The Gifted Ones by PG Shriver Blog Tour Guest Post

SYNOPSIS:
Thrown together by the cruelties of a modern day world in which genuine compassion is rare, evil abounds, and goodness is often tainted by the fight to survive, two unusually gifted teenagers discover they are linked by a fairytale told them repeatedly throughout their youth by their late mothers.

Destiny awaits them, but first they must locate the others, as the fairytale foretells, to defeat the evil monster who waits and change the lonely world in which they live. Only then will they find peace... and family.

GUEST POST:

On Ideas

The idea for The Gifted Ones Series began in 2000, during a telephone conversation with my late sister. Much of the planning for the entire series stemmed from communications between my mother, sister and me. During those long conversations, I always took for granted that they would be here to see its completion through, but four years later, my sister died from cancer.

That event became one of the worst in my life. 

She was my only sister. 

We were very close, in spite of the sibling rivalries we shared.

We spoke on the phone every day.

We watched each other's children. 

We took road trips together. 

We shopped together. 

We were only two years apart, she the younger, and we were always there for each other. 

Yet, in the end, I could not forge enough bravery to be there for her last moments. Although I spent many hours at the hospital after work, the day she died, I did not go right after work.

Instead, I went home, sat on the porch swing with my husband, and called the hospital room, knowing my mother would answer.

I remember so clearly the conversation between us. Knowing all hope had fled my sister's body, and our hearts as well, the final two weeks had only been a struggle of time.

"Well?" 

Mother never cried in front of us. She never let her feelings show. She was the strongest woman I knew. Without a crack, her age lowered voice touched my ear, "She just took her last breath." 

Of course, I knew. I knew I would somehow be there, though by phone, when she left us. She was my sister. I knew when I came home from work that day and did not go right to the phone that our sisterly connection would make me call at just the right time. If I had driven to the hospital after work, I might have made it, but I could not watch her leave us... me. I did not have the strength to say goodbye again. I just could not do it.

I always thought myself weak for not being there. My mother stayed until the end, strong enough to watch her younger daughter leave this world. I never understood how she could do that, until she died seven years later. From the time that my mother made that simple, dreaded statement, "I'll be going home soon," I mustered my courage. I absorbed all the strength she could give me, and twenty-four hours later, I held her hand while she took her last breath.

Those two events took me away from the series for a while. Mother was still here to see the first printing of The Gifted Ones: The Fairytale, but not to its completion. I continue to work on the second book now, though I did not write again until November of 2011. Today I think of Mom and Candy when I write about the deaths that the characters have to suffer through in the series. Proudly, I move forward on it in honor of them, my mother and sister, my sounding boards. Without their input, the ideas would not have formed. Without their passing, I might still be taking for granted that they would be here to see it through, and the first book may not be even complete. I believe everything happens for a reason. As a writer who uses a great deal of emotion in my works, I believe the lives and deaths of my mother and sister make me a better writer, not perfect, but better. 

I will not take my writing for granted, again. I have stories to tell, and there is an audience to read them. I can do anything, get through anything, with my writing. My sister and mother let me know that. They believed in me, and I refuse to let them down. 

About P. G. Shriver: 
Born in California, and raised in Minnesota and Texas, P.G. spent her early years writing poetry and winning poetry contests, while escaping the drama in her own childhood by reading great books for children. Ever since her earliest days, she loved story telling. She wrote numerous short stories in High School and her early college years, continually trying to relive that first experience at the age of seven of seeing her name in print in the local newspaper.

P.G. sought her education at the University of Texas, where she studied English, literature, and Education. During the entire process of earning her BA and M.Ed, she never stopped writing and trying to be published. It was during this time that her first children's book No More Stinkbugs! was accepted for publication by Castle Keep Press. Many of her stories develop from nature.

P.G. graduated college and began her career in education, another great world that offered real experiences to humor and delight through children's books. She watched children interact, bringing to surface her own experiences as a child and yet more events to write about. While teaching, she discovered many great books for young people, such as The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963, Maniac Magee, So. B. It and many more. She is a fan of Dean Koontz novels, too, and loves reading fantasy and paranormal books.

P.G. was married 20 years in March 2012 and has a bright, young daughter who has begun her own college career. She lives on a small farm in Texas with her family and animals. P.G. has experienced great love and loss throughout her life. Those her family has lost have dedications in her books.

P.G. has two young adult books published, Dead Perfect and The Gifted Ones: The Fairytale the first book in The Gifted Ones Trilogy. She also has several children's books written under Gean Penny, her pseudonym. P. G. has since dissolved her contract for her first book with Castle Keep Press and moved the title to her own imprint, Gean Penny Books.


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Tour Schedule:
11/1/2012 Bookish Whimsy 

11/2/2012 Magic Immortals and being a good monster
11/3/2012 The Cover (and everything in between)
11/4/2012 The Dark Heroine
11/5/2012 Young Adult Book Addict
11/6/2012 Night Owl Reads
11/7/2012 Michelle Shouts Random 
11/8/2012 Writers And Authors 
11/9/2012 Book Nerds United 
11/10/2012 Geo Librarian 
11/11/2012 Bound 2 Astound
11/12/2012 From The Bootheel Cotton Patch
11/13/2012 Reading Away The Days 
11/14/2012 The READioactive Book Blog! 
11/15/2012 Read Review Smile 
11/16/2012 Pink Fluffly Hearts: Diary of a Coffee Addict 
11/17/2012 Mom With A Kindle 
11/18/2012 A Readers Devotion
11/19/2012 Girls Heart Books
11/20/2012 Joie De Lire
11/21/2012 Joie De Lire
11/22/2012 Reader Girls
11/23/2012 The Other Shelf
11/24/2012 Lost In Fictional Worlds 
11/25/2012 Crossroad Reviews 
11/26/2012 A Soul Unsung 
11/27/2012 Captivated Reading 
11/28/2012 Just Another Rabid Reader 
11/29/2012 My Seryniti 
11/30/2012 Jen’s Review Corner