Jill Williamson – Real Life Romance – Part 2 of 3

Shannon here: Young Adult/Speculative Fiction author, Jill Williamson shares more of her real life romance, plus a chance to win her latest release, Replication: The Jason Experiment. Every time you comment (US only for this drawing), your name goes in the drawing for a copy. Deadline: June 2, 11:59 pm, central time. Here’s Jill:


Brad and I got married right after our college graduation. He wanted to be a movie director and I wanted to be a fashion designer. So we made a deal. He’d come to New York City for a year so I could get an additional fashion degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology, then we’d move to Los Angeles and he could pursue film. 
So we spent our first year of marriage in Manhattan (living in Jersey City). I went to school, we both worked at JC Penney, and we were all around New York tourists. We did the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, New Year’s Even in Times Square, stood on the Empire State Building, the World Trade Center, and the Statue of Liberty, visited the Bronx Zoo and Coney Island. It was a lot of fun. 
Then we moved to Los Angeles and lived four years of reality. Yeah… film and fashion are two highly competitive, stressful industries. Brad and I did our best. He was a tour guide at Paramount Studios, managed studio audiences for shows like Frasier and Dharma and Greg, drove tapes around Los Angeles, and bought exotic snacks for the writers of a show called Special Unit Two. And I worked as an assistant designer for two companies: one that made little girl’s dresses and one that made evening gowns. 
Pretty much, it was the Devil Wears Prada. Yeah…
Four years later we were done. Brad wanted to work with the church youth group. And I just wanted out. So we prayed together and came to realize that God had something else in mind for our lives. Brad went back to school to become an ordained minister and eventually a youth pastor.  I had two children, then, eventually, started writing books for teens. 
Over the years Brad and I have had our share of conflict. We’re both sinners, saved by God’s grace and still on the journey of learning how to do life like Jesus. But we always forgive each other. God blessed me with a man who is an amazing father, a man who loves and supports me, who buys me presents, who jumps in and does laundry, cooks dinner, takes care of the kids so I can write. I’m so blessed to have Brad as my husband. Even though I wasn’t looking for a boyfriend, God sure knew what he was doing. I’m so thankful I let God be in charge of my life!
On June 20^th of this year, Brad and I will have been married for fifteen years. It sure has gone by fast! We still like watching Star Trek movies, though lately we’ve discovered the new Doctor Who shows. Maybe Brad will build me a Tardis… 
We recently went on a Disney Cruise, and one night after we’d returned, Brad asked me and the kids to get dressed up. He gave us all tickets to board the Disney Aquatica Cruise Ship. We went downstairs where Brad had transformed our basement into the Lampwick’s Pool Hall Restaurant and the Plane Crazy Theater. He had menus on the pool table (our dining table) and we were able to order as many appetizers, entrees, or deserts as we wanted. Brad ran upstairs, tripling as patron, waiter, and chef.
The kids were thrilled. So was I. The adventures with Brad just keep going.
About Jill: Jill Williamson is the Christy-Award winning young adult author of the Blood of Kings trilogy and Replication: The Jason Experiment. Visit Jill online at www.jillwilliamson.com, where adventure comes to life, or on her Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/jwilliamsonwrites.
About the book: Abby Goyer is forced to move to rural Alaska when her father takes a job in a laboratory called Jason Farms. Suspicious of her father’s decisions, she investigates and finds more than what she was looking for when a strange boy shows up at her door. Martyr, one of fifty-five identical clones, escaped from Jason Farms with one wish: to see the sky before he fulfills his purpose and “expires” on his eighteenth birthday. Abby tries to help Martyr see that God has a purpose for his life, different from the one the scientists originally planned for him.
Come back on May 25^thwhen Jill talks about the romance in her novel Replication: The Jason Experiment.