I am happy to spotlight the mother-daughter writing team of Sarah and Shannen Brady and their debut novel, Healer. Sit back and enjoy this entertaining post about their unique writing journey.
Sarah & Shannen!
The plot for our first novel was scribbled longhand in a notebook in a brutally boring lecture class my sophomore year of college. My mom Sarah and I decided to form a mother-daughter writing team – apt, since we’ve been a team essentially since I was born. We eventually abandoned that first manuscript, but writing fiction got its hooks in us. After ditching our original concept (a tough, but utterly necessary step – our protagonist was an unlovable harpy), we decided that the next book wouldn’t get half-written and shoved onto a shelf for my dog to eventually discover and gnaw on. The next one, we would finish. The next one, we would publish.
Healer, our first published novel, was released with Soul Mate Publishing October 8, 2014. (WARNING: Shameless self-promotion ahead! Healer is now available on Amazon.) The publishing journey was an interesting one for us, especially given that we live on opposite sides of the state. The trading of manuscripts back and forth over email was a steep learning curve, and only caused a few headaches and face-to-desk head beatings.
A lot of the questions we get asked as a mother-daughter duo can be summed up with a perturbed expression and a hushed, “You do this with your mom?!?” Okay, so I get that writing romance with the woman who birthed you is a little weird. Fortunately for our author careers, I’m an irrepressible blabbermouth with the discretion of your average potato, so it never was a problem for us. I’d also recently moved for college, and writing a book together meant I had to call my mother at least once a week. Win-win.
As with anything, practice is the key to success, and we eventually started writing a m/m series as well. The first in that collection, Sweet Fire, is set for release January 2, 2015. Cue the patented Shannen-Brady-booty-dance. It’s crazy to think that almost exactly two years ago I texted her and said, “We should write a book.” Now, we’re looking at two traditionally published works. I think it proves that if an accountant and a college student can team up to write a book, anybody can.
Blurb
Alexandra Grayson is an empathic healer, flying under the radar as a Spokane Valley EMT. Protecting her family’s secret from Homeland Security’s Gifted Agenda and the bigotry of a fearful populace is the most important thing to her. Getting close to men, especially super sexy cops, isn’t an option.
Tyler Kincaid is a man who knows what he wants, and what he wants is Alex. When she outs herself as Gifted by healing a child, Tyler helps her escape, but even his love is not enough to protect her. When Alex is taken by HOMSEC agents, Tyler has to lead a motley collection of Alex’s Gifted relatives in a daring rescue.
Bio
Shannen Brady lives in Western Washington with her boyfriend and their child, a rambunctious corgi named Chubberus Maximus. When she’s not writing her latest sexy story, you can find her hiking, watching terrible SyFy movies and avoiding cooking of any kind.
Sarah Brady lives in Eastern Washington with her husband and teenage son, dividing her time between her real life and the voices in her head.
Sarah and Shannen are a mother/daughter team and together they write paranormal romantic suspense. Their first book, Healer, is book 1 of The Gifted, a series of four m/f romances, and published by Soul Mate Publishing. Their second book will be Sweet Fire, book 1 of a related series of m/m books, to be released January 2, 2015 by Dreamspinner Press.
Where to find Sarah & Shannen…
Joanne Guidoccio 