Little Reminders of Who I Was

Derrick Anders is a college student who works in a south Houston chain bookstore. He’s been struggling between his studies, work, and a recent loss in his family. He has little time for friends, much less a love life, even though Breonna, the coworker with a big smile, seems to have her eyes set on him.

… And then there is Carter.

He’s been sent to do what he does best; bring two hearts together. But there is something unique about Derrick that Carter will not expect. Something that will bring back his own past and cause him to question everything. This time he may be the one who needs reminding, and Carter may need the help of an old friend or two to get back on track.

Little Reminders of Who I Was is now available on Amazon!!

10/21/22: Here we go!! Little Reminders of Who I Was is now live. You can purchase on all platforms. This was a pleasant surprise to me. I woke up ready to give another vague plug to the book, anticipating it’s release sometime next week, but I opened up Amazon and ‘poof’ all three formats are available: paperback, hardcover, and eBook. I am super excited for this release with it being a sequel to Little Reminders of who I am. I am even more eager to get started on the next chapter, Little Reminders of Who I’m Going to Be, which I will begin to write in less than two weeks. I am about two chapters away from finishing The Five Barred Gate II. I plan to do that tonight, or in the morning. I’m glad to finally get that book under my belt and to be able to focus 100% on Little Reminders III totally.

10/11/22: Adding this just because it took me far longer to make than it should have and I want it here for posterity’s sake. I still haven’t done a full cover reveal to the public, only here on the website. So all they are seeing is this image and with excitement, waiting. LOL. If they only followed me closer, then they would see the full image below. Hidden gems and inside info. Thank you for those who do follow me closely, you make doing this worthwhile.

10/8/2022: One of the benefits of following me closely is you get the inside scoop.
By visiting this page, you get to see the full cover before anyone else on social media.
Below is the full cover wrap for Little Reminders of Who I Was.

We are counting down the clock to the release. With the cover now done, we are just waiting for the internal edit. Could be the end of the week!! Woohoo!! — Okay, yeah I’m excited.

9/28/2022: Well I am in the final stages of getting Little Reminders of Who I Was completed. I thought I had an update since the last one, but I guess not. The publisher should have their final edits to me by the end of the week. Carolyn has completed the cover painting and it looks amazing. I can’t wait to show it to everyone. …. but if you have good eyes and watch enough of my videos I am sure you have seen it by now. …. Of course, not on purpose.

I have been pushing for the release of another Elissa book lately, That has not been as big of a hit as I thought it would be. I am grateful to those who have reserved their copies, but discouraged that the book has not performed to my expectations. I believe we will still go to print with our current order, but I am not completely sure. We shall find out. Glad we don’t have to go through that with my novels. Although I know we sell more than 14 copies of my novels. Well, if you see this before Oct 1, head on over and preorder a copy of Elissa Celebrates Christmas. God bless all.

5/18/2022: Wielding two swords lately. Editing The Transference as the publishing company sends me updates and I also received an edit from my Beta Reader for Little Reminders of Who I Was. It is funny how much I missed. And funny how much was twisted from the grammar edit I performed. Sometimes grammar editors don’t always function the way you want them to. If you are a writer, and you use them, always be wary of what you are approving; it doesn’t always consider context and may give you an interesting correction. But I have gone through my reader’s catches and made the corrections. Now we are more ready for the October release and I have a review who gave it a thumbs up. This was a relief because I was concerned about a couple of points. My reader assured me all is good.

4/16/2022: Not much to report here. It is so far off and I am focused on The Transference being behind this novel is on the back burner. I haven’t gotten the contract yet, and haven’t mentioned it yet. I am still waiting on the final edit. I have a Beta Reader on it now. Will see what turns of it as I have never employed the use of one before. However, this individual did read Little Reminders of Who I Am and sent me a list of edits they had found. It only made sense to ask this individual to read the follow-up and do a final edit for me. My current editor, Carolyn, has been far too busy with her new position at work to do her normal duty of editing for me. And that is okay. She’s making the big bucks that allow me to do what I do.

3/18/2022: I am still waiting on the contract portion, but am still confirmed for an October 6, 2022 release date. I have inked an appearance date at the Jourdanton Library. Well, it is more of a fundraiser for the Jourdanton Food Locker where I will be doing a book signing. We did this a few years ago for the release of The Five Barred Gate. I also had my Elissa book series there. This go-around I will have four books available, including this novel. But I am really excited to help the Jouranton Food Locker again.

This program is designed to help kids who often come home to an empty fridge. Often to the kids whose parents, or many times just parent, work for a living and the kids don’t have a meal. I have much experience with this as a latchkey kid. So this program is close to my heart and why I jumped at the opportunity to support it. These meal packs are designed for them. Since we are planning to do this event close to Holiday Break these packs will help the kids be fed while on break. This event we look to hold during the first week in November 2022. Keep your eyes here. I will announce a date when I have one.

And $1 of every book sold at this event will go to the Jourdanton Food Locker program.

2/18//22: The below Yowsers is just about accurate. As you can see above, the Synopsis has been updated. But even more exciting, as I am sure you are aware by now is that Little Reminders of Who I Was has a publication date. It was a quick turnaround. I was rather pleased. I did submit it to WordCrafts Press that Monday, from our last talk. And I waited, and waited. Almost two weeks went by and today I got the reply.

It was actually a reply to the cover art email for The Transference they were responding to. (You can visit that page for the updated info.) They tagged on that they had a few dates open for publication for LROWIW. We agreed on October 6, 2022. This date will be perfect because the novel takes place during the Thanksgiving holiday, as does the first installment. Excellent selling opportunities. I am excited.

2/5/22: Yowsers. Well, Little Reminders of Who I Was is now complete. I just finished the final edit. I still need to write the Synopsis which is the back of the book description of the novel. This is also the hook that I send to the publisher. I still need to submit everything to WordCrafts Press for consideration. But there should be no issues. I’m excited about this again after reading it through. I will keep you updated as I will probably submit it on Monday.

I should also receive a cover for The Transference this week so keep an eye on that thread this week.

1/27/22: New year new me. It has been a rough beginning of the year. I have been suffering medically and have stepped away from my Full-Time writing job for now. I just couldn’t do it effectively enough and I could tell my clients were not satisfied with my work anymore. It was unfair for them to pay me for shoddy work. This led me to step away from even touching Little Reminders. I had put it on the shelf until my mind could focus on the words I was writing. Luckily this is editing and doesn’t require as much mental power as creation does.

In the middle of last week, I picked up on a little bit of editing and have gotten back into a couple of chapters a day this week. So far so good. I can focus on this, so far. I am still nervous about creative work though. Keep me in your prayers as the work I did do was part of the income flow we did have here.

12/3/2021: Here we are just a few days past NaNoWriMo. I am happy to say that the book is complete. I can already see where it will need work. As I have stated, I feel like it drags in portions. I will see what that looks like come January. Why January? I like to separate myself from the book for a bit. If I went ahead and started to edit now, I feel my mind would not be as clear or mindful of what needs to be done with it. A month off clears my mind and I should be able to see more clearly for editing.

I also don’t see this project being released in 2022. I already have The Transference hitting shelves in May. I will learn more as I get deeper into editing and submit a query to my publisher. It’ll give me plenty of time for revisions should they be needed.

Thank you for all your support. Your words of encouragement and prayers have meant a lot. And the advice I have sought has been taken to heart and I hope I deliver in this project.

11/27/2021: Wow it has been a crazy journey. NaNoWriMo 2021 goals have been hit. I reached 50K in Little Reminders of Who I Was this past week. The book is around 56K right now and I am on the downhill slope to completion. I aim to complete it by Tuesday the 30th. At least that is the current plan. “Barring any unforeseen circumstances,” I will be popping the champagne on Tuesday night.

I’m still not quite sure where I am at with this one. I love that I got back in touch with my old family; Carter, Aarron, and Pop, but it was different this go around. I guess it’s from, as I have said before, I just came off of writing a Crime Thriller and the action-paced adventure that was behind the writing is not in this book. I’m at the final Reminder right now, and the pace should pick up a bit, because Derrick, the MC, is piecing it all together. This is where it gets fun.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and did not overwhelm themselves too much. I know I will need an extra workout to shed what I ate. I’m still eating. Our home was less filled this year, by half. So there are scads of leftovers. Y’all are welcome to drive on over and have a turkey or ham sandwich and chit-chat. — God Bless and have a great weekend. I will update you when I have this puppy completed.

11/12/2021: I am so sorry fans. I should have been updating you here as to my progress. I have plumb forgotten about this page. So much to tell you. As you well know I am writing this novel during NaNoWriMo. I am currently halfway through on word count. 25K. And things are getting interesting. Yes, old friends have returned, and we are meeting new ones as well. I have never been so excited about writing a novel. But then again I said that when I was writing The Transference. This is a different type of exciting though. I am visiting old friends here. I hope to live up to Little Reminder fan’s expectations. Yet, you don’t really need to have read the first novel to appreciate the second, it isn’t that type of sequel. In fact, I don’t even call it a sequel, I call it a follow-up. A sequel gives the impression that you do need to read the first to understand the second. True, you will appreciate and understand Who I Was a little better having read Who I Am, but it is not necessary.

As revealed before, Carter has his hands full. I love writing him, he is my favorite character that I have ever written. And as I have revealed on Twitter, I do believe there will be a third installment. I think the third will be titled Little Reminders of Who I’m Going to Be. That is tentative of course. It will somewhat be futuristic for the MC. Sorta like an, It’s A Wonderful Life type of story. But that is just a wandering idea I had while considering making this a trilogy. It just played on the titles: Who I Am, Who I Was, Who I’m Going to Be. Again, just playing with words and thoughts. We shall see. But that wouldn’t be written until next year, maybe not until 2023.

I will try and remember this page to update you. If you want to read a little bit of it. I am sharing bits and pieces of it on my blog page through Weekend Writing Warriors. I think I only intend to release the Prologue to the book. It will trickle out, as the site I am releasing on only allows an eight to twelve-sentence portion per week. So get a sneak peek over there. This will begin on Saturday, November 13th.

9/21/2021: I have written Character Dossiers on two characters: Derrick Stephens, my MC and Breonna Greene, a secondary character who will be a potential love interest for Derrick. Let’s just say she is definitely into him. With both of their lives mapped out, I will need to develop my side characters. I have a roommate for Breonna; Derrick lives alone. I need to develop a buddy for him. Then there will be maybe a side character or two. And as stated earlier, maybe an appearance from LRWA alumni.

I know NaNoWriMo is still a month and nine days away, but I couldn’t help myself I’ve already written the Prologue. It begins much like the first book, a meeting between Carter and Gabriel. Through the conversation, it is revealed that five years have passed since the events of LRWA. Carter has not been back to Houston since then and is excited to make a return; he likes the Library there. What Carter does not know is there are secrets that Gabriel is keeping from him about his new assignment. This will be the basis of the new book, and a reflection of the title, Little Reminders of Who I Was…..Oops, did I reveal a little too much?

9/1/2021: I spent time writing the plot outline today. I am really excited now. So far this will take place roughly five years after the events of Little Reminders. Carter will be the Main Character(MC) for the most part. The story will center around his failed assignment that was alluded to in the first novel. The one that many of you probably had questions about that was never really answered. Well, now you get your answer. The Secondary Character will be a man named Derrick Stephens. He will be Carter’s assignment. How he ties into his past failed assignment, I may get into as we get-go. As I am writing this, I will have more posts like this and I will give you updates. Keep an eye on my FB page for posts with links to this page. Thanks for reading and your support.

8/25/2021: I will have updates as I get them myself. I just know that my mind is working on this as I write this post. I am still in the process of editing The Transference and I promised myself, one piece at a time. So no working on this until that is submitted to my publisher.

I will tell you this much. The story will follow Carter, the angel who assisted Aaron and Deborah. He will be on another assignment. Who knows, maybe we will see Aaron in this book. Perhaps even Pop as well. I do have a plot in mind, but it is at this point just an idea. I will keep you posted and maybe even a Synopsis developed before I begin to write.

Thanks for your support. I hope you enjoyed the first installment. If you haven’t read it… Why not??? HA! Well, there is still plenty of time. I most likely will not begin this project until later this year. As I wrote the first installment during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), that is my intention this go-around. That is during November. So, if all goes well, Little Reminders II will be written this year. As for it’s release, that is another issue. With The Transference not being released until May 2022, We may not see it until 2024.

Thank you for your support. I love all of you and could not do this without your prayers and well wishes.