I’m happy to welcome The Wild Rose Press author Brenda Moguez. Today, Brenda shares her passion for writing and her latest release, Nothing is Lost in Loving.
Here’s Brenda!
What I know about writing is elusive.
It’s as fleeting as the sunrise over the Rockies but can linger as long as some Ah-Haenchanted evening sort of love, which is sometimes a lifetime or the length of a night. I didn’t know this when I took up this hobby come all-consuming passion. I was arrogant enough to believe I welded the power and could control the ebb and flow of my creativity on the blank page. As easy, as it is for me to flutter my eyelashes towards a lanky Gemini so would be filing three-hundred double-spaced pages. In retrospect, I envy this innocence because it was, and to some extent, is true. Back then, I didn’t understand enough about anything to take it as it came when it came. I had expectations.
In my passionate ignorance, I believed all that was required of me was to turn up each day and for an extended period of time—that can be as magical as an enchanted evening—and write. What I hadn’t anticipated were the nights I turned up at the appointed hour, flipped the switch, waited and waited, and sometimes waiting until blaze of the morning sunrise burned off the bitter loneliness of an unproductive night. It seemed silly almost laughable at first because I had lived several decades without writing so how could the random night without words affect me so profoundly. It wasn’t just that sleep that I lost, but my perspective. My mind convinced me there were answers in books, a cure for the lonely ache growing deep in my belly, which felt strangely similar to the absence of a lover who comes in and out of your life on his schedule.
Since red wine and songs of love were not the cure, I convinced myself writing was scientific. It can’t be magical. It’s not chance or random. Writing creatively is manageable. It’s a mechanical process thereby controllable by a force. All I had to do was learn. I started searching the aisles of bookstores, the periodicals, the vast and overwhelming virtual world, for content on writing. Sometimes a writer writing about writing made sense, and I connected, but the meaning of the words fizzled when I closed the book or browser. I’d see the meaning clearly as I read the words but then the edges blurred, and everything evaporated as it does when you’re walking through a cloud of déjà vu after I finished reading. I sought other writers thinking they would know what I didn’t. I enrolled classes and workshops for the same reason. Knowledge is never wasted but sometimes, as in the case of writing, too much of something isn’t always a good thing.
A writing lesson I learned rather painfully is that I am sometimes at the wheels of control, while other times writing controls me. I somewhat arrogantly assumed with some knowledge I would master my productivity and know everything there was to know about writing. What I ended up learning without a book, or a class, or another writer, was that I knew more when I didn’t know anything. When I wrote without the details, without listening to others more seasoned on the craft, when I didn’t lose sleep over tense, or being something other than what I was meant to be, which as it turns out, is raw and authentic. Now I know more than I ever needed to know, which is not always helpful at 3 AM or when the story is stuck.
Writing is such a personal experience, unique to the consciousness on the other side of the page. How can the reader possibly understand what the writer went through to put words on the page? Or the years it took to find the courage to take a stand, to declare to the void, I am a writer! Hear me! Listen to me, read my words for they are from me, part of me, all of me. And if it sounds like I am saying I am celestial it’s because a writer sometimes feels that they are ethereal, part of a secret society they never thought of joining.
What I know about writing isn’t for me to share with you because I’m not like you or you like me. Each of us hears different notes in the keys on our respective keyboards.
What was your ah-ha moment on your writing journey?
Blurb
There is a saying in Spanish that goes something like this, “No hay mal que por bien no venga.” (Roughly translated) “There is no bad thing that is not followed by a good thing.”
When Stella Delray unexpectedly loses her job a week before Christmas, which happens to be the anniversary of her husband’s death, she is forced to come to terms with her loss, stop talking to his ashes, which she carries around in a sports bottle, and get her life back on track for her son’s sake as well as her own. She never expected posting an ad on Craigslist would send her into the arms of not one but two men, one of which is her former boss, Jack Francis. It’s because of him she’s working as an admin for a retired Broadway star, bookkeeping for an erotic video production company, and writing love letters for the mysterious Oaklander. Adding to the craziness of her new life, her monster-in-law resurfaces and the father-in-law Stella’s never met shows up on her doorstep.
With her best friend, Bono, to guide her, Stella will learn to redefine the rules she’s always lived by. Her new extended family comes with plenty of drama, and the ghosts of her dead husband’s past are knocking down her door. Will Stella be able to find her footing in her eccentric life, discover nothing is lost in loving, and have the family she’s always dreamed of? One thing is certain: Stella will learn that happily ever after doesn’t come in one size fits all.
Find out how Stella manages her monster-in-law and takes on romance again. You can find her story on Amazon.
Where to find Brenda…
Madelyn Hill has always loved the written word. From the time she could read and all through her school years, she’d sneak books into her textbooks during school. And she devoured books daily. At the age of 10 she proclaimed she wanted to be a writer. After being a “closet” writer for several years, she sent her manuscripts out there and is now published with Soul Mate Publishing. And she couldn’t be happier!
Let it be known, I do not like saying farewell to the characters in my novels. After all, I’ve slept with them, dreamt with them, fought with them, empathized with them, hated them, and, of course, loved them. They are like my children, oft times difficult, doing things I don’t approve of and a real pain in the ass, but when all is said and done, they are mine, and just like my children, I will defend them with my last breath. However, there does come a time when, as Kahlil Gibran wrote in The Prophet, you have to let them fly on their own. I quote, “You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth”, which can easily be applied to your characters. Even though you’ve created them and breathed life into them, there comes a time when you have to let them go. Mr. Gibran also wisely wrote: “Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They came through you but not from you and though they are with you yet they belong not to you.” If that’s not true of your characters, I don’t know what is.
If you’re reading this post, chances are you’re not starting college this fall. If you know someone who is, please pass on this list. I was a college English professor for over thirty years. Every fall, I greeted many bright, likable new students. By the end of the semester, some of them had failed my class; by the end of the year, some had flunked out of college. At least ninety percent failed not because they couldn’t do the work but because they made one or more of the mistakes on this list. Others passed but didn’t get the grades they could have gotten, didn’t learn as much as they could have learned. It’s a heartbreaking waste of money, time, and opportunity. And it doesn’t have to happen, not if students avoid a few basic mistakes.
When seventeen-year-old Matt Foley’s coach and mentor is killed in a sparring match at a tae kwon do tournament, the police decide it was a tragic accident. Matt’s not so sure. With help from a few friends, including the attractive but puzzling Graciana Cortez, Matt learns the coach’s opponent, Bobby Davis, is a brutal, highly skilled martial artist, the central attraction at an illegal fight club. Now, Matt’s convinced someone hired Davis to murder the coach. But who would want to harm the coach, and why do it at a tournament? Matt’s efforts to find the truth pull him into some dangerous conflicts. To improve his self-defense skills, he joins a krav maga class taught by a man who becomes his new mentor. Matt suspects that he’s going to need those skills, that some day he’ll have to face Bobby Davis himself. (Poisoned Pen Press)
1973: The Sting. Newman and Redford are back (and still hot)! When a mutual friend is killed by a mob boss, two con men, one experienced (Newman) and one young (Redford) try to get even by pulling off the big con on the mob boss. I can remember seeing this at the show on Christmas Day (release date) and the audience stood up and clapped at the end.
1. Every year, Ty retreats to his favorite island, Key Lime Island, between his Elvis gigs in Branson and Vegas.
1. Pepper is from a tiny town in Nowhere, Arkansas, where she lives with her rogue boyfriend, Derek, in a shabby trailer. She hates her life and what her once-nice boyfriend has become.
Award-winning novelist Beth Carter pens novels and children’s picture books. Her latest release is SLEEPING WITH ELVIS, a contemporary romance, with elements of suspense and humor. Her debut novel, THURSDAYS AT COCONUTS, won the 2015 RONE award for best “Women’s Fiction/Chick Lit Novel,” as well as “Best Debut Author” by BTS Books. Her novelette, SANTA BABY, appears in the 2015 Christmas anthology, SIZZLE IN THE SNOW, alongside eight romance authors’ stories.
Jambalaya. Of all the fabulous Louisiana dishes, jambalaya is by far my favorite. It’s almost impossible to get it wrong. FYI, there are two basic kinds of jambalaya, brown and red. Red, which has a tomato base, is considered Creole jambalaya and dominates in New Orleans. Brown is prevalent in Cajun Country. I heart them both.
Hotels Mazarin and Le Marais. I’ve had some great hotel experiences in New Orleans, and some dreadful ones. But the hands-down lodging winners are these two beautiful and historic hostelries. The rooms are wonderful, the service impeccable, and the full breakfasts – especially at Mazarin – are excellent. They’re part of the New Orleans Hotel Collection, which rescues derelict properties and turns them into elegant lodging. Bravo, NOHC!
Tulane University. Yes, I’m biased because this happens to be my alma mater. But it’s a charming campus, so if you’ve opted for a ride on the St. Charles streetcar, why not take visit the home of the Green Wave? It’s next to Loyola University and across the street from Audubon Park, so you can wander through both of those locations. Or explore some of the turn-of-the-century mansions in the Silk Stocking Ward, which is the nickname for the Uptown area where the universities and park are located.
Nico, my nephew dog, is featured on Cheryl Cooke Harrington’s blog.
Bestselling author Louise Penny does not mince words. In a recent article, she offered the following advice: “If you’re writing your first work of crime fiction, place the body near the beginning of your book—preferably on the first page, perhaps the first sentence. In later books this won’t be as necessary, but agents and editors like it established early, so readers know what they’re getting.”
Putting words and stories on paper is second nature to co-authors C.D. Hersh. They’ve written separately since they were teenagers and discovered their unique, collaborative abilities in the mid-90s. As high school sweethearts and husband and wife, Catherine and Donald believe in true love and happily ever after.
Joanne Guidoccio 