WHY HAVE I BEEN AWAY FOR SO LONG, you ask? Because I’ve spent weeks on end working on a big project. Throughout American literature, there has been the simplistic idea of this: putting down roots vs. going on the road. As Scott Russell Sanders says, the American Dream is the tension between those two ideas. I’ve compiled multiple sources of famous classics to illustrate the topic of Heroism in the American Experience. Heroes in America and its literature reveal some interesting things about us as a nation and people. I hope that it’s understandable and I hope it’s fun to navigate!

Without further ado, The American Dream - Heroism

If you like it, and read the whole thing, then leave a comment below! Do you agree with the essay? Was the analysis good? Tell me below!

Emily wants romance in her life—the kind of romance that leads to a perfect marriage. She dreams of having a husband who loves her and treats her with respect, someone she can spend the rest of her life with. She meets—and marries—Steven Montgomery, hoping he will make all of those things come true.

What inspired you to write your book?  I had the idea for my book roaming around in my head for years.  When I was growing up I would get different ideas in my head for a book or movie. One of the ideas I had was about a woman going through a messy divorce and losing her memory but only remembering the good years she shared with her husband. Since he claimed he had changed and she could only remember the good in him she had to decide if she was willing to give him a second chance.

Do you have a specific writing style?  I usually write down all of my ideas on paper and then just jump in and start writing the story.  Once I’m well into the story –which would be a couple of chapters in I try to make an outline.  That way I can have some sort of idea where the story will end up as I’m writing.

How did you come up with the title?  Funny but the working title was called Forgotten because I wanted to show that Emily has forgotten all of the bad things her husband has done to her and forgotten her new boyfriend, Robert because of her memory loss.  But as time went on I wanted more of a sad romantic type title.  That’s when I came up with I Wish I Could Remember You.

Do you have any advice for other writers?  My advice is if you love to write you should write as much as possible. Even if you never make any money from your writing, if your proud of it or if one person likes it that makes it all worth it.

What books/authors have influenced your writing?  One of my favorite authors is Nicholas Sparks. When I read his novels I always get emotionally involved.  I’ve shed a few tears reading his novels, and that’s the kind of reaction I would like my novels to get when people read them.  I love novels where I want to jump to the end to see what happens but I don’t because that would ruin the story for me.  

What genre do you consider your books?  I write fiction novels.  My first novel is Contemporary Women’s Romance. I also write Young Adult Fantasy and Dystopian.

Do you ever experience writers block?  Yes, I experience writers block sometimes, when that happens I listen to music.  Sometimes music brings ideas flowing to my brain.  I’m not sure why but it does.

Have you ever hated something you wrote?   Yes, I’ve written scenes that I’ve hated so I keep rewriting the scenes until I feel better about them.  I have even gotten rid of entire scenes and started over from scratch.

Where did your love of writing come from?  When I was a child I day dreamed a lot and I had an active imagination.  So I think it started when I was a child. I loved to dream up new worlds and new people and as I grew up I liked to write about them.

Do you write every single day?  I try to write every day. It’s not always easy because sometimes time is limited. Some days I can get a lot written and other days a little.  But as long as I can write down a few words here and there each day I can get my writing goals completed.

Which writers inspire you?  I like Nicholas Sparks, Danielle Steel, J.K. Rowling, Susan Mallery, and Suzanne Collins.

What are you working on at the minute?  I’m finishing up a Young Adult Fantasy-Dystopian novel I’ve been working on.  It should be released in a few months.

What is your favorite theme/genre to write about?   I have two favorites.   I love to write Contemporary Women’s Fiction and I also like to write Fantasy as well.

What is your latest book about?  My latest book is about a woman named Emily. She in her thirties and is going through a terrible divorce.  Her husband, Steven is abusive and controlling and he doesn’t want the divorce.  Emily is trying to move on with her life and during her separation she meets someone new named, Robert.  Before the divorce can take place Emily is in a terrible accident that robs her of some of her short-term memories. She can only remember the good times with her soon to be ex-husband not the bad, and she cannot remember Robert at all.  Both men profess their love for her and she has to decide who she wants to be with. Will she choose the man who claims he has changed even though she has heard about the terrible things he has done to her from her sister, but can’t remember? Or will she choose the man she’s been told she’s in love with now but can’t remember him at all.

Author Bio:

L.J. Epps is a lover of all things related to books: fiction and nonfiction novels, as well as biographies and autobiographies. She has also been known to sit and read comic books from cover to cover, several times over.
         Over the last few years, L.J. has written several manuscripts; her mission is to self-publish all of them. She enjoys writing fiction in several genres, including contemporary romance and women’s fiction, as well as young adult dystopian, science fiction and fantasy. She loves to write because it immerses her into another world that is not her own.

Her novel is called, I Wish I Could Remember You.  She came up with the idea for this book years ago and finally pushed herself to write it. Once her journey into writing began, she spent four years writing and rewriting this story.

L.J. Epps has always wondered how it would feel for a woman to be torn between two loves. What if one of those loves had hurt you in the past, but you were in an accident and couldn’t remember? What if that love professed that he had changed, and you wanted to believe him because you couldn’t remember all the bad things he had done? Would you decide to give him a second chance?  How would you make the choice between your soon-to-be ex-husband, who you can only remember as good and kind, and your new boyfriend, who you can’t remember at all?

Epps has always wanted to read a book where the main character had a difficult choice to make because she had lost her memory. She wanted to explore the hardship the character would go through while trying to make that decision. She is sure there are other books on the market similar to this one; but she decided to jump in and write one herself, hoping that this one—with her own unique writing style—gives a little different perspective than all the others.

The novel’s original title was called, Forgotten, to show that Emily had forgotten the abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband, Steven, and now only remembered the good in him. Forgotten also showed that she had forgotten all the love she had felt for her new boyfriend, Robert. But, L.J.  decided she wanted a title that was softer and had more of a romantic, sad feel to it.  That is when she came up with the title, I Wish I Could Remember You.

Epps loved to read books, and comics, as a child.  She has an active imagination and likes to daydream of imaginary worlds.  She always has different storylines running around in her head. When she watches movies, she always dreams up different endings if she doesn’t like the way the stories progress.

L.J.’s favorite authors are Nicholas Sparks and Susan Mallery, among many others.  She likes the way Nicholas Sparks pulls you into a story and makes you want to cry while you anticipate what will happen on the next page.  She also likes how Susan Mallery shows you the power of friendship between women and how strong a love between a man and a woman can be, even through ups and downs.

L.J. always wanted to write a novel; but, she didn’t think she could, until she heard about self-publishing. Then, she finally decided to dive in, take the plunge with other self-published authors, and live out her lifelong dream of being an author.

Epps’s method of writing is to just write and write and let the ideas flow.  Once she is two or three chapters in, she constructs an outline; that way, she has some idea of how the story will go and where it may end up.

L.J. was born and raised in Michigan, and currently spends the majority of her time in Florida. She is a member of Critique Circle Online Writing Workshop and Scribophile Writing Group and Online Writing Workshop.

Books that helped Epps with her writing are: Writing with Emotion, Tension, & Conflict: Techniques for Crafting an Expressive and Compelling Novel by Cheryl St. John and Say What?: The Fiction Writer’s Handy Guide to Grammar, Punctuation, and Word Usage by C.S. Lakin.

If you love to write, follow your dreams.  But always remember to find a good editor, as well as a good cover artist and formatter, because their help will be invaluable.

You can find out more about L.J. Epps on her website: www.ljeppsauthor.com and from her LinkedIn profile: www.linkedin.com/in/l-j-epps-3556ba32. You can also follow her blog posts on her website, on Facebook.com, and on Goodreads.com.  And finally, you can follow her tweets on Twitter.com: @ljeppsauthor.

L.J. Epps is currently working on her next novel, Extinction of All Children. It is a Young Adult Dystopian Fantasy that will be released in the summer of 2016.

Links to where you can find the book:

Amazon

Apple

Barnes&Noble

Kobo

Information Provided by Books and The Bear

Hello all! Last month’s Uppercase Box was my first in my 6-month subscription! I was really happy with the quality of everything and the small personal touches that went into making this box a great one.

First off, it didn’t take long at all to receive this box, probably since I live close to where it ships from. I checked my phone five times a day to check on my shipping progress. When I finally heard the mailman drive up to my mailbox I ran outside to get it! I love the little drawstring bag because it’s useful and I don’t have to worry about any cardboard to recycle.

The first thing I pulled out was the letter from Lisa, Uppercase’s founder. It was really nice to get that letter because it felt more like it was just friends exchanging books! After the letter, I pulled out Truthwitch by Susan Dennard! It’s a really nice hardcover and the bookmark to go with it is the COOLEST THING, At different pages you can stop and enter a code on Uppercasebox.com and see bonus content. I love posters and I really love maps that go with books. It makes things easier to understand. Last in this month’s box was a coloring book exclusively designed by Emma Margaret Illustration for this month’s box! It’s called Childlike Wonder and has 12 illustrations of children’s books to color. OH, I forgot! This month’s book was signed by the author. How cool is that?

Overall I’m so very happy with my first box from uppercase and I’m already eagerly awaiting the February box to arrive on my doorstep! Subscribe to www.uppercasebox.com to get your first box!