Guest Blogger: Jeff Rivera

Jeff contacted me last week about including my blog on his blog tour for his new book that comes out this week. I didn't know him, but his story is pretty inspiring and his book sounds wonderfully intense. So here he is!

1. Let's start out with a little bit about your book, Forever My Lady. What gave you the idea? What compelled you to write a romance/romantic novel?

I feel like the idea came to me, actually. I had just come from being homeless and one of the first jobs I got was working at a department store, the oh-so-wonderful K-Mart (which I hated). I had a nasty boss who hated me and I wasn't too fond of her, either. I guess some personalities just don't get along. Anyway, one thing that happened was I met someone who would become a friend. He was Latino and was trying to turn his life around for his "lady" because he had just come out of juvey. He was in a gang. That's what sparked the idea, and I decided to come up with a story from scratch that would put what I've been through in my life and would hopefully be an emotional roller coaster, a story that would touch people.

I decided to make it a love story because I am a real softy when it comes to love. I really believe in meeting the right person and riding off into the sunset on a horse and stuff like that. There's a part of me that really believes that's possible.

2. The book blurb alone hints at deep emotion and, despite the heartbreak the hero faces, hope and possibility of happiness, too. Reading your bio, one can see that you've obviously been through some tough times. Can you tell us what, if anything, in your own life informed your writing?

One thing I learned from being homeless is that you have to take responsibility for where you are in your life. I could easily be a victim because of all the stuff I've been through, but that's not a very powerful mindset. Take responsibility for where you are right now in your life and you can take responsibility for where you're going. That's one thing that I felt was important to show with the character Dio in Forever My Lady. He has a drill instructor in the book who really pounds that into him.

3. A lot of my blog visitors are writers themselves, and we're always interested in success stories. Can you describe your journey from writing this book to the huge amount of success it's had?

Absolutely, it started out as a screenplay and even after Hollywood kept rejecting it I didn't give up because I really believed it was a story that needed to be told. Something kept pushing me to go on. That's when I decided to self-publish, and I built an audience of people online who spread the word about the book. That's when we piqued the interest of Warner/Grand Central and the rest is history.

4. What's next for you?

I really love writing love stories and things for young adults so I'm just going to go with the flow and see what happens next ...


You can learn more about Jeff Rivera and how to get his book at his website. Thanks, Jeff, and good luck!