Well, it’s been a very long time since I’ve done a blog post. With all that has been going on with Recovery, I’ve been neglectful. Shame on me!
I can not even begin to express how astounded I am with the positive response I have received after the Recovery release. I am so happy that so many of you enjoyed the completion of their journey together. I love how SO many of the responses I have received mention how REAL my characters are. They ARE real. I write real. I write from the heart, and when I do, I try to incorporate mistakes that I make and that I think a lot of women in general make throughout their lives. I want the readers to grow as they read my stories, and it seems as though most of you took something away from Recovery and I couldn’t be happier about that.
Now, regarding Recovery, I wanted to let you all know that I wrote Recovery for YOU, those readers who loved Alex and Blake so much and just wanted…MORE. My initial plan was to incorporate their wedding and pregnancy into Running in Place. But, the more I thought about it, I felt like I was robbing you the experience of them getting married and their pregnancy from Alex and/or Blake’s point of view. So, I pushed back writing Running in Place and wrote Recovery instead. And from the emails and messages I’ve been getting, you seem pleased with the ending of their story and it makes me happy that I made the right decision in giving you Recovery. 🙂
Now, I’d like to take this time to go into my thoughts about Alex. I think I’m going through withdrawals and I miss her!!! But, I just wanted to go into my thought process with you regarding her character make-up.
Ohhhhh, Alex. I think people either love or hate her. My idea behind her character was that she was incredibly broken after the loss of Derek, that her actions, while not at all appropriate when first meeting Blake, were merely her way of defending herself again being hurt and broken again. Her fight to come out of her depression and to get her life back on track…well, the fear of losing that control was what prompted a lot of her response to Blake first being there. I was asked flat-out in an interview why she was such a bitch to Blake and why she thought he came back to rescue her after all this time…wasn’t that a little self-centered and egotistic? My answer…yes it was. But, I also think she WANTED him to come back and rescue her…and she was angry about that. To her, that was a sign of weakness that she couldn’t afford, and wouldn’t allow, to protect herself as well as her children from being hurt ever again. So, she was a bitch to our poor Blake. Not the best or most mature action. But, that’s Alex. And as we saw in Running on Empty, she succeeded in pushing Blake away, but realized her mistake and we all know how that ended.
Now, Alex in Recovery, damn it if she wasn’t still being stubborn and bullheaded. I have no idea how I know how to write those characteristics so well, because I am not at all like that! 😉 But, I also think she grew a lot in Recovery. My idea behind her issues in Recovery actually stem from mistakes that I make myself. I find myself doing EVERYTHING! Because…that’s how I roll. Why ask for help? Just do it so it gets done the RIGHT way. Well, there are a lot of problems with that mentality and that is why I decided to include this issue in Recovery. Men need to know they’re important in a marriage. That they are needed. That WE need THEM. I really believe that and I pray I’m not stepping on any toes with my thoughts about this. Now, I am soooooo guilty of not letting my own husband help from time to time. Not because I think I’m too strong, but because honestly, I don’t even think about asking for it. I just have my routine and I just do it, wearing myself out to get everything done, and then get SUPER stressed out when something happens that throws my routine out of whack. But, do I ask him for help? Not usually. I just stress and yell and get frustrated, most of the time with my husband, for no reason other than my routine got messed up and I can’t do everything I need to that day. And not once does it enter my thick head to ask him for help. THIS is why I wrote Alex doing this very same thing. Maybe I am the only wife who does this, maybe not, but I incorporated into the storyline to show readers number one, it’s not horrible to ask for help – and sometimes it’s nice to ask even when you don’t really need it. And number two, a marriage is a partnership, not a one man show, and I wanted to show how damaging it can be to approach a marriage with that mentality.
That is my own personal character analysis! LOL! I hope you enjoyed it. Next up…I’ll discuss Blake. Sigh. Blake. I love him way more than I should.
Thank you ALL SOOOOOOO much for reading RoE and Recovery. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I LOVE talking to every single one of you. Please, feel free to message me anytime, to write on my wall, to tweet me or email me…whatever! I love it. I love discussing books, life, funny stories…everything. Thank you for being such an awesome group of readers. I love each and every one of you and can’t thank you enough for the support you’ve given me. ❤ ❤ ❤
Well…that’s it. I’m out…for now! 😉
L.B. Simmons 