One of the ways I love learning about writers is through listening to them. Occasionally, I’ve been fortunate enough to attend an author signing at a bookstore, a lecture at a college, or a book talk at a coffee house. However, lately I’ve been able to connect with other writers from the comfort of my own home through podcasts.
Thank you for the opportunity to be on the Tule blog today, it’s such a privilege for me to be talking to all of you about my new release, Where the river bends.
I’m a pretty visual person, so when I start creating characters for a new book I tend to search for an image I can look to as inspiration. It was no different when I began to create the world and characters for my Once Upon a Western series. Here’s a peak at the inspiration and a little bit about the main characters of Book 1, Her Cowboy Prince, which is loosely based on the Cinderella fairy tale.
ROAD TO YOU (and me) via Holly Golightly and Princess Ann
My non-writer friends find the whole idea of writing books fascinating crazy. The very idea makes them offer me a glass of wine and a sympathetic pat on the back. I understand this, of course. Sitting down in front of a computer with a blank page and a blinking cursor intimidates me too, even after twenty-some books. Trying to explain how ideas come to me—a frequently asked question—is even harder. I suppose that’s because no two books are ever the same, not in the way they come to me, nor in the way I figure out how to tell their stories. My latest book, ROAD TO YOU, Book Two in my Band of Brothers series, was no exception. The inspiration for it came (weirdly) from Hollywood. But more on that in a minute…
I think we often take the familiar for granted. Whether it be the people in our lives, the jobs we do, or the places we live, sometimes appreciation for what’s right under our noses gets lost in the shuffle of our lives.
It’s such a pleasure to be on the Tule blog talking about As I Am.
I could probably rattle on about this story all day, but I promise to keep things short and sweet!
GIVEAWAY: We will be giving away a print copy of Anne McAllister’s The Best Man’s Bride. Comment in our post with what you’re looking forward to in Harry and Meghan’s upcoming wedding!
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PLANNING A ROYAL WEDDING 4: THE BEST MAN AND BRIDESMAIDS
Jessica Hart and Anne McAllister
There are so many big decisions to be made about a wedding: there’s the where and the when and the what sort of wedding it will be, but deciding who will be most closely involved in the bridal party is also crucial.
It all started with a few crummy years, a bazillion text messages, and a walk on the beach.
Come to Florida. You need a break.
I can’t tell you how many times Shirley texted me that amid our other chats before I gave it serious thought. Dozens, I’m sure. Once the forwarded Allegiant coupon offers and flight schedules started accompanying her texts, I finally caved.
GIVEAWAY: Read until the end of the post to see what we have in store for you! Join us in celebrating Leigh Ann Edwards’s final book being released in the Irish Witch Series.
I’m so happy to be featured on the Tule Blog today, on this the release day of A Witch’s Destiny, Book Seven, the final installment in the original portion of my Irish Witch Series. It has been such an exciting couple of years. I have loved every single portion of it even when I sometimes stressed over my struggles with technology or upcoming deadlines.
Often during my book launches or book club and library author visits, I am asked what inspires my writing or where I get my ideas. Readers also have many questions regarding whether I have a specific time of the day I write, or where I prefer to write, etc. I think I have answered most of these questions in previous blogs, but readers also tend to be very curious about when I began writing and how I became published. I know those topics haven’t been discussed on the blog, so I thought I’d share some of that information today.
Books start in different ways, for me at least. Sometimes it’s a single situation or scene, and I have to build both up to it and down after it. Sometimes it’s an exchange of dialogue that pops into my head and I have to know who these people are and how they came to the point where this exchange happens. Sometimes it’s an image, a still or in video, that sparks something. Sometimes it’s hearing something said; I once got an entire book out of a conversation between a mother and her young son in the produce aisle of a grocery store.
But the one thing all of them have in common is music. Songs had always inspired stories, but it was somewhat belatedly in my career that I discovered that a “soundtrack” helped my mind set. And when I began writing more than one book at a time, that soundtrack became essential; it was the main thing that could shift my mind from one world to another. In the case of Whiskey River Rockstar, I already knew my heroine, Zee Mahan, from the previous books. But Jamie Templeton was a bit more elusive, and took some searching.
