When I decided to pursue my writing dream, I imagined one of the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne visiting each morning, taking my hand, and guiding me to the computer. There, she would remain, offering words of encouragement until I produced my daily quota of words.
That was the fantasy.
The reality was very different.
I was unprepared for the tyranny of the blank page. While everything was in place—business cards, new computer, dreams of a runaway best-seller—my writing muscles refused to budge.
Continue reading on the Motive Means Opportunity blog.
During a recent forage through an old Writer’s Encyclopedia for blog ideas, I came across an entry entitled “How to Salvage a Manuscript.” Great topic for a writer’s tip blog, I thought. Here’s what the book recommended, and I quote.
My writing journey started with a gate.
Linda’s inspiration comes from her favorite authors and life itself. Her women’s fiction highlights characters that peel away outer layers of life to discover the heart of their dreams with some unexpected twists and turns along the way. Her writing integrates humor found in everyday situations, as well as touching moments, thus creating avenues for readers to connect with her characters.
Never say never.
Clara Montague didn’t want to go home to Connecticut for Christmas. Her mother Constance never seemed to like her—or her intuitive dreams about the people she loved. Clara tried to warn her mother that her father was about to have a heart attack, but Constance wouldn’t listen—and her father died.
1. Souls Entwined Book One of The Souls Trilogy was first titled Maledicta, the Latin word for Cursed. It was initially written in notebooks while I watched my three kids swim at practices and meets. Here are the original notebooks I took to the pool and penned the story in.
3. Souls Endure combines time travel from the first book, suspenseful action from the second book, and concludes the trilogy with a taste of Greek Mythology. Gods, goddesses, and monsters were carefully researched and crafted into the story. Sam faces many Greek monsters during trials to prove himself worthy. My favorite monster he encounters is Manticore. I studied this image when I wrote the Manticore scenes.
5. The inspiration behind the Trilogy is a red garnet ring my grandmother gave me.
‘Without faith, love may not exist. Without love, evil takes control.’
Anne loves to read all kinds of books so she decided to write a time traveling adventure with supernatural spirits, pirates, and a touch of sweet romance. All this and more are combined in her novels to attract teens through octogenarians. Anne lives in Indiana with her husband and three teenage children and teaches two classes of preschoolers. Her hobbies include running so she can indulge in constant cravings for ice cream, donuts, and chocolate chip cookie dough.
Once I have the initial spark of an idea, I let it percolate for several days, sometimes longer, until the right words come to mind. Those two to six words often come with no warning and provide the starting signal for a marathon of sixty to eighty thousand words. Even though it may undergo several incarnations, that working title motivates me to complete the manuscript.
These are some of my favorite books, some classics, some contemporary. They’re in no particular order.
Los Angeles homeboy Magdaleno is paroled from prison after serving time on a gun possession frameup by a rival, Rico, who takes over as gang shotcaller in Mags’s absence. Mags promises himself and his Salvadoran immigrant family a fresh start, but he can’t find either the decent job or the respect he craves from his parents and his firefighter brother, who look at him as a disappointment. Moreover, Rico, under pressure to earn money to free the Cyco Lokos’ jailed top leader and eager to exert his authority over his rival-turned-underling, isn’t about to let Mags get out of his reach. Ultimately, Mags’s desire for revenge and respect pushes him to make a decision that ensnares him in a world seeded with deceit and betrayal, where the only escape from rules that carry a heavy price for transgression is sacrifice of everything – and everyone – he loves.
The summer before senior year, Chloe starts an internship as a reporter at a local newspaper. While on assignment, she meets Kieran, a quirky aspiring actor. Chloe becomes smitten with Kieran’s charisma and his ability to soothe her soul, torn over her parents’ impending divorce. But as their bond deepens, Kieran becomes smothering and flies into terrifying rages. He confides in Chloe that he suffered a traumatic childhood, and Chloe is moved to help him. If only he could be healed, she thinks, their relationship would be perfect. But her efforts backfire, and Kieran turns violent. Chloe breaks up with him, but Kieran pursues her relentlessly to make up. Chloe must make the heartrending choice between saving herself or saving Kieran, until Kieran’s mission of remorse turns into a quest for revenge.
Joanne Guidoccio 