Dorothy A. Bell is with us today to share a bit about her book, Reinventing Mica Avery! Please say hi!

Reinventing Mica Avery
Dorothy A. Bell

Taking a lesson from a house riddled with mold, clutter, and bitterness, Mica Avery unearths a treasure trove of lost love and forgotten dreams and enough wealth to begin her life anew, if she’s brave enough to grab hold and live it.

Excerpt: Reinventing Mica Avery

She’d never thought of herself as one of those swooning, fluttering types of females. But she sat there, her pulse playing hop-scotch, stomach woozy, and not a damn thing she could do about it. She couldn’t form a simple sentence or focus on anything but Gus Breedon, his tan, hairy legs, his muscular shoulders, and bulging biceps.

Oh, and the earwigs that probably, at this moment, were crawling up the side of the very stump she sat on.

With his hand going to her shoulder, he said, “Put your head between your legs, I hear it’s supposed to help.”

She closed her eyes to say, “It always sounds stupid to me. Who can bend over that far?” She didn’t say it out loud, but she thought, besides, if I look down, I’m gonna stare at your legs, those hairy, muscular, tan legs in those skintight cutoff shorts. Oh, my God.

“I sure am sorry I frightened you. I didn’t mean to.” Gus did have a nice, soothing voice, deep and warm like rich, brown molasses. She had to recover and fast, and made herself think of Gary. She needed to remember how Gary sounded. When she thought of Gary’s voice, she thought smooth, like cold steel. He clipped his words, making noises like a salesman most of the time. Lately, the sound of Gary’s voice irritated her. Yup, that worked—thinking of Gary pulled her completely out of panic mode, leaving her to feel nothing but stupid.

Gus Breedon, of all people, she couldn’t believe it.

“I’m okay,” is all she could say…very clever. “My heart, I think, is slipping back down into its correct position in my chest instead of up in my throat. My pulse has slowed from an all-out gallop to a trot.”

She rarely blushed, but around Gus Breedon she couldn’t stop the rush of heat from infusing her cheeks. Becoming flushed all over, she scolded herself you’re too old for this, too experienced for giddiness.

She had a mad desire to rip her clothes off and run through the sprinkler—with Gus giving chase, naked, of course. Well, what a silly thought. She blushed on top of her blush, and ordered herself to get a grip.

“Where did you come from?” she asked before she had time to think of another ridiculous scenario. Gus had a big face, a manly face, like the Brawny towel guy, only more brawny. Groan—there you go again. She could feel the giggle coming on. She wanted to stop it, stop it right now. She didn’t have time for Gus Breedon. As a matter of fact, she resented his presence altogether, with his hairy legs and big face.

“Oh, yeah. Well, I’m over at the Kramers,” he answered, and glanced over his shoulder toward the construction site. “We’re building an RV garage for them.”

This situation, with all the neighbors watching, all the guys on the construction crew watching her from the moment she’d pulled into the driveway—so typical Perry Grove. She could imagine them watching her, listening to her go around the house, looking in the windows, hollering for Lela.

Suspicious, Mica asked, “I thought you worked at the hospital?”

“The hospital…? Oh, oh, yeah, the janitor cart. I had a construction job, doing a remodel of some storage rooms. I stayed to sweep up, clean up after…you know. When I got off the elevator I went the wrong way. I should’ve taken a left to the service elevator, but I went right. I knew it the minute I turned the corner, and that’s when I nearly took you out. Sorry.”

Mica didn’t know why, but she nodded her head, even though she didn’t understand at all. Gus stood before the patio door, studying it. He bent forward, then squatted down on those magnificent thighs to run his hands along the aluminum channel at the bottom of the door. She wished he would go away. She didn’t need strangers hanging around. Lela would hate it, if she was in there stuck in the tub or something.

Gary should be here, not Gus Breedon. Gus Breedon wasn’t really a stranger, he knew Mica at twelve when she wore braces. Gus Breedon knew her at fifteen, her face one big pimple. And God help her, he knew her at sixteen, pregnant, and in disgrace…in so much trouble.

Here she stood, in trouble again. But this was a private, personal moment. She wanted to keep it between Lela and her, no outsiders allowed in on this one.

Get it now on Amazon or Barnes & Noble!

Dorothy A. Bell, author of Oregon historical novels: The Reprobate, The Cost of Revenge, Dance Hall Road and contemporary romance, Reinventing Mica Avery.

I was born in Iowa and moved to Oregon with my mother, father and older sister when I was ten. So I think it’s safe to say I’ve been an Oregonian most of my life.

I’ve known for a very long time that I am a writer. When a work is published, then and only then do I declare myself an author—it’s a process I go through each time. It keeps me humble and grateful.

I believe every writer has their own distinct writing style and methodology. I couldn’t say what mine is. I write to entertain myself first, so I have to have humor. I’m a people watcher, so my stories are character driven. And romance, gotta have some steamy romance in there somewhere or the story doesn’t interest me.

In all of my stories, I portray my leading ladies as strong, independent, intelligent women who command admiration and respect. The heroes of course, have problems with strong, independent, intelligent women, that’s where the humor comes in to play. As a writer, it’s fun to manipulate through dialog and inner action the transformation of a man’s opinion to bring about his acceptance and inspire attraction.

I have a favorite parable I’d like to share:

Once upon a time there was a woman who’d won over a hundred cooking contests in one year and received multiple blue ribbons and trophies. When asked how she’d done it, she answered simply, “I entered.”

That’s it, right there, if you love to write, submit your work. Refine it, learn all you can about plot development, the difference between character driven and plot driven stories, point of view, passive voice, showing instead of telling, the mechanics of course. And for God’s sake be human in whatever you write. Even monsters have feelings. Reveal the truth in your characters. Expose their soul, their underbellies.

I have many, many more books in me. They’re coming as fast as my editor and my publisher can get them out there. Next one up will be an Oregon historical titled, The Widow’s Ferry. A story of three men: one an abuser, one a user, and a married man with a secret past, who want one woman—a strong survivor.

You’ll find old family photos, poems and all my buy links on my blog, plus a link to a free full length Oregon historical novel and several free short stories that I’ve put up on Amazon cloud for easy access.

You can find all of my books on Goodreads, Kobo and Amazon. They are Kindle and Nook, e-book friendly.

Follow me on my blog at http://dabellm3.com

Grab all of Dorothy’s books on Amazon…

Oregon historical, a Laura Creek romance, The Reprobate

Oregon historical, a Laura Creek romance, The Cost of Revenge

Oregon historical, Dance Hall Road

Contemporary romance, Reinventing Mica Avery

Or her publisher’s Website…

Freya’s bower at http://freyasbower.com