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Today, Trindie Books is featuring Taking Love in Stride. If you're a Kobo user and you enjoy romance novels, give my book a try! Happy reading!
Use Kobo? You Need Trindie Books!
Today, Trindie Books is featuring Taking Love in Stride. If you're a Kobo user and you enjoy romance novels, give my book a try! Happy reading!
Mother Nature vs. Human Nature
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While I was taking my walk this morning, Mother Nature put on a beautiful show for me. I saw the sunrise peeking through a blooming ornamental cherry tree. The flowers on the trees seem to have exploded with the exuberance of Spring. I saw robins and blue birds and geese. The baby leaves of one bush were a soft shade of green. 
Then there was the pair of underwear. Wait? What? I can hear you asking, did you say underwear? I did.
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Yes. It seems someone lost their boxers. Right there on the sidewalk. The questions that had me grinning were...Did some runner become overheated? Or did some teenager become...overheated? And come laundry day, was his mother going to wonder where her son's boxers disappeared to?
It's such a shame that my pondering of Human Nature took my focus off Mother Nature.
(I just let my husband read this. His question was, "Were they my size?")
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Self-taught Late Bloomer by Carol Davis Luce
Today, I welcome fellow Indie Chick Carol Davis Luce who shares her inspiring story from Indie Chicks: 25 Independent Women, 25 Personal Stories. Take it away Carol!
Only I knew nothing about writing a
novel, let alone a genre book with a sub-genre. So I went to the library and
checked out a reference book titled, HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL. Easy enough, right?
If dedication is easy, then it was easy because I was driven. My artist’s
passion shifted to focus on the writer’s canvas. That canvas was structure,
words, emotion, and truth. And the rest is history.
I
learned about the important shaping process, without which most stories would
be unreadable. Editing. The passion and pain of cutting and revising. Finding
the jewels that lie buried in too many, or misguided, words. Three years and a
dozen revisions later, 400 pages lighter, it found a home with a traditional
publisher. Within the first few months of release, it went into three printings
and became the flagship for the sub-genre "Woman in Jeopardy/Romantic
Suspense" at Kensington Publishing.
Going back to my motto of, “if I can
do it, anyone can.” There has never been a more opportunistic time to try your
hand at writing a book. Or taking the plunge and self-publishing. My decision
to self-publish my upcoming suspense novels came about when I hit the
proverbial brick wall after five published books. With a stalled career, I had
a choice. Teach, or see my stories in print again. I chose the latter. My first
self-published book is the short story trilogy, BROKEN JUSTICE, followed by my
suspense novel, NIGHT WIDOW.
SELF-TAUGHT LATE BLOOMER
Carol
Davis Luce
My motto is, “If I can
do it, anyone can do it.” I wasn’t born to write. I didn’t aspire to be a
writer from the time I could hold a Crayon. I could, however, draw, and make
things take shape through form and color on paper and canvas, and that’s the
path I traveled well into midlife. The artist’s life opened up my eyes and mind
to expression and sometimes stories through composition on that blank eighteen
by twenty-four inch stretched canvas. Then one day it changed.
As a voracious reader, I was content
to read what others wrote. I admired those writers who had mastered the craft.
I was happy to dwell in their world for 300 pages, to laugh, cry, and be
enlightened and surprised. Until one day when I closed a book by my favorite
author and felt something was missing. The novel was a mystery/suspense with
elements of romance. The suspense was killer. The romance, however, was
lacking, missing those subtleties that resonated with me. I wanted more. The
promise of romance was there, but fizzled somewhere along the way. For me, it
wasn’t about graphic sex. It was about sexual tension, passion, love. After
searching unsuccessfully for novels to satisfy my romantic suspense fixation,
looking for just the right balance, I realized I had to write the book myself.
Only I knew nothing about writing a
novel, let alone a genre book with a sub-genre. So I went to the library and
checked out a reference book titled, HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL. Easy enough, right?
If dedication is easy, then it was easy because I was driven. My artist’s
passion shifted to focus on the writer’s canvas. That canvas was structure,
words, emotion, and truth. And the rest is history.
Well,
almost.
I
burned up two electric typewriters before investing in a computer. I checked
out every book on the “book writing” reference shelf, and many grammar and
stylebooks, and two years later, my 800-page opus, NIGHT STALKER, was finished—
Almost.
I
learned about the important shaping process, without which most stories would
be unreadable. Editing. The passion and pain of cutting and revising. Finding
the jewels that lie buried in too many, or misguided, words. Three years and a
dozen revisions later, 400 pages lighter, it found a home with a traditional
publisher. Within the first few months of release, it went into three printings
and became the flagship for the sub-genre "Woman in Jeopardy/Romantic
Suspense" at Kensington Publishing.
Where it started. . .
I
left school at sixteen to marry my high school sweetheart. Six years later, as
a housewife and mother, I channeled my artistic talent into sketching and
painting, selling my work at a local art gallery. A quarter century later, I
traded in my paints and brushes to hit the keyboard. Our three sons, not much
for novel reading, are waiting for my books to be made into movies. That
childhood sweetheart I married a lifetime ago is now my soul mate of 50 plus
years. His encouragement fueled me, and his support allowed me to pursue my
goals.
Going back to my motto of, “if I can
do it, anyone can.” There has never been a more opportunistic time to try your
hand at writing a book. Or taking the plunge and self-publishing. My decision
to self-publish my upcoming suspense novels came about when I hit the
proverbial brick wall after five published books. With a stalled career, I had
a choice. Teach, or see my stories in print again. I chose the latter. My first
self-published book is the short story trilogy, BROKEN JUSTICE, followed by my
suspense novel, NIGHT WIDOW.
Agents
and editors think they know what readers want. They don’t always know. Readers know what readers want, and
they’re expressing their wants by buying books written by indie authors. Give
yourself a hardy pat on the back if you’ve completed a manuscript, but the big
applause goes to our devoted fans and readers. Without them, we would be
nothing.
~ ~ ~
Find Carol Online:
Thank you! Thank you!
Here's a snippet from a review left by one reader - "…characters are believable and down to earth and it is so easy to curl up and get lost in the story!" 5-Stars.
Nanny and the Professor is available in every Amazon Kindle Store:
Never Give Up On Your Dreams
Today, I welcome fellow Indie Chick, Christine Kersey, to my blog to share her inspiring story from Indie Chicks: 25 Independent Women, 25 Personal Stories. Take it away, Christine!
Never Give Up On Your
Dreams
by Christine Kersey
I love to read and lose myself in a good story – forget all
that is going on around me and be in
the story with the characters. One day in 1997 I finished reading a novel by
Joy Fielding and realized she hadn’t needed to be an expert in a particular
field, like medicine or law, to write a good suspense story. This fact inspired
me to try my hand at writing. It also didn’t hurt that we’d just gotten our
first computer and I can type much faster than I can write longhand.
At this time in my life I was thirty-two and my youngest
child was three. I also had three other children who were in elementary school.
A stay-at-home mom, I was able to carve out some time to work on this project.
At first I didn’t tell anyone what I was doing. What if I couldn’t complete it?
What if I failed? After a short time I told my husband, mother, and sister and
they were supportive.
I kept working at it, day by day, until after about four
weeks I’d finished a complete novel. At that point it was nowhere near ready to
be published, but I’d proven to myself that I could write a novel with a
beginning, middle, and end. I continued working on the story, then put it aside
and began working on another.
I gathered the courage to have a few friends read it and
they all said they loved it. Encouraged, I decided to attend a conference called
Bouchercon , which is for fans of mysteries. At the conference I mingled with
published writers and talked to an agent or two. Afterwards I sent queries to
several agents, but none of them were interested in my completed novel.
Shortly afterwards I started working part-time and didn’t
spend as much time writing as I had before. When my youngest child started
first grade I decided to go back to college full-time and earn my degree. Over
the next four years I did very little fiction writing and focused on getting my
education.
As I approached my final semester my schedule wasn’t quite
as heavy and I decided to do some revisions on one of my two completed novels.
When I felt the story was ready, I submitted it to a small, regional publisher.
In April, 2004 I graduated with a B.S. in Information Technology. That same
week the publisher got back to me and said they were interested in publishing
my book, but first they wanted me to do revisions. Though they hadn’t offered a
contract yet, I did the revisions and resubmitted the manuscript. They were
pleased, but wanted yet more revisions. In 2004 the job market was down and I
was spending a lot of time job-hunting, but I did the revisions as requested.
In October of that year I finally found a full-time position
and within two weeks of starting my new job, the publisher got back to me and
offered a contract. Needless to say, I was thrilled. Seven and a half years
after I’d written my first book and I was finally getting published!
I was assigned an editor and worked closely with her. The
book hit bookstores in July, 2005. I thought I was on my way. I had one book
published with a real publisher, so now I was set, right?
The book sold reasonably well, but when I submitted another
manuscript, my publisher decided not to publish it. Discouraged, I focused on
my family and my job and didn’t spend very much time writing. However, I still
read as much as ever. In fact, when the nook eReader became available I bought
one and started loading dozens of books onto it. I was in reader heaven.
I’d had my nook for nearly a year before I caught on to the
possibilities indie publishing presented. The book I’d published with a
traditional publisher had gone out of print and I was able to get the rights
back. That book, No Way Out, was the
first book I made available as an indie publisher. The first month it was
available I sold exactly one copy. But that one sale was very exciting. Since
then I’ve published three more novels and have sold thousands of copies. I love
that I have complete control over what I publish. I also love to read the work
of other indie authors. There are so many talented people that are now able to
publish their work.
I’m glad I didn’t give up on my dream to be published and am
so excited at the endless opportunities that are now available. One thing I’ve
learned is that if you persist in following your dreams, eventually you will be
able to accomplish what you’ve set out to do, whatever it may be.
That three-year-old child that sat near me as I began my
writing career is now a senior in high school. Whether or not I had chosen to
continue writing, time inexorably moved forward. It’s never too late to follow
your dreams, but why wait?
Visit my blog
No Way Out, about
a woman whose husband disappears, is available at Amazon
and Barnes
& Noble
He Loves Me Not is
currently only available at Amazon,
although if you have a nook, email me and I’ll send you a free epub copy.
Don’t Look Back is
the sequel to He Loves Me Not and is
available at Amazon
as well as Barnes
& Noble.
The Lighthouse's Tale by Nickel Creek
This is a beautiful song that never fails to stir my emotions and touch my heart. I found this amazing video of an American Sign Language (ASL) version performed by Stephen Torrence. The lyrics are below so feel free to sing along!
"The Lighthouse's Tale"
I am a lighthouse, worn by the weather and the waves.
I keep my lamp lit, to warn the sailors on their way.
I'll tell a story, paint you a picture from my past.
I was so happy, but joy in this life seldom lasts.
I had a keeper, he helped me warn the ships at sea.
We had grown closer, 'till his joy meant everything to me.
And he was to marry, a girl who shone with beauty and light.
And they loved each other, and with me watched the sunsets into night.
[Chorus:]
And the waves crashing around me, the sand slips out to sea.
And the winds that blow remind me, of what has been, and what can never be.
She'd had to leave us, my keeper he prayed for a safe return.
But when the night came, the weather to a raging storm had turned.
He watched her ship fight, but in vain against the wild and terrible wave.
In me so helpless, as dashed against the rock she met her end.
[Chorus]
Then on the next day, my keeper found her washed up on the SHORE.
He kissed her cold face, that they'd be together soon he'd swore.
I saw him crying, watched as he buried her in the sand.
And then he climbed my tower, and off of the edge of me he ran.
[Chorus]
I am a lighthouse, worn by the weather and the waves.
And though I am empty, I still warn the sailors on their way.
I keep my lamp lit, to warn the sailors on their way.
I'll tell a story, paint you a picture from my past.
I was so happy, but joy in this life seldom lasts.
I had a keeper, he helped me warn the ships at sea.
We had grown closer, 'till his joy meant everything to me.
And he was to marry, a girl who shone with beauty and light.
And they loved each other, and with me watched the sunsets into night.
[Chorus:]
And the waves crashing around me, the sand slips out to sea.
And the winds that blow remind me, of what has been, and what can never be.
She'd had to leave us, my keeper he prayed for a safe return.
But when the night came, the weather to a raging storm had turned.
He watched her ship fight, but in vain against the wild and terrible wave.
In me so helpless, as dashed against the rock she met her end.
[Chorus]
Then on the next day, my keeper found her washed up on the SHORE.
He kissed her cold face, that they'd be together soon he'd swore.
I saw him crying, watched as he buried her in the sand.
And then he climbed my tower, and off of the edge of me he ran.
[Chorus]
I am a lighthouse, worn by the weather and the waves.
And though I am empty, I still warn the sailors on their way.
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