The Boys of Summer
by C.J. Duggan
Series: Summer (#1)
Pages: 321
Available as of December 17, 2012
Amazon | Barnes & Noble
It seemed only natural to nickname them the ‘Onslow Boys’. Every time they swaggered in the front door of the Onslow Hotel after a hard week’s work, their laughter was loud and genuine as they settled onto their bar stools. I peeked through the restaurant partition, a flimsy divider between my world and theirs. I couldn’t help but smile whenever I saw them, saw him ... Toby Morrison.
Quiet seventeen-year-old Tess doesn’t relish the thought of a summertime job. She wants nothing more than to forget the past haunts of high school and have fun with her best friends before the dreaded Year Twelve begins.
To Tess, summer is when everything happens: riding bikes down to the lake, watching the fireworks at the Onslow Show and water bomb fights at the sweltering Sunday markets.
How did she let her friends talk her into working?
After first-shift disasters, rude, wealthy tourists and a taunting ex-boyfriend, Tess is convinced nothing good can come of working her summer away. However, Tess finds unlikely allies in a group of locals dubbed ‘The Onslow Boys’, who are old enough to drive cars, drink beer and not worry about curfews. Tess’s summer of working expands her world with a series of first times with new friends, forbidden love and heartbreaking chaos.
All with the one boy she has never been able to forget.
It will be a summer she will always remember.
How long did it take you to write The Boys of Summer?
The Boys of Summer has proud roots formed in November 2011NaNo month. National Novel Writing month is a global activity where anyone can join in in the attempt to write 50k in one month. I thought it would be a bit of fun, and initially planned to tackle a edgier world gone wrong drama, but then The Boys of Summer seeped into my subconscious and completely took me over. I had such a clear, concise direction the characters had me going. I wrote in my blog the fear of not being able to ever replicate the joy of writing like I had writing the BOS. I managed to smash the quota with 77k for the month, and It took me 5 months to complete the first rough draft, and it was very rough! Then in a few months it was edited, re written, completely run through the ringer until it was polished. It took over a year in the mechanics to build the story, but it is a story that has been waiting to be written for a very, very, long time. It all just clicked in to place I am really fortunate that I had such a great time creating it.
Future Books in the works?
An Endless Summer (Summer Series Book Two)
Release Date: July 17th 2013
That One Summer (Summer Series Book Three)
Release Date: TBA
Someone Like You: (Stand alone novel)
Release Date: TBA 2014.
3 comments:
Nano has helped many authours. Glad you were able to complete your book and get it published.
Great interview. NaNo seems to be a really great thing for so many authors. I love that it gives them a goal and they have the support of all the other writers doing it too!!
I've been looking forward to this book for a while, but I had no idea until now that C.J. Duggan wrote it for Nano! I completed Nano one year and it was a ton of work, so having written 77K is an amazing accomplishment. It's amazing the motivation Nano can give you to push yourself (and it prevents you from being nit-picky and second-guessing yourself, because there isn't time to waste changing anything!). Even more excited for this one now :)
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