Takeover Tuesday: Robin Mason

Happy Tuesday!

Today Robin Mason is taking over Soulfully Romantic to bring us a book birthday posting! Grab a cup of tea (or coffee) and chat with her.

---

Tessa’s Book Birthday Blitz

“When you pretend to be something you’re not, it always finds you out.”

“Don’t ever be ashamed of who you are. Don’t ever, for anyone, hide your true self. Know your true self, and shine like God made you to be.”

My debut novel, Tessa, turns four this year, and she’s getting a facelift! Her official book birthday, 31 October, is fitting for the story—she assumed an identity not her own, thus “wearing a mask.”

Actually, Tessa has a double birthday; at the prompting and with the help of a friend, I first released her in early March 2014, but for Kindle only. I quickly learned the value of having print copies, and with the help of that same friend I released and had all the celebration in October.

BEHIND THE SCENES

1. The first sentence of this story came to me in July 2008 while I was taking a walk.
2. In June of that year, Father God had told me to go to school for my degree in Interior Design. Little did I know how valuable all.that.art.history would be to my story!
3. I loved art history so much I almost added it as a minor.
4. Tessa is set in western New York State. Why, I’ve no clue, except it’s what the story demanded. I have never been there.
5. I Googled maps of the area and situated the town of Sunset Valley north of Salamanca and Allegany State Park. The town of Kcynia was so named for the Polish immigrant ancestry, and was located west of Sunset Valley at Mayville on the north end of Chautauqua Lake.
6. I wrote Tessa without regard to—truly in ignorance of—genre, Christian Fiction or otherwise.
7. A sequel hadn’t occurred to me as I wrote her story. It was only when asked that I found two specific spots that pointed directly to the second book. And the series was born, the name of which just happened to be in the blurb.
8. I thought for the longest time that because I didn’t plot and outline that I was doing it wrong! Only when I began to tap into this amazing industry did I learn there are others like me and we have a name—Pantzers!
9. I type by touch, sometimes with my eyes closed, and in the scene when Connie dies, I was so IN the scene I nearly hyperventilated!
10. One of the characters is a behinds-the-scenes prayer warrior. I had no clue when I first met (wrote) this person, and was delighted to make the discovery about 2/3 of the way through the story!

Visit my blog tomorrow for the big reveal and a chance to enter the giveaway!

---

About the Book

One mother.  Two daughters.  One favorite. One not.  

When Cassie Barclay is presented with an opportunity—or is it a curse—she jumps at the chance.  She takes on a new life, her sister’s life, and although at first, it holds appeal and promise, she soon realizes sometimes the fairy tale is tainted.

Assuming the name of Tessa, Cassie moves into the life that was her sister’s, and faces first one realization then another, one disappointment after another. Stepping into Connie’s life does not automatically grant her all that Connie had or was. But it does deny all that she had and was as Cassie. As herself.

Just when she believes her life is on an even keel, something comes along to ripple the waters and remind her of her secret. Until the day she gets a phone call that rips her world apart. Who is the mysterious caller? And who knows her secret?

---

About the Author

“I’ve always had voices—er, stories in my head. I once said I should write them all down so someone could write them someday. I had no idea at the time that someone was me!”

Ms. Mason writes stories of identity conflict. Her characters encounter situations that force the question, “Who am I really?” For all who have ever wondered who you are or why you’re here, her stories will touch you in a very real—maybe too real—and a very deep way. “I know, I write from experience.”

Ms. Mason has seven novels, Tessa, Clara Bess, and Cissy, in the unsavory heritage series, and The Long Shadows of Summer, The Tilting Leaves of Autumn, The Silent Song of Winter, and The Whispering Winds of Spring in her Seasons series. All of Ms. Mason’s books are available on Amazon, both for Kindle and in print. She also has several poems included in an anthology, Where Dreams and Visions Live (Anthologies of the Heart Book 1) by Mary Blowers, as well as a short story, Sarafina’s Light, also in an anthology, Blood Moon, compiled by Mary Blowers. She is working on One for the Price of Two, the first story in her new series, FourSquare, to release next year.

Follow: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram