Dominique Gibson

Hello! I had forgotten that I haven’t posted on my website since April so I have decided that now would be a good time to do so. Dominique Gibson is back with another post. This post will talk about the things I have missed out on since the new year has begun. I didn’t know what else to post on here so I decided the best thing I could do is write a post about the things I missed out on since the year began in 2025. Here goes:

I think I have stated this earlier this year but I decided that I will not participate in the Romance Includes You mentorship. The reason? I had too many projects going on when it came to self-publishing my work. The three books I have been working on so far (Courtney’s Redemption, Lex, and The Reinmans ) have taken up all of my time when it comes to my writing space. Knowing that I have been doing three projects at once, I knew I wouldn’t have time for any books to go into the traditional publishing space. Therefore, I decided that I would go a different route and not participate in the mentorship this year.

Okay, I will admit the truth when it comes to this: I had every intention of doing the pitch day. When I saw this, I immediately got excited that they wanted billionaire stories considering I love reading billionaire stories and have always wanted to write one. What really caught my attention was when they said they wanted romances that involved kings and princesses. I had the idea for it but ended up backing out of it because of the other projects I was doing. My hope is that they will still be looking for billionaire romances once my other projects are finished.

Ulyssess Press (Ready Chapter One Contest) – I didn’t like that I won’t be able to participate in this either. This was a contest for Ready Chapter One Contest. Basically, you have to sign in and critique other people’s manuscripts before you enter into their contest but once you do, you will have the opportunity for an agent or a publisher to be interested in your work. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to do this because I have yet to finish my story for the contest.

There is one contest that I am considering doing in the future but I don’t know if I will be able to. It will depend on the situation I am in now. Anyways, that’s all for now. Please be sure to come back here for future posts. Talk to you soon.

Dominique Gibson

Hi! Dominique Gibson is back with another post. I have been meaning to do this for a long while now when it comes to my book reviews so I decided that I really need to catch up when it comes to posting reviews on my website. One of the reviews that I have been meaning to do for a long while now is another Harlequin book I just recently read by Linda Goodnight called Redeeming the Past. Make sure you read on to see my review and overall rating of the book. Thanks!

Book Title: Redeeming the Past

Author: Linda Goodnight

Genre: Inspirational category romance (Love inspired)

My Rating: Five Stars

What is this book about? John-Parker Wisdom just wanted to go back and visit the woman who changed his life after being a twelve-year-old orphan who thought he didn’t need anyone but himself. Little does he know that the woman who saved his life (Miss Mamie) has passed away and another young woman (Zoey Chavez) who states that she is related to the Miss Mamie and gives him the news about her passing. Just when he is about to leave town, He hears the news about Miss Maine having a will and that John-Parker Wisdom is a co-owner to Miss Mamie’s house. Determined to set things right, he thinks that the best way to honor the woman who changed his life is to turn her house into an orphanage for underage boys like himself to give them a place to stay and get their lives together like Miss Maime did with him. He thinks that this job will be easy but quickly changes his mind when it comes to dealing with Zoey. Now, he finds himself in a tough battle when it comes to continuing Miss Maime’s legacy.

Zoey Chavez immediately gives John the cold shoulder when he suddenly arrives at Miss Maime’s house unexpectedly. Zoey is furious: All that John had to do was stay away from her aunt’s house for a few more days and the house that she shared with her son would have officially been hers…without him knowing anything about it. Unfortunately, John decides to come back and investigate what Miss Maime left in her will. Her plan? To sell the house so she and her son can have a brand new life out of Rosemary Ridge. The only thing that’s stopping her is John and his crazy idea of turning Miss Maime’s house into an orphanage for teenage boys. Zoey tried to derail John’s plans and wants him to leave. But when he starts being around her and her son based on the restriction of the will, she starts to realize that maybe John-Parker Wisdom is not the horrible person that people claimed him to be. She also knows she needs to be careful to let her guard down or else she could easily find her son and herself on the street.

Will these two be able to use the gift of love and faith to overcome their challenges and find some middle ground when it comes to carrying Miss Maime’s legacy?

The reason I gave it Five Stars: This book was very interesting to read from beginning to end. The author did a really good job of maintaining the internal and external conflict in these characters. She also did a really good job when it came to giving out a small mystery when it came to Miss Maime’s personal belongings and when she had previously been through before John-Parker Wisdom and Zoey Chavez came into her life. It also didn’t hurt that it was an inspirational romance centered around their faith (or lack thereof). There was no sex, graphic language, or anything that might be offensive to someone who just wants to read a good inspirational book without the spice.

I will admit that after all of the Harlequin books I’ve read, Redeeming the Past just so happens to be one of my favorites. I also really enjoyed the secondary characters as well (Wink and Frank were hilarious in this book). I highly recommend this book for an inspirational romance that keeps you intrigued from the beginning of the book to the end.

That’s all for now. See you soon.

Dominique Gibson

Hi! Dominique Gibson is back with another post. A lot of people are probably wondering where I have been within the last month or so considering I am not posting as much as I did earlier last year/beginning of this year. Well, let’s share the info on what I have been doing since my last post.

The Writing Stuff

So, I have been working tirelessly on the fifth book of the Truson S.E.T. series, The Reinmans, which will be the first book in the Reinman trilogy. As I am sorting through the book, I am quickly starting to realize that I had made yet another terrible mistake when it comes to writing a novella. This draft is quite awful and I don’t like it. This is only giving me the realization that I am just not the type of author who can write short stories or novellas. I can only WRITE NOVELS. Therefore, this will be my LAST attempt to try to write short stories and novellas. The stories never come out the way I want it to so I am done trying to write them in this fashion. The video you see above is the latest short video I posted on my Youtube channel. I am currently in the self-editing process when it comes to The Reinmans and only have one more week to go before I have to send the latest version of the draft back to my editor so that she can do an estimate of the book.

As for Courtney’s Redemption, I still have not finished the notes that my developmental editor gave me because of me doing something else in my life, which I will describe in the next section. I kind of wish things were different when it comes to the current situation that we are in now but I know that things happen for a reason and in some situations, there is nothing we can do to change it except go with the flow of everything and take things as they come. My hope is that things will be able to calm down soon so that I will be able to complete the projects and publish them as soon as possible.

The TEFL certification (and me being accused of A.I. content)

In case people have not been following me when it comes to my Youtube channel, I recently posted a video that talked about me taking a TEFL course (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) to earn my certification to teach English. The course that I am taking is a 120-hour course and I am almost finished when it comes to completing it. This has been a hard journey for me when it comes to this because it almost feels like I am going back to school again even when I didn’t want to. But, I am learning a lot of interesting things and I know that this will be for a good reason so I know that I have to bear it for the next adventure I am getting ready to do. It just hasn’t been easy and I know I have a lot of work to do when it comes to this certification.

Stay tuned, I will be posting some videos in the future that is not related to writing at all but to something else that has become my second love (even though I sometimes complain about it which is something I need to stop doing). I know what is going to happen to me in the very near future and have decided that I want to share the experiences of what I am going through now on my YouTube channel in the future.

My hope is that I will be able to get most of this stuff done before I submit the manuscript off to my editor while working on my TEFL at the same time. There might be a time where I would just have to take a week off in order to get the writing done vs me focusing on the TEFL. Let’s hope that works in the future.

See you soon.

Dominique Gibson

Hi! Dominique Gibson is back with another post. While I was doing the last post, I started to mention why I would not be able to participate in any of the contests that Harlequin books are holding this year. I had every intention of doing the Love Inspired Author Search this year, I even bought a book within the category line imprint just to get an idea of how my story would fit within the Love Inspired imprint. Now, I am not saying that I won’t be submitting to Harlequin in the future.

It is actually the opposite.

For years, I have been doing every opportunity I could to enter into the contests Harlequin sponsored. I have sent multiple projects to their contest plenty of times only to get rejected time and time again (especially when it came to the ‘Romance includes You’ contests). Every time I wrote the beginning of some of these projects, I would always feel discouraged because of the rejections I received to where I wouldn’t continue the projects and give up on completing them.

BUT, I think that might change this year.

Instead of me constantly trying to chase after the contests they sponsor, I decided to go another way and try to write out the full manuscript without entering into the contests. I am hoping that in this way, I will become more successful with my efforts and that it will finally land me the one thing I have been wanting for a really long time: A BOOK DEAl with HARLEQUIN.

I will be able to keep you guys informed in the future when it comes to this traditional publishing update. Just thought I shared what my future may or may not be when it comes to this topic.

That’s all for now.

Dominique Gibson

Hi! Dominique Gibson is back with another post. It’s been a while since I have been here and I wanted to apologize, as I have been super busy doing a lot of writing and non-writing projects at once and it has been a huge struggle for me to be able to balance both. But, I am trying my best to do so and let me tell you, it has NOT been easy for me in the least.

There have been days where I know that I want to write and explore the world I have created and at one point, I love it. I still do. Unfortunately, due to the current circumstances I am in, I am not always able to do the one thing I am passionate about all the time. I have a full time job, and I have other chores that I have to do to balance everything else out or else it won’t get done. Some days I want to throw in the towel and quit. Other days, I live to become a full time writer without having to worry about money. I hope that day comes but until then, I guess I will have no other choice but to continue to work a full-time job to help pay my bills.

Okay, enough of my rant. Let’s get on with today’s post.

This is a reminder to all the traditionally published romance writer who ever wondered what it would be like to write for Harlequin (myself Included). If you are writing Christian romance or even Christian romantic suspense, then this contest might be for you. Harlequin is still hosting the Love inspired Contest but it won’t be for long. The deadline for this contest is MARCH 17th 2025. So, get your query letter and synopsis in order and make sure you polish up the first chapter of your story so that you can send it in for them to review (You don’t have to have the full story completed at the first round of the entry). If you are one of the finalists for the contest, you will have to submit your FULL manuscript by AUGUST 1st, 2025.

Interested? The details for this contest can be found in the link below. Enjoy.

The Love inspired Author contest

Dominique Gibson