Blog Tour: Suburban Task Force by Addison Towne

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Author Bio:  Addison Towne is a lover of fashion, foes and fun!  She was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Her background in television, film and marketing gave her the motivation and passion to write Suburban Task Force. As a entrepreneur she has spent the last ten years developing brands and products that have earned her awards and recognition ranging from a television Emmy to a CEO of the year Women Making a Difference nod. 
You can reach her via email atAddisonTowne@gmail.com. She is currently working on the next Suburban Task Force series and looks forward to reader input.

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AddisonTowne@gmail.com

Www.suburbantaskforce.com

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@addisontowne (Twitter)

http://www.facebook.com/addison.towne (Facebook)

http://pinterest.com/addisontowne/ Pinterest 

(help fill Jade, Suzie and Chloe's Closets with fun stuff!)

We move like night stalkers down the hall, using our hands to feel the way, all the while trying to keep our

breathing in check. This is not an easy task. With every breath of air I feel a burning in my lungs. Like someone’s

inside my body, punching me from the inside, reminding me that I’m alive and crazy at that. I guess this is what they

call adrenaline. You don’t tend to get the same effect by doing a Cindy Crawford workout tape.

“Okay so that means if we take out 15 guys each, we’re good to go!” Suzie says enthusiastically.

“Are you guy’s crazy?” I whisper loudly. We can’t take out 50 trained soldiers! All we did was go on one selfdefense

weekend! We’re not trained for this! We’re not trained for anything unless you consider shoe shopping a

sport. You can't be serious?"

“What? You think we’ll be killed so easily?” Chloe asks me.

“They have our husbands,” Suzie says solemnly.

“Okay, so what’s the plan then? We save our husbands and leave everyone else behind?” I ask with outrage.

“It has to be all or nothing you guys,” I say standing up. “We have to take them all or we have to try and get off this

island so we can notify someone qualified as to what’s going on here.” I finish and start to check out our new gear.

“That’s easy then, we take them all!” Suzie says standing up as well.

“Take them all and make em’ hurt for trying!” Chloe joins in.

“Um, okay, can someone please direct me to the sanity section of this little pow wow because I was pretty sure

you guys were going to go for the other option?”

They both shake their heads.

“So I have to be the rational one here? Be the one to come up with examples of why trying this rescue mission

on our own is an incredibly bad idea and all. Like being around for your kids, or simply coming home from this island

alive!” I look them dead in the eye waiting for them to give, but I get no response.

“Fine then, what the heck. I feel a little crazy, wasn’t diggin’ the good life too much, so I guess we find a way to

take them all!” I say with total sarcasm.

“We’re like the Suburban Task Force you guys,” Suzie says.

“Yeah, they don’t know what they’ve gotten themselves into!” Chloe chants.

“If we can deal with snooty neighbors, traffic nightmares, screaming kids, and crabby husbands all while trying

to look good and stay in shape, well then they’ve got another thing coming!” I say and put my hand in the air and we

high five because in this situation it’s oh so cool.

ABOUT THE BOOK:  Jade Lydell, who at thirty one finds herself living the surreal life of a married suburbanite. Her simple, and now materialistic days are busy with shopping, drinking and playing with couples that live the same high-end lifestyle. 

It takes a home invasion scare and a co-workers brutal mugging to wake Jade from her suburban slumber. The adventure begins when she and her two best friends forgo an uplifting spa retreat for an intense tactical, gun and self defense weekend, all without their husbands’ knowledge.

Upon their return, feeling rejuvenated and proud, the women try to re-adapt to their suburban lifestyles. Not so easy when you have to attend a VIP party on Catalina Island with the who’s who of Hollywood and Politics. Without warning, the island is taken hostage by a rogue terrorist group. With the men and women separated, and all outside communication cut off, Jade and her friends feel their only hope is to use their combined talents and outlandish movie knowledge to outsmart their captors.

Q.  What inspires your writing?

 Without being cliché, life inspires my writing.  I write in the first person.  While it is a rare approach, the feedback from readers has been positive.  It was a risky decision, but it is how I write best.  So when I say life inspires my writing it is truly because I am writing as though I am speaking to the reader.  My daily life, experiences, thoughts, emotions and realities all affect the conversational approach of my writing.

Q.  What is your favorite thing about being an author?

Being able to say I started something and finished it.  I consider myself a serial entrepreneur and that means I start a lot of things and end up pursuing only a few.  With writing you have to force yourself to finish.  Many people say they are an author, but there are authors, and there are authors.   Jane Austin or Ernest Hemmingway.  Now those are authors.  I don’t even put myself in the same category.   But I can at least say I finished a book and people I don’t know can read and enjoy it.

Q.  What is the toughest part of being an author?

Writing the next book.  I’m laughing as I write that, but really, along with taking the time to write it, which for me is tough enough with working and being a wife and mother, but then with all the marketing and social media and worrying about living up to the first one…writing really is the toughest part.

Q.  If you could not be author, what would you do/be?

Well, I am already not just an author.  As I said above, I am a wife, a mother, a daughter and I am a business owner.  Being an author in my opinion is owning and operating a marketing company.  You cannot just be a writer today.  You have to be more.

I continue to look to the future – maybe film making, maybe a travel documentary, maybe starting a grassroots political campaign.  Who knows?  I am not one to operate by conventional standards.

Q.  What would the story of your life be entitled?

Always one step away from the edge… of the fridge.

Q. Can you tell me a little about the inspiration behind your book cover?

I consider Suburban Task Force to be a fun book, and I wanted that conveyed on the book cover.  The characters are indeed ‘stereotypes’ that we can all relate to, or at the very least laugh with.   So I went with animated characters, threw in the lipstick gun and glass houses.  Every reader can get an idea of the ride they are in for.  The cover makes it clear that there is action, adventure and comedy coming their way.

Q.  What is your favorite book of all time?

Of all time!  I love that in these posts we always act surprised when asked this question.

I don’t have an answer to that. I like series and so that makes it incredibly tough. Every five years the answer changes based on where I am in my life.  When I was 14 it was Forever by Judy Bloom.  When I was 25 it was the first Janet Evanovich book and the Daniel Silva Series.  Recently it was Stieg Larsson Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series and at 30 it was, wait, I haven’t turned 30 yet so again I cannot answer. 

Please don’t ask to see my driver’s license.

Q.  Which part of your book(s) was the easiest to write?

The action.  I dream in action sequences. 

Q.  Which part of your book(s) was the hardest to write?

There was a lot of research involved in terms of the layout of the Island the book takes place on.  I had to visualize the scenes in a real life environment and try to stay somewhat true to the location.

Q.  Which character from any book are you most like?

I think my love, (and inspiration for this series) is from the Janet Evanovich, Stephanie Plum series.  I feel like Stephanie Plum and I would make a great team.

Q.  What is your favorite season?

Fall.  I enjoy seeing the changing of the trees and the chance to start wearing comfort clothing.  You know, the kind that covers up the ice cream and M&M’s rather than shorts and tank tops, which are dead giveaways for my latest splurge.

Q.  Tell me something funny that happened while on a book tour or while promoting your book(s).

Well, this isn’t funny as much as embarrassing.  Since I am learning a lot in the self-publishing arena I did a last round of spell check on a version before uploading it online.  My spell check replaced all the words ‘chick’ to chic like a baby chicken.  My first round of books went out with a slew of baby chics as the main characters.  It was humbling to say the least.   Now I can laugh about it.  At the time I cried.

Q.  Are you working on something new?

I am!  My goal is to have the next in the Suburban Task Force series out by the end of the year.  I also have another book called ‘The Beginning of Why.’  I hope that going public with my goal will help push me to meet the deadline.

Q.  Anything you want to say to followers of this blog or those that are just stopping by?

A huge Thank You for taking the time to read this Q&A.  I really enjoy feedback and use it to help push forward in the series.  I am honored to be a part of this blog and of course, I hope you will take the time to read Suburban Task Force and follow along for the fun in the series. 

A Blow You Away Wake Up.

Hi, my name is Addison Towne, author of the action/adventure comedy Suburban Task Force. 

Typically I would write something witty or at the very least informative about my book since I have been given the opportunity to be a guest on a great site such as this, but you will have to forgive me.  This post will not be about what my characters have in their closets, nor whom would play them in the movie version of my book (which by the way is in the works), but today, this guest post will be about my most recent wake up followed by a huge thank you.

It was a year ago this week that my grandmother passed away.  Today as I write this, I am sitting in the hospital while my father goes through his second round of chemo.  If my sons’ birthday were not this weekend I would happily bury the month of October forever. 

On the one hand I am sad, distracted and unfocused.  On the other, I find myself with hours at a time where I can sit and write and accomplish my daily word count goals.  Writing has become not only my guilty pleasure; allowing an escape from reality but my release of the days stress and sadness.  

Suburban Task Force was written for and about women finding their inner strength, their renewed love for their families and friends, and a blow you away reminder that everyday should be cherished.

As I near completion on the series sequel I find myself re inspired.  New characters are abound in an exciting journey to find their strength from within.  I am in love with this new empowered crew that has joined Jade on her next adventure.

This month, (and the Jade Lydell series), while it may not seem like it on the surface, has been my salvation.  It has been a true eye opener to remember to say I love you to someone everyday, to say thank you to strangers, to look beyond what you think you can be. 

I had a vision when I originally set out to write the sequel of Suburban Task Force and everything changed along the way.  I took it as an ironic life lesson from my own book.  We have to learn to adapt, and use what we have at our disposal to ‘save the day.’

I hope you enjoy Suburban Task Force as well as the upcoming sequels.  Most importantly, I want to thank you for being a part of this journey with me and for allowing me to share stories of female empowerment to any and all of those who may need it.  Women are my inspiration.  Life is our opportunity.  Now go kick some butt!