What’s one piece of writing advice you’ve received that has stuck with you?

I read somewhere an author saying how she avoided writer’s block by always stopping in the middle of a sentence or scene. I always do that now; when I start back up the next day, not only is my brain recharged, but I still have something to work with. I think the advice really has helped prevent writer’s block many times.

Which heroine do you think you’re most like? Who would you want to be more like?

I am probably 50/50 Camryn Bennett (THE EDGE OF NEVER/ALWAYS) and Sienna Murphy (THE MOMENT OF LETTING GO); I can’t decide which of them I am, or would want to be more like.

Is there a lot of meaning behind the names of your characters and how do you go about selecting names?

Selecting names is so hard. I spend a lot of time researching them: origin, name meaning, etc. (though I don’t choose names based on these things much). But mostly I try to choose names that just sound right on the tongue. It’s sort of like naming a child, but a lot more complex because with a character, he or she already has a personality and a life story.

In THE MOMENT OF LETTING GO, Luke is into extreme activities like cliff diving and base jumping—what’s the most extreme thing you’ve ever done?

Probably cliff diving – as hard as that might be to believe considering my fear of heights. It took me nearly thirty minutes of running to the edge, stopping because I chickened out, and going back to try again, before I finally jumped. It was high. And it was scary. And I had bruises on my body for a week afterward, but I did it.

About the Author

J. A. Redmerski, New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, lives in North Little Rock, Arkansas with her three children, two cats and a Maltese. She is a lover of television and books that push boundaries.

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About the Book

You can follow the rules or you can follow your heart...

Sienna Murphy never does anything without a plan. And so far her plans have been working. Right after college, she got a prestigious job and gained the stability she'd always craved-until work takes her to the sun-drenched shores of Oahu and places her in the path of sexy surfer Luke Everett. For the first time, she lets her heart take control. Drawn to his carefree charm, she makes a spontaneous and very un-Sienna-like decision to drop everything and stay in Hawaii for two more weeks.

Luke lives fast and wild. When he meets Sienna, he's convinced that some no-strings-attached fun is just what she needs. As their nights quickly turn from playful to passionate, Luke can't deny the deep connection he feels. But there's a reason Luke doesn't do long-term. He can't promise Sienna forever, when the enormity of his past has shown him just how fragile the future can be . . .

Excerpt

Then he gets up and grabs my hands from the tops of my bare knees, pulling me to my feet.

“We’re going swimming,” he says. “And we’ll talk more about this later…like on the day your vacation is over and you’re standing at the gate in the airport about to kiss me goodbye.”

“Wow, you really think highly of yourself, don’t you?” I can’t keep the laughter from my voice.

“Damn straight!” he says and pulls me along beside him. “Before these two weeks are over, I can guarantee you three things.” He holds up three fingers as we continue onward toward the water. “One”—he holds up one finger—“you’ll never want to go back to San Diego once Hawaii is done with you.” He holds up two fingers. “Two—that photography love of yours will start to take the place of everything else in your life. And three”—he wiggles three fingers and we stop on the beach where the water can pool around our feet—“you’ll kiss me at least once before you go home.”

I blush hard and it feels like my eyes are bugging out of my head. “I might peck you on the cheek or something, but—”

“No,” he says, smiling and quite serious, “it’ll be a full-on, tongue-dancing kind of kiss.”

I smack him playfully on the arm—something is fluttering around inside my belly.

“Geez!”

Luke grabs my hand and pulls me out to the water with him, where we swim and hang out on the cliffs until late in the afternoon. People come and go throughout the hours, sometimes leaving us with Alicia, Braedon, and a few of their close friends to have the area to ourselves for a while before more people show up in intervals.

“Backflip!” someone says just before Luke jumps into the water for probably the twentieth time.

And every time he does it, it ties my stomach up in knots. But there’s something about him that I can’t quite figure out when I watch him leap off the edge of that cliff; it’s not overconfidence or showing off or recklessness, but something deeper, more profound. Maybe it’s a sense of freedom, or a natural high that consumes him while he’s in the air, as if he had been born with a pair of wings that only he can see. But the more time I spend with him, the more intrigued I become. Sure, he’s gorgeous and funny and polite and all the kinds of things—so far—that would make my mom love him to death. But what intrigues and excites me more is how he

kind of makes me want to jump off that stupid cliff regardless of how scared I am of it.