My life. Plain and simple. A lot of things in the story happened or occurred in some way. Things are exaggerated or manipulated to fit the needs of the book, but there is a lot of my personal life in the book.

At first it was supposed to be just Vincent's story. But as I got going I realized there was a piece of the puzzle missing. That's when Daniela's POV came into play. That's when everything changed. Also, the first chapter started off very different. Dances of Sugarplums didn't exist at all, but I went back and added it. The story needed it.

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The parts of the novel where they are beginning to realize they like each other. It's so different from each perspective and how they handle this growing crush. Daniela and Vincent each try to avoid it in their own way.

The response has been overwhelmingly good! The readers have become attached to Vinny and Dany. They root for them when they're alone, they root for them when they're together. I think they really see them as a team. It's great.

It's the first in a series! I am writing the next one right now.

That sometimes what you think you want isn't what you need. That life isn't perfect and that's okay. Sometimes the best love story is right under your nose.

General writing advice would be to just write. Don't stop writing even if you're feeling down on yourself or if it's not up to par. It doesn't do any good to compare yourself to others either. Just write the book that you want to write. Everything else will fall into place. As for focusing on the story at hand, make an outline for yourself. I'm not kidding. I never used to do this and then never finished anything. When I started making bullet points for myself with plot points and scenes I wanted to write or hit, that was a breakthrough. For a long time I also thought I had to write everything in order and then I'd get stuck. So I stopped doing that. When I feel like something isn't taking my attention I move on to another scene and will return later. It works. Try it.

Daniela is the closest to me a main character can get. She has a lot of my qualities and beliefs about life. She approaches like very similar to myself. She is fun, a child at heart, hardworking and sometimes a little messy. Oh...and she really loves her cat ha. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I think the draw for this kind of story is that it is a realistic love story. It doesn't deal with love at first sight and this burning immediate enflamed passion. It takes them awhile to realize that there is something brewing there that isn't friendship. I believe this happens more than people realize and readers see hope in that story.

I do! I am working on the sequel to Sushi and Sea Lions behind the scenes. That is why I'm not around as much on Wattpad right now and I'm not posting anything. Once that draft and I have it beta read, I'll be posting.