My first experience with writing a book came
at age 13. I developed a fascination with genealogy and, after
spending time visiting older relatives to gather information,
I found I had all sorts of wonderful family stories. What on
earth could I do with all those [ mostly false ] tales? Why,
I'd write a sweeping, 600+ page novel of course! A tale of life
through several generations, spanning two centuries. It would
be fantastic.
Armed with purpose and enthusiasm, I sat down
at my big typewriter, [ yes, I'm dating myself...typewriter,
not keyboard ], and began Page One. Hours later I had almost
completed two whole pages. [ double spaced, of course ]. Hmmmmm...
An entire day and I had barely two pages to show for it? [ Rather
boring pages, at that ].
Maybe I wasn't cut out to be an author after
all.
In spite of my writing setback, I retained
my passion for books. I simply concentrated on reading other
people's books. Lots of books. All kinds of books. Until I discovered
Romance. Finally, a world I could escape to where I knew I'd
always find a happy ending! I devoured them, literally reading
hundreds.
Years passed before the writing bug seriously
bit again. I was working in downtown Denver and, as so many
writers advised, every lunch hour I took my pad and pen [ actually,
I preferred a pencil ] and headed for my favorite coffee shop
to spend my 50 minutes writing.
Unfortunately, my favorite coffee shop was
in a book store. Invariably, I'd end up writing nothing. There
were too many fascinating people to watch, too many interesting
conversations to hear and then, of course, there were all the
books to distract me.
Still, I had these two characters living in
my head, wanting their story told...
Then came the summer we took our second family
vacation to Scotland. On the Black Isle [ which isn't black
or even an isle ], near the pretty little town of Rosemarkie,
we parked our rented car and hiked back into a magically beautiful
placed called Fairy Glen. Resting on a large rock at the edge
of a waterfall and pool, lulled by the lush nature of the setting,
I suddenly realized THIS was the place for Cate and Connor.
For the remainder of that trip, I'd catch glimpses of them,
in a castle, standing at the foot of a crumbling staircase,
or riding through a highland meadow.
Once I finally sat down at my keyboard and
decided the time had come to give those two life, I found, amazingly
enough, they weren't the only characters running around in my
head. There were a bunch of them... all clamoring for their
own turn!
My GOAL, as a writer, is to give each of those
noisy characters a life in their own story.
My HOPE, as a writer, is that you'll enjoy
reading their stories as much as I enjoy writing them!
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