites and I loved Dream Alchemist, so I’m looking forward to reading Tribute Act. (The Christmas song premise reminds me a bit of About a Boy where Will HATES hearing the Christmas song his dad wrote that made all the family money that Will lives off of).
I love that film! OMG, yes.
And thank you so much. The Dream Alchemist loves your little bit of love for it, lol!
I’m looking forward to reading this! Thanks for the fun post! violet817(at)aol(dot)com
I don’t think I would have called it ‘procrastinating’. That was really awesome! I love the song you created & I love the fact that it was a vital part of the story. <3
mushyvince(at)gmail(dot)com
aw bless yer!
Fingers crooossed!
Funny…I can procrastinate with the best of them, but I don’t think I could write a song if my life depended on it.
Are we going to get to hear it? 🙂
aelnova@aol.com
I’d have to be VERY drunk, lol!
LOL! I wish I could hear one of those ukelele performances… Congratulations on the release, Joanna. Tribute Act has been in my TBR list for along time!
susanaperez7140(at)gmail(dot)com
honestly I am crap at ukulele, though my boy is SUPERB!
The book sounds very intriguing, thank you for the reveal!
nikolina1812 @ yahoo.com
Thanks for sharing. I can definitely relate as I am a world class procrastinator as well!
legacylandlisa at gmail dot com
I used to bake a lot…
Congrats on the new release! I love your books so I’m real excited about this one.
serena91291@gmail(dot)com
Congratulations on the release of Tribute Act! And on your budding songwriting career. Dust off your pipes!
Congrats, Johanna, and thanks for the post. I’m no expert, but I know a bit about the creative process, and I think your form of procrastination is actually a part of creating and helps the process along. My form of procrastination, however, is another thing all together :-(. – Purple Reader,
TheWrote [at] aol [dot] com
thanks all, for your lovely comments. I’ll spare you all the horrible reality of my singing and ukulele playing, lol!
Joanna