Marilyn Foxworthy's Blog, page 4
September 5, 2019
Honest Attractions - DesertTrading Post
The first book in the Honest Attractions series, Book 1 - Desert Trading Post, is live on Amazon and ready to read. I hope you like it. This is a new series. I couldn't resist. Courtney jumps in Dave's car and she takes him on an adventure. It's a contemporary romance: no robots or time travel - yet.
If they are going to make it, they'll need to be honest with each other.
I think it's fun.
July 17, 2019
I haven't forgotten...
I noticed today that it has been about two months since the last new book was published. I haven't forgotten. I haven't been on vacation. I haven't quit writing.
No, I'm writing, and I'm enjoying the story. The first draft is almost done.
I haven't forgotten that some of you are looking forward to new stories and continuations of the existing ones. I haven't forgotten that after I finish a book, that many of you would like to have a chance to read it.
I haven't forgotten. The Cave Girl is on the way. I hope you like it. I do.
Soon,
Marilyn
No, I'm writing, and I'm enjoying the story. The first draft is almost done.
I haven't forgotten that some of you are looking forward to new stories and continuations of the existing ones. I haven't forgotten that after I finish a book, that many of you would like to have a chance to read it.
I haven't forgotten. The Cave Girl is on the way. I hope you like it. I do.
Soon,
Marilyn
May 10, 2019
Love at first sight...
Love at first sight, the instant attraction and feeling of devoted love that is often a theme in my books may seem unrealistic - but in reality, it's the most common and natural reaction. There's nothing unrealistic about it. People see someone on the street, in the coffee shop, on the Internet, or anywhere else and have an immediate attraction that makes them think that they have found the love of their life before they even know the person's name. It happens all day long.
What isn't realistic is that it lasts. We have romantic love at first sight experiences but often quickly, or sometimes over a period of many years, find out that we didn't know the person the way we thought, and then disillusionment sets in. Sometimes we go through that cycle and accept the person in love the way that they are and we find joy in the relationship on the other side of the disillusionment. It is an inevitable cycle: romance, disillusionment, and joy. You can get off the ride at any point. Or you can stay on till he end. But not if it isn't good for you.
Our nature is to find love at first sight. It is our experience that leads to disillusionment or "reality". Because we are all broken people.
It's fine to have given up on love at first sight, but that is an acceptance of the fact that the world is broken, not that love at first sight is "unbelievable". Nothing is more believable. You have to learn not to believe in it. Your first school age crush, the one that you fell head over heels for and could never even speak to because you were so nervous is proof. You experienced that before you learned not to.
So, "instant love" happens all the time. With a person, a pet, a new car model, a new piece of technology, or a new favorite author. It's absolutely believable and natural to do so.
In my books, there's lots of instant love. Characters devote themselves to each other immediately and live wonderful happy lives. Because they aren't horribly suspicious and selfish. It isn't the instant love that is unrealistic. It's the fact that the characters find an innocent way to live there and find joy by skipping the disillusionment.
People think that instant love is unrealistic because they have trained themselves to skip romance and start with disillusionment. Yes, they have plenty of reason to do so because they have experiences in the "real world", the broken world we live in most of the time, that has taught them that love at first site doesn't last. It's not that it doesn't happen, it's that they have never had an experience that tells them that it can last.
I have seen it last many times. But it always goes through a middle period of disillusionment that has to be faced and felt and resolved. And on the other side can be joy.
In many ways, mindfulness, and the other life philosophies that my books try to portray, are based on an acceptance of the real world. In the real world, love at first sight is normal and realistic based on the fact that it happens all the time. It's the "world in your head" that has a problem with it, not the "real world". My characters struggle to make the world in their head match the real world. In the real world, people fall in love in an instant. In their heads they find all the imaginary reasons that it can't work. There are usually real world reasons that it can't work too. Many relationships are doomed from the start no matter how "in love" people think that they are. But that initial love at first sight happened anyway.
What if we lived in a place where we accepted the love at first sight and didn't need to kill it before it grew up to hurt us?
Happy trolls,
Marilyn
What isn't realistic is that it lasts. We have romantic love at first sight experiences but often quickly, or sometimes over a period of many years, find out that we didn't know the person the way we thought, and then disillusionment sets in. Sometimes we go through that cycle and accept the person in love the way that they are and we find joy in the relationship on the other side of the disillusionment. It is an inevitable cycle: romance, disillusionment, and joy. You can get off the ride at any point. Or you can stay on till he end. But not if it isn't good for you.
Our nature is to find love at first sight. It is our experience that leads to disillusionment or "reality". Because we are all broken people.
It's fine to have given up on love at first sight, but that is an acceptance of the fact that the world is broken, not that love at first sight is "unbelievable". Nothing is more believable. You have to learn not to believe in it. Your first school age crush, the one that you fell head over heels for and could never even speak to because you were so nervous is proof. You experienced that before you learned not to.
So, "instant love" happens all the time. With a person, a pet, a new car model, a new piece of technology, or a new favorite author. It's absolutely believable and natural to do so.
In my books, there's lots of instant love. Characters devote themselves to each other immediately and live wonderful happy lives. Because they aren't horribly suspicious and selfish. It isn't the instant love that is unrealistic. It's the fact that the characters find an innocent way to live there and find joy by skipping the disillusionment.
People think that instant love is unrealistic because they have trained themselves to skip romance and start with disillusionment. Yes, they have plenty of reason to do so because they have experiences in the "real world", the broken world we live in most of the time, that has taught them that love at first site doesn't last. It's not that it doesn't happen, it's that they have never had an experience that tells them that it can last.
I have seen it last many times. But it always goes through a middle period of disillusionment that has to be faced and felt and resolved. And on the other side can be joy.
In many ways, mindfulness, and the other life philosophies that my books try to portray, are based on an acceptance of the real world. In the real world, love at first sight is normal and realistic based on the fact that it happens all the time. It's the "world in your head" that has a problem with it, not the "real world". My characters struggle to make the world in their head match the real world. In the real world, people fall in love in an instant. In their heads they find all the imaginary reasons that it can't work. There are usually real world reasons that it can't work too. Many relationships are doomed from the start no matter how "in love" people think that they are. But that initial love at first sight happened anyway.
What if we lived in a place where we accepted the love at first sight and didn't need to kill it before it grew up to hurt us?
Happy trolls,
Marilyn
May 5, 2019
Take heart dear readers...
Hi. Um, I know that the latest book, The Dark Atoll, was dark. And maybe a little disturbing. And maybe not as fun. In a way, I'm sorry. But I had to write it in order to get to the other side of it. Yes, a second volume will be coming and it is less painful. Yes, the sun is coming out and things will warm up and we will play in the ocean again.
I felt that I had to write this book and those elements were part of it. I am sorry if it caused you nightmares.
The next book about the castaways is tentatively titled, "The Atoll of Promise". I can't write what you want to read, but you can want to read what I need to write. Or not.
It's funny. I find that often half the reviews and ratings of my books are are really high - and in some cases up to a quarter of them are the lowest possible rating and seem to personally hate not only my books, but me - as a person. It doesn't bother me the way that it used to. All of my favorite authors have some percentage of horrible reviews.
On this book, I really do understand the comments that some of it wasn't any fun. It wasn't fun for the characters that told me the story, and it wasn't fun for me to write some of it.
I've had horrible reviews, that were just personally insulting, say that my stories are too nice and everyone is too happy and magical and stupid and entirely unrealistic. Um, duh! Fantasy and Romance isn't the most "realistic" of genre.
But I am still thrilled and astounded that you enjoy my writing. I just want you to know that I understand that The Dark Atoll wasn't as much fun. I had to write it. This one was unusual. Dark, tragic, gruesome, and brutal isn't what we should expect from my books from here on out.
There will still be martial arts and philosophy and emotional hurts and healing and love and magic and sex and word play and rascals and scamps and monsters and village people. There is much more to come.
Hey, ask some questions in the Questions box. I enjoy questions. Let's make the trolls happy again.
Marilyn
I felt that I had to write this book and those elements were part of it. I am sorry if it caused you nightmares.
The next book about the castaways is tentatively titled, "The Atoll of Promise". I can't write what you want to read, but you can want to read what I need to write. Or not.
It's funny. I find that often half the reviews and ratings of my books are are really high - and in some cases up to a quarter of them are the lowest possible rating and seem to personally hate not only my books, but me - as a person. It doesn't bother me the way that it used to. All of my favorite authors have some percentage of horrible reviews.
On this book, I really do understand the comments that some of it wasn't any fun. It wasn't fun for the characters that told me the story, and it wasn't fun for me to write some of it.
I've had horrible reviews, that were just personally insulting, say that my stories are too nice and everyone is too happy and magical and stupid and entirely unrealistic. Um, duh! Fantasy and Romance isn't the most "realistic" of genre.
But I am still thrilled and astounded that you enjoy my writing. I just want you to know that I understand that The Dark Atoll wasn't as much fun. I had to write it. This one was unusual. Dark, tragic, gruesome, and brutal isn't what we should expect from my books from here on out.
There will still be martial arts and philosophy and emotional hurts and healing and love and magic and sex and word play and rascals and scamps and monsters and village people. There is much more to come.
Hey, ask some questions in the Questions box. I enjoy questions. Let's make the trolls happy again.
Marilyn
April 20, 2019
The Castaways, The Dark Atoll - New Book Announcement
The first book in the Castaways series, Book 1 - The Dark Atoll, is live on Amazon and ready to read. I hope you like it. This one might be a bit darker than some of the others. It's 2070, eighteen years after the cataclysm, and Florin is is about to run into some survivors. Not all of them are friendly. He needs to form a tribe. Luckily, some of the natives are looking for a new chief.
I think it's fun.
The Dark Atoll: The Castaways: Book 1
March 5, 2019
Jungle Nymphs, Lost at Sea - New Book Announcement
The second book in the Sea Nymphs series, Jungle Nymphs, Lost at Sea: The Sea Nymphs: Book 2 has just gone live on Amazon! I hope that you like it. This time, the girls need to put their old lives truly behind them. They need to drop off the planet.
Thank you all so much for your overwhelming support. You often write and ask me when the next book will be ready and it is exciting that you enjoy what I am writing so much.
As far as what's next, there are still several books already written and need to be published, but my heart right now is to work on a new book about Joshua's cousin, Florin. It's over half done, but it will take a while. If it looks like it won't be ready for publication by next month, I'll take a break from writing and start editing and you will finally get the first of the books about the origins of Robby, Accidental International Man of Mystery.
Thanks again. Happy Trolls,
Marilyn
February 6, 2019
Tom vs. The Volcano God - New Book Announcement
The newest book, Tom vs. the Volcano God: The Sea Nymphs: Book 1, is live and ready for reading. This one brings us back to the present day where we meet Tom Jensen, Robby's brother. I know we haven't actually heard Robby's story yet, but this one is a lot of fun and I wanted you to have it first.
I really do think that some of you will enjoy it. I hope so. I do. And in the next few weeks, we'll get Book 2: Tom, Lost at Sea.
Thank you all so much for your encouragement and support. Your acceptance and enthusiasm for my stories has overwhelmed me. I hope that I am becoming a better writer as time goes by.
Happy Trolls,
Marilyn
January 9, 2019
The Warrior - New Book Announcement
Good News , Everyone! The next book in the Nogud Legacy series, Book 5: The Warrior is ready for reading on Amazon! In this fifth book, Joshua and the girls start to explore the world of the 30th century. And it's not all rosy and unicorns. The little AI nymph Ellie wants to release some furious anger on anyone who threatens the family - Joshua wants to avoid that. Ellie has good intentions, but maybe she should stick to what she loves most: fresh laundry and orange soda. Leave the war to Joshua and the Twins.I like this one. If you liked the first four, I think you'll like this one too.
As always, if you do like the book, reviews and ratings are always appreciated.
Thank you for all of your support and encouragement. I wouldn't be publishing if it weren't for all of you.
Oh, next up is probably going to be the first few books of the origin story of Joshua's grandfather Robby and where and how all of this began. We'll hop back to 2015 or so and see how it all started. Probably.
Happy Trolls,
Marilyn
December 3, 2018
The Heart of the Falcon - New Book Announcement
The next book in the Guardian Maidens series, Book 3: The Heart of the Falcon is ready for reading on Amazon! In this third book, we learn more about Shaheen, the mysterious, and invisible, 311-year-old Elf-woman who has appeared to join Ronin's band.I like this one. If you liked the first two, I think you'll like this one too.
As always, if you do like the book, reviews and ratings are always appreciated.
Oh, and the second book, The Edge of Harmony, has a new cover.
Thank you for all of your support and encouragement. I wouldn't be publishing if it weren't for all of you.
Happy Trolls,
Marilyn
November 2, 2018
The Watchman - New Book Announcement
It's ready! The next book in the Nogud Legacy - Book 4: The Watchman. Joshua has to find and gather the remaining 'Little Sisters' before doing anything else. After that comes Book 5: The Warrior.I just pushed the button to start the publishing process. The book should be live on Amazon within 24 hours. Most likely it will be ready in the next 4 to 8 hours.
A number of you have written to ask for this book, and I'm happy that you did. I really do hope that you enjoy it to some extent. And if you do, I look forward to seeing your encouraging reviews. I love how thoughtful some of them are and how they show that you felt and experienced something good as you read my stories. It's nice when you SEE what I'm SAYING.
Just a note, like always, if someone didn't like my other books so far, they won't like this one either. I mean, it's the same author and the same story and the same characters. Just saying. Joshua gives people choices, and so do I. Don't be tricked by my slick marketing tactics into buying something that you don't want.
Happy Trolls.
Marilyn
