Suzanne Strong's Blog, page 2

New Review Where the Sun Rises

Review from Where the Sun Rises!

Freedom Writing no.9 Amazon USA Best Seller :)

Where the Sun Rises No.6 on Amazon Australia :)

‘Les Miserable’ have you ever read it?

Hey everyone,

I have been reading Les Miserable for the past year, yes one year! The thing is the book is 1263 pages it is huge! It is bigger in size than the Bible, haha. I am a little bit more than half of the way through.

I am loving the gems that Victor Hugo puts in with this writing, but I am also struggling with the amount of detail he includes. It makes me very aware of the modern attention span, which they say is 8 seconds long shorter than a gold fish which is 9 seconds haha.

I want to persevere with the book as I love the actual story of love, redemption, grace, revolution and justice and mercy. It is an epic story that is worthy of attention. Hugo actually received one of the highest payments for this book at the time, the equivalent of a million dollar payment for it. He argued for this, but in a way it is also a historical book talking about France and the revolution in detail. It is definitely worthy of the money but that is phenomenal, even now not many people receive that amount of money.

Anyway, I just wanted to post up a pic to show how substantial the book is – I am loving the wisdom, philosophy, observation of life, complexity of characterisation, and the depth of story.

I do recommend reading it, however you have to persevere haha so be prepared for this. It is not for the faint hearted. (The cover has deteriorated over the past few years).

Happy reading and writing! I am still writing my third novel – and enjoying this process.

Carl Jung said it perfectly…

“Until you make the unconscious conscious 
it will direct your life and you will call it fate”
– Carl Jung

A Creative short stories and poetry collection..

Hey everyone, this is just a link to a collection of short stories and poetry of mine that was published in 2017. You can purchase an e-book or print book on amazon.

Thanks for reading, I am going to be posting more soon. Thanks for reading!

Suz

Writing the “Truest” thing I know…

Hey everyone,

I was reflecting about my third novel recently and, I realised the statement (“Write the truest sentence you know”) of Hemingway’s was true of this novel. I have always wanted to write a true story one that has universal themes and experiences but telling stories for people who sometimes don’t have a voice.

With Hemingway, I have also resonated with his writing style, his views on writing and some of life, though not all. But I read at a young age about how he wrote and how he said you need to just write the “truest” most honest thing you know, and remain faithful to this.

All of my stories have been this before I read his work but I resonated with this as I have always done this. I believe this novel I am writing now, “Where the Light Comes in” is probably the “truest” novel I have written, well only in terms of being close to my life and expressing spirituality. Parts of my life are included, and my experience and I have already said that I am seeking to write honestly from this. This novel represents a part of my heart and perspective that other novels or fiction I have written have not.

This is why it is a vulnerable but rich experience writing this. It is interesting writing down details that happened in your life, but you have to change them for the character it is happening to, for the sake of fiction. I have enjoyed this experience and I hope when it is done that others will resonate with this novel, as out of all of my work, this reflects part of my beating heart.

I hope this book can express some part of this quote by Hemingway:

“We are all broken. That’s how the light gets in.”

Ernest Hemingway

It is indeed true that we all have broken parts and this is where the light shines through us and the Divine is seen. It is where we connect with each other as long as we don’t judge each other.

So, this is the journey of this novel and my ultimate desire is to write a novel that authentically reflects some deep parts of me but also a story about a character called Sarah Johns.

Thanks for reading.

My previous novel is Where the Sun Rises and also a book about writing for wellness – Freedom Writing. If you are interested.

Have a great day.

Suz

New Year’s Day writing!

Hi everyone,

In Australia at the moment we are having an inordinate amount of rain. This was actually a blessing for me as I edited and rewrote sections of my novel that I had not had time to do with work etc.

I worked on it all day with the sound of rain drops on the roof and a feeling of cool around me. It is summer here in Australia. When an author does not right we think about our work and we live our lives which is great but when I am absorbed in the work I am creating – there is nothing like it for me. Maybe doing visual art as well, seeing it form.

I am immersed in another world with characters and people, dialogue, scene, setting and creation of a world. I absolutely love it! For this year to come I hope and pray I can do this more often, I can create, as this is my inner most desire and why I believe I am here. To write and create visual art as well. It gives me this inner peace.

This novel I am rewriting and editing at the moment, has parts of my own life in it, but is about another character. It has been a fascinating a process which trickled through since 2018 whilst I was also working on Where the Sun Rises. This has parts of me not accessed in previous work and I think it is the richer for it.

I have always shied away from putting my life into things, only small parts etc. and no author can never put themselves into their work. But there is a difficulty and also a liberty in doing this. It is a piece of fiction crafted by me, but it allows me to express the things I have seen and learnt over the years. I have been through a lot, and I think when an author puts some of their life into their work it makes it extremely rich and beautiful. I think of Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallows Universe, loosely based on his life. It is a masterpiece. He weaves his story through the novel and also fictionalises it as well. I have written a character with different experiences to me but then some of my life too. I allowed myself for the first time instead of holding back always and I am really loving it. After all we read authors to see their vision of life in a way through the characters and circumstances.

Anyway, it is a rich story with humour, joy, love and pain, just like life is. I am so happy that on New Year’s day and today, I spent it writing my third novel I have written, in totality. I hope once it is ready to go out into the world, people gain something valuable out of it and enjoy reading it. Thanks for reading now, and I hope and pray it is a beautiful year for you, full goodness, light and joy and in the hard times, that you have loving people around you.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hello,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! – If you celebrate Christmas, and even if you don’t, have a lovely Christmas time and hopefully a peaceful time with your friends and family.

Remember that family is not always genetic but it is those who make you feel seen, heard, valued and loved. I hope you are surrounded with these people these holidays.

Love Suzanne