Authors, Kai Strand & LA Dragoni

Today we have a special treat. To celebrate their story bundle TEXT ME: 8 Novels of First Love , the authors are sharing their own first love stories. It is sort of like a box of chocolates. You never know what might be inside until you take the bite. Be sure to read about the deal they have on their bundle too! Shana Norris (author of Surfacing ) Hi, I'm Shana Norris . My first love was my cousin's friend, who I met at my cousin's eighth birthday party. We skated together, he bought me a little plastic ring from the gift counter, and then…I never saw him again. Brokenhearted at an early age! Amanda Brice (author of Codename: Dancer ) Hi, I'm Amanda Brice . My first love was a sweet boy named Matt. We held hands on the bus and kissed at the junior high dance. He moved away during the summer between 7th and 8th grade and I didn't see him again for 20 years. We ran into one another on the Metro in DC one day in our early 30s. He looked nothing like he d...

It is time for us to move away from first love and on to our next Share The Love subject: INDUSTRY LOVE. Writing this post is a bit like an acceptance speech for an awards show. “I’d like to thank the academy.” However, I’ve been troubling over whom to acknowledge my appreciation of for fear I’ll offend someone by leaving him or her out. The last thing I want is for someone to think, “After all I’ve done for her and she picks the editor?” Lame, huh? Yet I don’t want to do a blanket thank you either, because that somehow cheapens the value of affect each person has had on my career to date. “You all mean so much to me,” might leave you thinking – am I part of that you? Such a quandary. So I’ve decided to focus. There is one repeated action that has successfully kept me writing and submitting. There is one constant kind of support that has lifted me when I’m down and celebrated with me when I’m up. Encouragement. I’ve belonged to several critique groups o...

I have had five first loves in my lifetime. Each one was different, yet each one was the same. My first, first love was my high school sweetheart. He is also my ex-husband and my daughter’s biological father. My first impulse is to say that I fell in love with him because I was young and stupid, which is partly true. I was attracted to him because he was a manly man, very handsome and nice. My young heart loved these things about him. However, I think I was more in love with the idea of growing up, getting married and having babies. My second first love was my daughter, Jennifer. When I first held her in my arms, our love link was so strong that I could not tell where I ended and she began. For the first time in my life, I felt and understood the true meaning of unconditional love. I felt emotion so pure that it had no limits. Our connection went beyond words . . . beyond this earthly dimension. My third first love was me. That’s right, me. I first truly understood what it means...

The first great love of my life was when I was in college in Eastern Kentucky. About this time every year an image of her and an amazing night flutters into my mind. On a particularly magical winter night we went walking around campus together. Snow covered the ground. The air was clear and cold and still. She wore a bright red coat. We held gloved hands and walked and talked for hours. I have no recollection of what we talked about, but since I’m usually so quiet the fact that we could talk so much is nothing short of miraculous to me. Even if there were nothing else special about her, that alone would earn her a shrine in my heart.  "snow flake on eyelash" copyright 2012 by http://barbara-b.deviantart.com/  used with permission  At one point we made snow angels — something I hadn’t done since I was a kid and haven’t done since. Two angels wing-to-wing in the snow. When we stood to admire our work, I looked at her and saw an angel at my side. Snowflakes cl...

Prior to meeting, dating and marrying my wife; I never had any other girlfriends. Before me, my wife had zero boyfriends. Okay, neither of those statements is true.  But I like to pretend they are. So when romantic history comes up in casual conversation with friends and family, my wife and I have a running joke where we say we are each other’s first and only boyfriend/girlfriend.  Truthfully - it’s only me trying to promote such a false reality.  She simply smiles saying ‘he likes to imagine there was never anyone else’. It’s all in good fun of course.  Honestly, I’m not crazy or jealous - neither is my wife.  I know each of us has had prior relationships.  I just choose not to acknowledge them.  No laughing over old pictures; no reminiscing about memorable things which happened with him or her.  In fact, I’m not ashamed to admit that many years ago - I went so far as to purge my parents’ family photo albums of all shots of me wi...

Welcome to February. This month on Strands of Thought my guests and I are going to Share the Love . Each week has a different theme to support the month long subject of Share the Love . You will see some familiar faces and you will meet some new ones, but they all have a story to share. Please check in each day to meet the newest guest and be sure to leave a comment if the story touches you, tickles your funny bone or stokes a memory of your own. After all, the theme for the month is to SHARE ! This first week in February we are sharing first love stories. My first love was short, ill tempered with curly black hair. He didn’t love me in return. He barely even tolerated me. But who could blame him when I was always crawling after him to pull the puffball at the end of his tail? Kelly was our family poodle when I was a baby. My unrequited love. And then in fifth grade a friend of mine started “dating” a guy. I’m pretty sure my face muscles were all pinched up when I said, ...