Cynthia Hamilton's Blog: Reading and Writing, page 6
March 27, 2018
The Story Behind the Story: Cynthia A. Graham: Beneath Still Waters
As I’ve said before, Twitter has been a wonderful source for discovering authors I would’ve never found otherwise. Cynthia A. Graham is one of the exceptional writers I've connected with there. I downloaded a free sample of her first book in the award-winning Hick Blackburn series, “Beneath Still Waters” and was instantly caught up in her writing style. She lured me in, pulling me into that murky water along with her protagonist. I remained mesmerized throughout Hick’s quest to find answers to a baffling, heart-wrenching crime, while fighting his own personal demons.
Today marks the release of the third book in the series, “Between the Lies," which promises to be another hard-hitting mystery, full of hard choices and tense drama.
But first, here is Cynthia’s story behind “Beneath Still Waters” and the series it spawned:
Hick Blackburn pulled his hat over his eyes and squinted against the silver sun flickering and blinking on the surface of the slough’s dark water. The sentence came to me as I stared at a large lake one summer morning. I remembered watching the sunlight dance upon the water and thinking, that’s the way I want to begin my book.
For me, writing has always been the way I make sense of the world. Those things hard to verbalize find shape and meaning in the written word. Beneath Still Waters had been in the “percolating” stage for some time. I had read a newspaper article from the 1920s in which authorities were trying to identify the remains of a baby found in a slough. The story was horrific and stayed with me and, as I stared at the lake, the story of Hick Blackburn began to emerge.
I began writing Beneath Still Waters when we were, once again, at war. There were questions I wanted to explore—questions about life and death, how we determine who is worthy to live, and how soldiers cope with the long-lasting effects of decisions made in the heat of battle.
Though I had never before written one, mystery emerged as the best genre for this exploration. The great P. D. James once said, that the attraction of mystery “isn’t the horror, it’s the puzzle, the bringing order out of disorder.” There can be no more disordered place on earth than a battlefield and I knew I wanted to discuss the real cost of war on those soldiers who came home. I wondered how it would feel to return to a small town that hadn’t changed, knowing full well that you would never be the same. And I wanted to give a voice to my own family members—my uncles who came home from the war bringing ghosts and demons that haunted them for the rest of their lives. I was tired of all the hero stories, not because these boys weren’t heroes, but because those kinds of stories somehow seemed to minimize and invalidate the true pain and anguish brought about by their experiences.
Once I had created this character who had experienced real pain and anguish from the mistakes he’d made and the things he’d done, I knew this man, Hick Blackburn, would help me to understand and question the world around me—and he has. Beneath Still Waters was so well received and so many asked what happens next, I decided to write a sequel, Behind Every Door. I am currently writing my fourth Hick Blackburn mystery and the third, Between The Lies, comes out March 27. Because chaos was my initial inspiration, current headlines have insured that I am never lacking in story ideas.
The real challenge for me has been making sure my character grows. He is no longer a twenty-two-year-old man, he is now a twenty-seven-year-old father and the worst thing an author can do is create a static character. The challenge has been to understand that the hurt and pain will never leave Hick Blackburn, they have become a part of him and they have made him who he is. But he must learn to move forward and try and make sense of the past while becoming the best man and father he can be.
“Beneath Still Waters” on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2FMyBLz
Goodreads book page: http://bit.ly/2FH3FR1
Cynthia A. Graham’s website: https://www.cynthiaagraham.com
Today marks the release of the third book in the series, “Between the Lies," which promises to be another hard-hitting mystery, full of hard choices and tense drama.
But first, here is Cynthia’s story behind “Beneath Still Waters” and the series it spawned:
Hick Blackburn pulled his hat over his eyes and squinted against the silver sun flickering and blinking on the surface of the slough’s dark water. The sentence came to me as I stared at a large lake one summer morning. I remembered watching the sunlight dance upon the water and thinking, that’s the way I want to begin my book.
For me, writing has always been the way I make sense of the world. Those things hard to verbalize find shape and meaning in the written word. Beneath Still Waters had been in the “percolating” stage for some time. I had read a newspaper article from the 1920s in which authorities were trying to identify the remains of a baby found in a slough. The story was horrific and stayed with me and, as I stared at the lake, the story of Hick Blackburn began to emerge.
I began writing Beneath Still Waters when we were, once again, at war. There were questions I wanted to explore—questions about life and death, how we determine who is worthy to live, and how soldiers cope with the long-lasting effects of decisions made in the heat of battle.
Though I had never before written one, mystery emerged as the best genre for this exploration. The great P. D. James once said, that the attraction of mystery “isn’t the horror, it’s the puzzle, the bringing order out of disorder.” There can be no more disordered place on earth than a battlefield and I knew I wanted to discuss the real cost of war on those soldiers who came home. I wondered how it would feel to return to a small town that hadn’t changed, knowing full well that you would never be the same. And I wanted to give a voice to my own family members—my uncles who came home from the war bringing ghosts and demons that haunted them for the rest of their lives. I was tired of all the hero stories, not because these boys weren’t heroes, but because those kinds of stories somehow seemed to minimize and invalidate the true pain and anguish brought about by their experiences.
Once I had created this character who had experienced real pain and anguish from the mistakes he’d made and the things he’d done, I knew this man, Hick Blackburn, would help me to understand and question the world around me—and he has. Beneath Still Waters was so well received and so many asked what happens next, I decided to write a sequel, Behind Every Door. I am currently writing my fourth Hick Blackburn mystery and the third, Between The Lies, comes out March 27. Because chaos was my initial inspiration, current headlines have insured that I am never lacking in story ideas.
The real challenge for me has been making sure my character grows. He is no longer a twenty-two-year-old man, he is now a twenty-seven-year-old father and the worst thing an author can do is create a static character. The challenge has been to understand that the hurt and pain will never leave Hick Blackburn, they have become a part of him and they have made him who he is. But he must learn to move forward and try and make sense of the past while becoming the best man and father he can be.
“Beneath Still Waters” on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2FMyBLz
Goodreads book page: http://bit.ly/2FH3FR1
Cynthia A. Graham’s website: https://www.cynthiaagraham.com
March 12, 2018
The Story Behind the Story: Nina Romano on The Secret Language of Women
I’m very honored to present the Story Behind the Story of “The Secret Language of Women” by the very talented Nina Romano. I stumbled upon the author and the first book in her Wayfarer Series on Twitter. I was intrigued by the gorgeous cover and downloaded a sample. I was immediately drawn in by the writing, which held me spellbound throughout the book. I was swept up in a bygone culture, centuries old, torn between the old ways and the future. What Nina puts Lian through is hair-raising! I thought I was tough on my protagonist!
Without further ado, I give you Nina Romano:
I’ve said this before, but since I just love it, I’ll say it again. W. Somerset Maughm is quoted as saying: “There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”
Maybe one of them should be “to listen.”
As a little girl, I had already begun to practice the art of listening. Always fascinated by tales my Grandpa told, his recollections beguiled me, especially tales about when he was a sailor in the Italian Navy and fighting in China during the Boxer Rebellion. I saw his passport and a picture of him in uniform—young, handsome and with a big moustache. He reminisced about China’s beautiful landscape, diminutive Oriental women with hair the color of jet, other European navies and ships. How exotic and alluring! I had paid attention, but not knowing there was going to be a pay-off one day.
Grandpa told me about gods, tattoos, and dragons, statues of Buddha, temples, the tea ceremony, calligraphy, karma, and acupuncture. He spoke of life in Sicily and travels as an Italian sailor all over China and his time in Shanghai. With this wealth of knowledge, I began to imagine the rest: young girls in brothels, sailors brawling with other sailors, sailors fighting against Boxers. Coolies with long pigtails, carrying rice.
As I began to write the story in his third person POV, I started describing his ship and doing some research. Then for a workshop I was about to take in the University of Iowa’s summer program, I had to write twenty pages. Naturally, I didn’t want to hand in anything already written—here was a golden opportunity to plunk down something new. I literally dashed down twenty-two pages in the first person POV of the fictitious, bi-lingual woman whom my fictional character, loosely based on my Grandpa, would fall in love with.
For the workshop, I assigned the name Giacomo for my sailor, and Lian for the main character—I’d found my protagonist and the female perspective I needed. When I realized the main character would be a woman, the writing flowed. It wasn’t forced and came naturally. Next, when I returned home, I researched and added exciting scenes—writing things I’d never dared to consider writing about before: abandonment, abortion, rape, losing a child. All terribly difficult themes and arguments to imagine for me, but I wanted and needed a challenge.
Although I don’t know if any of this was truly part of my Grandpa’s living existence in China, it made me ponder and pursue a line of thinking that would make for a good plot—of course being a poet, I wanted to include poetry and lyrical writing because I feel this is where my strength lies.
I visited China and was enchanted by Beijing, formerly Peking, which held Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. I also became enthralled with the city of Guilin, a painter’s paradise surrounded by magnificent mauve hills and cliffs, many waterways and markets. I became spellbound by China’s history, culture, superstitions, art, cuisine, medicine, and Nüshu, the secret language of women, now extinct, like the binding of female children’s feet.
Later, I’d cull from these to use in my novel-writing. Returning from Asia equipped with notes while traveling, I began a romantic story in alternating chapters, incorporating China’s historical details.
I wrote a first draft of The Secret Language of Women sketching back story, themes, motifs, metaphors, settings, dialogue, obligatory scenes, character motivation, conflict, cause and effect, climax, resolution and denouement. The plot developed and germinated out of the story. This was the exhilarating, creative part, next would come the cerebral part—revision. I revised this novel numerous times. To be truthful, nine complete times. Each time, I revised for a different thing: structure, layout and format, POV, language, plot, exposition that told but didn’t show, scenes comprised of action, dialogue and use of the five senses, timeline, transitions, tightening and cutting. This didn’t happen overnight. It took years.
With the Boxer Rebellion as a backdrop, The Secret Language of Women is the first book in the Wayfarer Trilogy. It is the story of star-crossed lovers, Lian, a Eurasian healer and Giacomo, a sailor in the Italian Navy. This is a haunting, epic tale of love found, lost, and desperately searched for at all costs and consequences.
Thank you so much, Cynthia, for this delightful opportunity to speak about my first novel.
Author’s Bio
Nina Romano earned a B.S. from Ithaca College, an M.A. from Adelphi University and a B.A. and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from FIU. She’s a world traveler and lover of history. She lived in Rome, Italy, for twenty years, and is fluent in Italian and Spanish. She has authored a short story collection, The Other Side of the Gates, and has published five poetry collections and two poetry chapbooks with independent publishers. She co-authored Writing in a Changing World. Romano has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize in Poetry.
Nina Romano’s historical Wayfarer Trilogy has been published from Turner Publishing. The Secret Language of Women, Book #1, was a Foreword Reviews Book Award Finalist and Gold Medal winner of the Independent Publisher’s 2016 IPPY Book Award. Lemon Blossoms, Book # 2, was a Foreword Reviews Book Award Finalist, and In America, Book #3, was a finalist in Chanticleer Media’s Chatelaine Book Awards.
Website: https://www.ninaromano.com
Twitter: @ninsthewriter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ninaromanoau...
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Languag...
Without further ado, I give you Nina Romano:
I’ve said this before, but since I just love it, I’ll say it again. W. Somerset Maughm is quoted as saying: “There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”
Maybe one of them should be “to listen.”
As a little girl, I had already begun to practice the art of listening. Always fascinated by tales my Grandpa told, his recollections beguiled me, especially tales about when he was a sailor in the Italian Navy and fighting in China during the Boxer Rebellion. I saw his passport and a picture of him in uniform—young, handsome and with a big moustache. He reminisced about China’s beautiful landscape, diminutive Oriental women with hair the color of jet, other European navies and ships. How exotic and alluring! I had paid attention, but not knowing there was going to be a pay-off one day.
Grandpa told me about gods, tattoos, and dragons, statues of Buddha, temples, the tea ceremony, calligraphy, karma, and acupuncture. He spoke of life in Sicily and travels as an Italian sailor all over China and his time in Shanghai. With this wealth of knowledge, I began to imagine the rest: young girls in brothels, sailors brawling with other sailors, sailors fighting against Boxers. Coolies with long pigtails, carrying rice.
As I began to write the story in his third person POV, I started describing his ship and doing some research. Then for a workshop I was about to take in the University of Iowa’s summer program, I had to write twenty pages. Naturally, I didn’t want to hand in anything already written—here was a golden opportunity to plunk down something new. I literally dashed down twenty-two pages in the first person POV of the fictitious, bi-lingual woman whom my fictional character, loosely based on my Grandpa, would fall in love with.
For the workshop, I assigned the name Giacomo for my sailor, and Lian for the main character—I’d found my protagonist and the female perspective I needed. When I realized the main character would be a woman, the writing flowed. It wasn’t forced and came naturally. Next, when I returned home, I researched and added exciting scenes—writing things I’d never dared to consider writing about before: abandonment, abortion, rape, losing a child. All terribly difficult themes and arguments to imagine for me, but I wanted and needed a challenge.
Although I don’t know if any of this was truly part of my Grandpa’s living existence in China, it made me ponder and pursue a line of thinking that would make for a good plot—of course being a poet, I wanted to include poetry and lyrical writing because I feel this is where my strength lies.
I visited China and was enchanted by Beijing, formerly Peking, which held Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. I also became enthralled with the city of Guilin, a painter’s paradise surrounded by magnificent mauve hills and cliffs, many waterways and markets. I became spellbound by China’s history, culture, superstitions, art, cuisine, medicine, and Nüshu, the secret language of women, now extinct, like the binding of female children’s feet.
Later, I’d cull from these to use in my novel-writing. Returning from Asia equipped with notes while traveling, I began a romantic story in alternating chapters, incorporating China’s historical details.
I wrote a first draft of The Secret Language of Women sketching back story, themes, motifs, metaphors, settings, dialogue, obligatory scenes, character motivation, conflict, cause and effect, climax, resolution and denouement. The plot developed and germinated out of the story. This was the exhilarating, creative part, next would come the cerebral part—revision. I revised this novel numerous times. To be truthful, nine complete times. Each time, I revised for a different thing: structure, layout and format, POV, language, plot, exposition that told but didn’t show, scenes comprised of action, dialogue and use of the five senses, timeline, transitions, tightening and cutting. This didn’t happen overnight. It took years.
With the Boxer Rebellion as a backdrop, The Secret Language of Women is the first book in the Wayfarer Trilogy. It is the story of star-crossed lovers, Lian, a Eurasian healer and Giacomo, a sailor in the Italian Navy. This is a haunting, epic tale of love found, lost, and desperately searched for at all costs and consequences.
Thank you so much, Cynthia, for this delightful opportunity to speak about my first novel.
Author’s Bio
Nina Romano earned a B.S. from Ithaca College, an M.A. from Adelphi University and a B.A. and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from FIU. She’s a world traveler and lover of history. She lived in Rome, Italy, for twenty years, and is fluent in Italian and Spanish. She has authored a short story collection, The Other Side of the Gates, and has published five poetry collections and two poetry chapbooks with independent publishers. She co-authored Writing in a Changing World. Romano has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize in Poetry.
Nina Romano’s historical Wayfarer Trilogy has been published from Turner Publishing. The Secret Language of Women, Book #1, was a Foreword Reviews Book Award Finalist and Gold Medal winner of the Independent Publisher’s 2016 IPPY Book Award. Lemon Blossoms, Book # 2, was a Foreword Reviews Book Award Finalist, and In America, Book #3, was a finalist in Chanticleer Media’s Chatelaine Book Awards.
Website: https://www.ninaromano.com
Twitter: @ninsthewriter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ninaromanoau...
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Languag...
March 5, 2018
The Story Behind the Story
The ideas for books usually come when you least expect them. It’s when the mind is free to wander that inspiration drops in and starts tinkering with random thoughts. I can say that most of the ten books I’ve written came about that way. They started out as odd musings and continued to expand to the point it was hard to deny there just might be a story there.
Spouse Trap is a good example of this. I was two months into the research of a sequel to Alligators in the Trees when I was gripped by self-doubt. (I don’t think this is an uncommon occurrence among writers.) My lament about the futility of knocking myself out to write books that relatively few people would ever read branched off into a silent tirade about the unfairness of the writing universe. I concluded my rant with the realization that “if I wrote some piece of garbage called The Slutty Detective, I’d be a gazillionaire.”
After recoiling in disgust at the idea, another thought hit me. “The protagonist isn’t really slutty; she’s gotten a bad rep as the result of…her rotten ex-husband.” Yeah. I could see that. Divorces often bring out the worst in people. Off my imagination went, keen on the prospect of taking a perfectly respectable woman and destroying her reputation as a means of getting back at her. But for what? And what did that revenge look like?
My mind was at a full gallop before I could even get back to my computer. But instead of serving as backstory to a detective series, I realized this woman would need to undergo a complete transformation, a metamorphosis—too much to allude to in flashbacks. The first book would tell the whole, grizzly story.
And so began the saga of Madeline Ridley, née Dawkins, as we find her in a plush hotel room just before dawn, naked, with a blinding headache and no idea how she got there. And then things really get bad.
By the end of the book, poor Madeline has been to hell and back. She’s a completely different person than the socialite fundraiser we meet in the first few chapters. She’s been galvanized, stripped of everything she had held dear, tested by fire and remade into a resilient woman capable of handling just about anything thrown her way. In fact, she’s become so shrewd, she manages to get revenge and a new career out of what she’s been through. And off she went to the next book, A High Price to Pay, and the third, Girl Trap, which will be out soon. And more to come.
For any would-be writers reading this, I hope you take away the importance of listening to your creative side. Every book or artistic endeavor starts with the imagination. Everyone’s thoughts and voice are different, and therefore unique and worthy of being examined and nurtured.
I will be asking some of my favorite writers to share the story behind their stories here on Goodreads. Please check back soon to learn about other simple reveries that have launched inspired works of fiction.
Until next time, happy musings!
Very warmest regards,
Cynthia
Spouse Trap is a good example of this. I was two months into the research of a sequel to Alligators in the Trees when I was gripped by self-doubt. (I don’t think this is an uncommon occurrence among writers.) My lament about the futility of knocking myself out to write books that relatively few people would ever read branched off into a silent tirade about the unfairness of the writing universe. I concluded my rant with the realization that “if I wrote some piece of garbage called The Slutty Detective, I’d be a gazillionaire.”
After recoiling in disgust at the idea, another thought hit me. “The protagonist isn’t really slutty; she’s gotten a bad rep as the result of…her rotten ex-husband.” Yeah. I could see that. Divorces often bring out the worst in people. Off my imagination went, keen on the prospect of taking a perfectly respectable woman and destroying her reputation as a means of getting back at her. But for what? And what did that revenge look like?
My mind was at a full gallop before I could even get back to my computer. But instead of serving as backstory to a detective series, I realized this woman would need to undergo a complete transformation, a metamorphosis—too much to allude to in flashbacks. The first book would tell the whole, grizzly story.
And so began the saga of Madeline Ridley, née Dawkins, as we find her in a plush hotel room just before dawn, naked, with a blinding headache and no idea how she got there. And then things really get bad.
By the end of the book, poor Madeline has been to hell and back. She’s a completely different person than the socialite fundraiser we meet in the first few chapters. She’s been galvanized, stripped of everything she had held dear, tested by fire and remade into a resilient woman capable of handling just about anything thrown her way. In fact, she’s become so shrewd, she manages to get revenge and a new career out of what she’s been through. And off she went to the next book, A High Price to Pay, and the third, Girl Trap, which will be out soon. And more to come.
For any would-be writers reading this, I hope you take away the importance of listening to your creative side. Every book or artistic endeavor starts with the imagination. Everyone’s thoughts and voice are different, and therefore unique and worthy of being examined and nurtured.
I will be asking some of my favorite writers to share the story behind their stories here on Goodreads. Please check back soon to learn about other simple reveries that have launched inspired works of fiction.
Until next time, happy musings!
Very warmest regards,
Cynthia
November 16, 2017
Making the Transition from Reader to Writer
Those of us who spend a good deal of our time in make-believe worlds slide fluidly in and out of these alternate realities as easily as a fish swims through water. As readers, or job is to bring our willingness to imagine the scene the author is describing, to be open and engaged in the story, and to grant him or her license to create the characters and situations they feel compelled to share with us.
The job of writers is to entertain and enlighten, to share their perspective on any given moral or cosmic challenge, to expand our horizons and our understanding of ourselves and our fellow human beings. No pressure here. Just make it believable, likeable, challenging and satisfying. Blowing our minds is a bonus.
When a story is of otherworldly greatness, it can have the following effects on readers: make them wish with all their hearts they were capable of such an artistic feat, maybe even inspiring them to take that leap, or make them believe they are fundamentally incapable of accomplishing something so bold.
For decades, I fell into the latter camp. I remember marveling over works by writers like Wallace Stegner, Kurt Vonnegut, Isak Dinesen and Annie Proulx, thinking never in a hundred lifetimes would I be able to put words down on paper that were actually worthy of being read by others. Never.
Then something happened that turned my life upside-down. From that altered perspective, I forgot I was incapable of writing. Forgetting my self-imposed limitation was all I needed to do. Without that conviction tying my hands, I set about writing my first novel, incorporating aspects of my own life to keep it real and familiar. What I had when I finished it a year later was proof that I could in fact string sentences together, complete with a beginning, middle, twist, and end. It made my heart sing and my mind explode with possibilities. That same day, I started book two.
Being a seasoned reader, I put my own efforts through the same critical sieve I used when reading books by writers who’d managed to make it through the rigors of publishing and onto bookstores shelves. Thankfully, beating my head until the right word or phrase materialized didn’t dissuade me from going back for more. Obsessing had become a way of life. Even on the worst days of deleting most of what I’d written, it has never occurred to me to give it up. I may never achieve great status as a writer, but for me writing is its own reward, just as reading is. I’ve learned that it’s perfectly acceptable to write for the sake of it; finding like-minded readers is an extra dividend.
We are fortunate to be living in the digital age, for burgeoning writers no longer have to jump through publishing house hoops in order to make their works available for others to read. Thanks to eBooks, self-publishing has completely altered the reading/writing universe.
Unburdened from the publishing caprices and rigors of the past, anyone can become a published author. Talent, more than luck, is now the determining factor to success; if you can write it, you may find there is an audience out there yearning for your work. It’s given a huge segment of would-be writers the realization of a dream: finding a readership to share your unique perspective with.
And if deep-down you want to try writing but don’t feel you can until you learn the basics, the world is now brimming with authors willing to pass on their methods and their hard-won knowledge. Writing has become a community arena the same way reading has. In the end, it’s a reciprocal arrangement. Read, share, write, review. Like love, the more you give, the more you receive. So, don’t let doubt or fear hold you back. Get out there and spread the word(s)!
The job of writers is to entertain and enlighten, to share their perspective on any given moral or cosmic challenge, to expand our horizons and our understanding of ourselves and our fellow human beings. No pressure here. Just make it believable, likeable, challenging and satisfying. Blowing our minds is a bonus.
When a story is of otherworldly greatness, it can have the following effects on readers: make them wish with all their hearts they were capable of such an artistic feat, maybe even inspiring them to take that leap, or make them believe they are fundamentally incapable of accomplishing something so bold.
For decades, I fell into the latter camp. I remember marveling over works by writers like Wallace Stegner, Kurt Vonnegut, Isak Dinesen and Annie Proulx, thinking never in a hundred lifetimes would I be able to put words down on paper that were actually worthy of being read by others. Never.
Then something happened that turned my life upside-down. From that altered perspective, I forgot I was incapable of writing. Forgetting my self-imposed limitation was all I needed to do. Without that conviction tying my hands, I set about writing my first novel, incorporating aspects of my own life to keep it real and familiar. What I had when I finished it a year later was proof that I could in fact string sentences together, complete with a beginning, middle, twist, and end. It made my heart sing and my mind explode with possibilities. That same day, I started book two.
Being a seasoned reader, I put my own efforts through the same critical sieve I used when reading books by writers who’d managed to make it through the rigors of publishing and onto bookstores shelves. Thankfully, beating my head until the right word or phrase materialized didn’t dissuade me from going back for more. Obsessing had become a way of life. Even on the worst days of deleting most of what I’d written, it has never occurred to me to give it up. I may never achieve great status as a writer, but for me writing is its own reward, just as reading is. I’ve learned that it’s perfectly acceptable to write for the sake of it; finding like-minded readers is an extra dividend.
We are fortunate to be living in the digital age, for burgeoning writers no longer have to jump through publishing house hoops in order to make their works available for others to read. Thanks to eBooks, self-publishing has completely altered the reading/writing universe.
Unburdened from the publishing caprices and rigors of the past, anyone can become a published author. Talent, more than luck, is now the determining factor to success; if you can write it, you may find there is an audience out there yearning for your work. It’s given a huge segment of would-be writers the realization of a dream: finding a readership to share your unique perspective with.
And if deep-down you want to try writing but don’t feel you can until you learn the basics, the world is now brimming with authors willing to pass on their methods and their hard-won knowledge. Writing has become a community arena the same way reading has. In the end, it’s a reciprocal arrangement. Read, share, write, review. Like love, the more you give, the more you receive. So, don’t let doubt or fear hold you back. Get out there and spread the word(s)!
September 30, 2017
Reading vs. Writing: The Goodreads Phenomenon
Long before I took a blind leap at writing, reading was one of my favorite pastimes, allowing me to explore different points of view, different cultures, different periods in history. It expanded my world and my knowledge, and offered me a chance to live vicariously as the characters took all the risks.
As readers, we don’t know much, if anything, about the creative mind behind the story that we devote our time to. Yet we open the door and walk into an alternate world, carrying nothing more than an open mind, a yearning to be entertained, and a certain amount of skepticism.
My experience as a writer has turned me into a hybrid reader. Now, when I start a new book, I have two different mindsets assessing the experience. It’s been a byproduct of writing that my mind is constantly in editing mode. I wish there was a way to switch it off during my leisure activities, but sadly it’s become habitual. The result is a power struggle between the two factions of my brain—the eager reader and the uncompromising critic—that will cause me to abandon a book if it isn’t quite up to the rigorous standards that I’ve set for myself. This doesn’t mean that I will disparage it; it simply means that it wasn’t to my taste. Life is too short to read something that isn’t completely engaging, and even the most beloved book is never going to please everyone. But I will leave it to others to share their negative experiences. I’m copping out for professional reasons. :-)
I feel very fortunate to be a Goodreads member, as both a reader and a writer. This site, in which readers comingle with writers in a supportive, uplifting environment, has offered millions of bibliophiles the opportunity to share the love—or the angst—and given us an opportunity to expand our horizons. I personally don’t know of any other forum that allows so many people from around the world to come together for the sake of their passion. Nor do I know of a better venue for discovering new authors and titles. The more I delve into the site, the more I appreciate all it has to offer.
To all of those who I’ve connected with here, thank you for giving me the opportunity to multiply the joy of reading by quantum bounds. Your reviews, messages and recommendations are gifts. Please feel free to share your opinions with me anytime.
Warmest regards and happy reading!
Cynthia
As readers, we don’t know much, if anything, about the creative mind behind the story that we devote our time to. Yet we open the door and walk into an alternate world, carrying nothing more than an open mind, a yearning to be entertained, and a certain amount of skepticism.
My experience as a writer has turned me into a hybrid reader. Now, when I start a new book, I have two different mindsets assessing the experience. It’s been a byproduct of writing that my mind is constantly in editing mode. I wish there was a way to switch it off during my leisure activities, but sadly it’s become habitual. The result is a power struggle between the two factions of my brain—the eager reader and the uncompromising critic—that will cause me to abandon a book if it isn’t quite up to the rigorous standards that I’ve set for myself. This doesn’t mean that I will disparage it; it simply means that it wasn’t to my taste. Life is too short to read something that isn’t completely engaging, and even the most beloved book is never going to please everyone. But I will leave it to others to share their negative experiences. I’m copping out for professional reasons. :-)
I feel very fortunate to be a Goodreads member, as both a reader and a writer. This site, in which readers comingle with writers in a supportive, uplifting environment, has offered millions of bibliophiles the opportunity to share the love—or the angst—and given us an opportunity to expand our horizons. I personally don’t know of any other forum that allows so many people from around the world to come together for the sake of their passion. Nor do I know of a better venue for discovering new authors and titles. The more I delve into the site, the more I appreciate all it has to offer.
To all of those who I’ve connected with here, thank you for giving me the opportunity to multiply the joy of reading by quantum bounds. Your reviews, messages and recommendations are gifts. Please feel free to share your opinions with me anytime.
Warmest regards and happy reading!
Cynthia
June 13, 2017
Finding Writers in Twitterville
Anyone who’s tried their hand at writing knows that time designated for that purpose often seeps away without fulfilling its promise. This is especially true if you write at home. Distractions are numerous and constant. When I look back at when I started my first book, I marvel at how I managed to complete it in one year, despite running a mortgage company and battling a ruthless illness. So, why am I not producing books faster now that I no longer work outside the home and have beat the Lyme monster back into its hole?
I think part of my angst comes from taking more time to enjoy life now. If I were to lay out the hours spent on writing before I quit the mortgage biz to the amount of time I now spend bashing my brains against the keyboard, they might be pretty much equal. Which enforces the notion that I've become a slacker.
But today’s author wears several hats. Unless you are one of the literary biggies, time must be devoted to reaching and growing your audience. This means blogging, posting interesting material on social media, and connecting with the public. And before you know it, the day…week…month is gone.
I’ll admit it: social media used to intimidate me. Until a few months ago, I had never even been on Twitter, and I had no plans to change that. Facebook was challenging enough for me. But then I was contacted by a fellow writer who had also written a book about her mom and Alzheimer’s. Jean Lee explained how she and three other writers had united to create an Alzheimer’s blog that showcased books of various genres relating to the disease. She graciously invited me to join their group, AlzAuthors, and I accepted.
Once I became part of this courageous, empathetic group of writers, Jean strongly suggested I get on Twitter. She held my hand and walked me through the basics. Weirdly for me, I didn’t hate it. In fact, I actually got how interacting with others in that forum could be a benefit. I dove in and found that I really enjoy the fast-paced exchange of thoughts and images. And the best part has been connecting with other authors.
Before I was a writer, I was an enthusiastic reader. I still am, and being on Twitter has opened me up to a vast new world of writers. In the four months since I joined, I have read books by authors I’ve connected with on Twitter. I’ve been exposed to an array of genres I wouldn’t have found on my own.
Below is the list to the 11 books I’ve read or am currently reading. They cover a lot of different categories. That’s the beauty of Twitter: you can find almost anything. It’s all out there, just waiting to be discovered.
Happy Summer and Happy Reading to all!
Until next time…
Cynthia
The Twitter-Trove of literary gems I’ve discovered:
Have read and recommend
“Alzheimer’s Daughter” by Jean Lee
“Murder on the Mind” by L.L. Bartlett
“The Accidental Detective” by Michael R.N. Jones
“The Good Spy Dies Twice” by Mark Hosack
“Each Day I Wake” by Seb Kirby
“The Yuba Trouble” by John Rose Putnam
“The 20’s girl, the ghost, and all that jazz” by June Kearns
“Unclaimed Baggage” by Marcee Corn
Currently reading:
“Odyssey in a Teacup” by Paula Houseman
“The Dragons of Alsace Farm” by Laurie L.C. Lewis
“Innocence Taken: Prey He Kills You Quickly” by Victoria M. Patton
I think part of my angst comes from taking more time to enjoy life now. If I were to lay out the hours spent on writing before I quit the mortgage biz to the amount of time I now spend bashing my brains against the keyboard, they might be pretty much equal. Which enforces the notion that I've become a slacker.
But today’s author wears several hats. Unless you are one of the literary biggies, time must be devoted to reaching and growing your audience. This means blogging, posting interesting material on social media, and connecting with the public. And before you know it, the day…week…month is gone.
I’ll admit it: social media used to intimidate me. Until a few months ago, I had never even been on Twitter, and I had no plans to change that. Facebook was challenging enough for me. But then I was contacted by a fellow writer who had also written a book about her mom and Alzheimer’s. Jean Lee explained how she and three other writers had united to create an Alzheimer’s blog that showcased books of various genres relating to the disease. She graciously invited me to join their group, AlzAuthors, and I accepted.
Once I became part of this courageous, empathetic group of writers, Jean strongly suggested I get on Twitter. She held my hand and walked me through the basics. Weirdly for me, I didn’t hate it. In fact, I actually got how interacting with others in that forum could be a benefit. I dove in and found that I really enjoy the fast-paced exchange of thoughts and images. And the best part has been connecting with other authors.
Before I was a writer, I was an enthusiastic reader. I still am, and being on Twitter has opened me up to a vast new world of writers. In the four months since I joined, I have read books by authors I’ve connected with on Twitter. I’ve been exposed to an array of genres I wouldn’t have found on my own.
Below is the list to the 11 books I’ve read or am currently reading. They cover a lot of different categories. That’s the beauty of Twitter: you can find almost anything. It’s all out there, just waiting to be discovered.
Happy Summer and Happy Reading to all!
Until next time…
Cynthia
The Twitter-Trove of literary gems I’ve discovered:
Have read and recommend
“Alzheimer’s Daughter” by Jean Lee
“Murder on the Mind” by L.L. Bartlett
“The Accidental Detective” by Michael R.N. Jones
“The Good Spy Dies Twice” by Mark Hosack
“Each Day I Wake” by Seb Kirby
“The Yuba Trouble” by John Rose Putnam
“The 20’s girl, the ghost, and all that jazz” by June Kearns
“Unclaimed Baggage” by Marcee Corn
Currently reading:
“Odyssey in a Teacup” by Paula Houseman
“The Dragons of Alsace Farm” by Laurie L.C. Lewis
“Innocence Taken: Prey He Kills You Quickly” by Victoria M. Patton
April 26, 2017
Unasked questions
It took a life-altering crisis to make me realize that despite having known my mom for 50+ years, I didn’t know who she was as a person in her own right. I had firsthand knowledge of many of her trials and heartaches, but that only gave me a one-sided view of what her life had been like, with many gaps.
Nothing I knew about her had prepared me for what I found prior to her move into a nursing home. In the process of rummaging through eight decades of possessions, I came across an old photo album under her bed. As I opened it, an insert slid out, revealing a photo taken when she was 19 years old. The sight of her hamming it up for the photographer, so happy and confident, completely knocked me for a loop. Who was this person? Why didn’t I know anything about that time in her life? How could I know so little about my own mother?
As my mom recovered in the hospital, that stunning photo haunted me. On one level, I was so proud of her, the way I had been as a child. Her beauty and kind nature attracted people to her like a magnet. But on another, deeper level, I was troubled by the fact that the promise of a wonderful future had not been fulfilled. On a purely clinical level, I wondered what had propelled her from point A to point B.
But it was too late to ask. My mother’s mind had been hijacked by Alzheimer’s. She had reached the point where the simplest tasks were beyond her. Making sure she was taking her medication and eating something had been my upmost worries. What I had not realized was that something very precious was being lost as the disease ravaged her brain. Whatever her hopes and dreams were back in 1949, they were completely lost now.
At the same time, a scene from my childhood began flashing across my mind, a scene I hadn’t thought of in many years. But as I relived standing by my siblings, watching through the window while our mother smashed our dishes to the floor, the shock and anxiety I remembered feeling all those years ago was replaced by curiosity. What prompted that isolated fit of rage?
After my mom’s move to a facility in Northern California, I felt compelled to understand what her life had been like from her viewpoint. I turned detective, combing every resource to tie together what I knew with the facts I could unearth to create a timeline going back to her first husband.
What I had when it was finished was not a book about Alzheimer’s or how to navigate it, but more a tribute to a very strong woman. What I learned about her while writing it made me love her even more, despite our rocky past. The unexpected upside to having Alzheimer’s was the loss of all my mom’s painful memories. She has nothing but love in her heart now, and I’m so grateful that she will leave this life in peace.
The most important lesson I learned from writing Finding Ruth was this: if we don’t ask while we have the opportunity, we may never know our loved ones’ past.
Ask, while you still have the chance.
Until next time...
Very truly yours,
Cynthia
(This post was written for AlzAuthors, of which I am now a member. You can read other posts about Alzheimer's-related topics at AlzAuthors.com)
Nothing I knew about her had prepared me for what I found prior to her move into a nursing home. In the process of rummaging through eight decades of possessions, I came across an old photo album under her bed. As I opened it, an insert slid out, revealing a photo taken when she was 19 years old. The sight of her hamming it up for the photographer, so happy and confident, completely knocked me for a loop. Who was this person? Why didn’t I know anything about that time in her life? How could I know so little about my own mother?
As my mom recovered in the hospital, that stunning photo haunted me. On one level, I was so proud of her, the way I had been as a child. Her beauty and kind nature attracted people to her like a magnet. But on another, deeper level, I was troubled by the fact that the promise of a wonderful future had not been fulfilled. On a purely clinical level, I wondered what had propelled her from point A to point B.
But it was too late to ask. My mother’s mind had been hijacked by Alzheimer’s. She had reached the point where the simplest tasks were beyond her. Making sure she was taking her medication and eating something had been my upmost worries. What I had not realized was that something very precious was being lost as the disease ravaged her brain. Whatever her hopes and dreams were back in 1949, they were completely lost now.
At the same time, a scene from my childhood began flashing across my mind, a scene I hadn’t thought of in many years. But as I relived standing by my siblings, watching through the window while our mother smashed our dishes to the floor, the shock and anxiety I remembered feeling all those years ago was replaced by curiosity. What prompted that isolated fit of rage?
After my mom’s move to a facility in Northern California, I felt compelled to understand what her life had been like from her viewpoint. I turned detective, combing every resource to tie together what I knew with the facts I could unearth to create a timeline going back to her first husband.
What I had when it was finished was not a book about Alzheimer’s or how to navigate it, but more a tribute to a very strong woman. What I learned about her while writing it made me love her even more, despite our rocky past. The unexpected upside to having Alzheimer’s was the loss of all my mom’s painful memories. She has nothing but love in her heart now, and I’m so grateful that she will leave this life in peace.
The most important lesson I learned from writing Finding Ruth was this: if we don’t ask while we have the opportunity, we may never know our loved ones’ past.
Ask, while you still have the chance.
Until next time...
Very truly yours,
Cynthia
(This post was written for AlzAuthors, of which I am now a member. You can read other posts about Alzheimer's-related topics at AlzAuthors.com)
February 23, 2017
Free Promo! Spouse Trap
Imagine you have the perfect life: money, position, influence, an enviable marriage. Then you wake up in a hotel room, alone and unclothed, with a splitting headache and no idea how you got there...
Welcome to Madeline's world...
Spouse Trap is a tale of blackmail, sabotage and deceit. Someone is out to destroy Madeline Ridley’s perfect life, and her along with it.
Spouse Trap is available for Free Downloading Feb. 23rd - 25th! Check it out on Amazon today!
https://www.amazon.com/Spouse-Madelin...
Happy reading!
Until next time...
Cynthia
Welcome to Madeline's world...
Spouse Trap is a tale of blackmail, sabotage and deceit. Someone is out to destroy Madeline Ridley’s perfect life, and her along with it.
Spouse Trap is available for Free Downloading Feb. 23rd - 25th! Check it out on Amazon today!
https://www.amazon.com/Spouse-Madelin...
Happy reading!
Until next time...
Cynthia
February 13, 2017
Books! Books! Books!
In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, I decided to put “Lucky at Love” up on Free Promo thru February 15th to give readers a chance to look at love from Jake Sorenson’s unique perspective. The character of Jake was inspired by a guy I met at a wedding who’d been married and divorced seven times and still believed in love and marriage. Now, there’s a testament to romance!
After I set up that promo, I got to wondering why should I stop there? So, “Finding Ruth” will also be available for free downloading starting on February 15th through the 17th. My mother, Ruth, didn’t have as many marriages as the inspiration for “Lucky” did, but it wasn’t for lack of trying! Both of these books examine the complexities of love, in all its many forms.
What’s good for two books must be good for others, right? Starting February 23rd and running through the 25th, “Spouse Trap”—the first book in the Madeline Dawkins series—can be downloaded for free. This promo will be followed by “A High Price to Pay"—the second installment in the series—and will run from March 1st through the 4th. If you like stories of determination, resourcefulness and survival against all odds, I think you will enjoy these whodunits.
Wishing all of you a Happy Valentine’s Day and Happy Reading!
Until next time…
Cynthia
After I set up that promo, I got to wondering why should I stop there? So, “Finding Ruth” will also be available for free downloading starting on February 15th through the 17th. My mother, Ruth, didn’t have as many marriages as the inspiration for “Lucky” did, but it wasn’t for lack of trying! Both of these books examine the complexities of love, in all its many forms.
What’s good for two books must be good for others, right? Starting February 23rd and running through the 25th, “Spouse Trap”—the first book in the Madeline Dawkins series—can be downloaded for free. This promo will be followed by “A High Price to Pay"—the second installment in the series—and will run from March 1st through the 4th. If you like stories of determination, resourcefulness and survival against all odds, I think you will enjoy these whodunits.
Wishing all of you a Happy Valentine’s Day and Happy Reading!
Until next time…
Cynthia
January 15, 2017
Talk to me...
Since before humans had the ability to speak, we had the compelling need to share our thoughts. Pictographs dating back thousands of years have been studied for the information those ancient civilizations wanted to pass on to others. Once we found words, conveying our experiences has become easier, but we seem even more obsessed about sharing our thoughts and feelings, especially now with so many “social” outlets designed for the express purpose of telling others what’s on our minds.
If you look at every expressive medium available—from painting, photography, films, sculpture, music, and the written word—our hunger to find shared experiences and emotions is limitless. Is it simply our desire to reassure ourselves that what we feel is okay, or is there a greater need of feeling like a part of a larger whole? Does coming across something that resonates inside validate us, or is it the other way around, that identifying with the vision the writer/artist has conjured up in turn legitimizes what they are trying to tell us?
*Question: What is it you are looking for when you choose a book? Is it a conscious or subconscious craving? Do you read simply to pass the time, or do you have a deep need to identify with the subject matter?
In addition to reading, watching movies, listening to music, and appreciating art, I write. If I turn the tables on myself, I have to ask why—why do I feel compelled to create stories with (mostly) fictional characters? What is the purpose of making up yarns about people that don’t exist outside my own head? In the sixteen years that I’ve been thus engaged, I’ve never once put that question to myself.
So, that brings to mind another question: is communicating through the written word something we as writers do because of an inexplicable need to have our thoughts read by others? When I consider that question, I honestly can’t imagine why I’d think I have anything interesting to say.
But maybe I’m being too serious about this. Maybe reading what others have written is really no different than putting food in our bodies. Maybe our minds require a certain amount of stimulus in order to survive. If I have any free time, the first thing I want to do is fill it was some form of entertainment.
See…I called these forms of communication entertainment. But would any of us find it entertaining if whatever story was being related didn’t stir something in us? Can we really be distracted without some part of our minds and hearts being engaged? Isn’t laughing at some silly comedy filling us with something besides a few minutes’ reprieve from everyday life? Or is what might seem perfectly innocent actually a stealthy way of penetrating our psyches, like saying “See, I know what makes you laugh. You understand what I’m talking about. You get this because you’re human, just like the rest of us.”
Next time you go in search of a new book to read or a show to watch, see if you can figure out what’s driving your desire to be entertained by someone else's story.
For my part, as I restart the third book in the Madeline Dawkins series, I will ask myself “why would anyone want to read this?” Knowing me, I may be temporarily silenced by that question, just as I know that the urge to communicate my story will override my doubts. I guess I could say I write, therefore I am. Or more accurately, I write because I can’t think of a good reason not to.
So, tell me what’s on your mind…
Until next time,
Very truly yours,
Cynthia
If you look at every expressive medium available—from painting, photography, films, sculpture, music, and the written word—our hunger to find shared experiences and emotions is limitless. Is it simply our desire to reassure ourselves that what we feel is okay, or is there a greater need of feeling like a part of a larger whole? Does coming across something that resonates inside validate us, or is it the other way around, that identifying with the vision the writer/artist has conjured up in turn legitimizes what they are trying to tell us?
*Question: What is it you are looking for when you choose a book? Is it a conscious or subconscious craving? Do you read simply to pass the time, or do you have a deep need to identify with the subject matter?
In addition to reading, watching movies, listening to music, and appreciating art, I write. If I turn the tables on myself, I have to ask why—why do I feel compelled to create stories with (mostly) fictional characters? What is the purpose of making up yarns about people that don’t exist outside my own head? In the sixteen years that I’ve been thus engaged, I’ve never once put that question to myself.
So, that brings to mind another question: is communicating through the written word something we as writers do because of an inexplicable need to have our thoughts read by others? When I consider that question, I honestly can’t imagine why I’d think I have anything interesting to say.
But maybe I’m being too serious about this. Maybe reading what others have written is really no different than putting food in our bodies. Maybe our minds require a certain amount of stimulus in order to survive. If I have any free time, the first thing I want to do is fill it was some form of entertainment.
See…I called these forms of communication entertainment. But would any of us find it entertaining if whatever story was being related didn’t stir something in us? Can we really be distracted without some part of our minds and hearts being engaged? Isn’t laughing at some silly comedy filling us with something besides a few minutes’ reprieve from everyday life? Or is what might seem perfectly innocent actually a stealthy way of penetrating our psyches, like saying “See, I know what makes you laugh. You understand what I’m talking about. You get this because you’re human, just like the rest of us.”
Next time you go in search of a new book to read or a show to watch, see if you can figure out what’s driving your desire to be entertained by someone else's story.
For my part, as I restart the third book in the Madeline Dawkins series, I will ask myself “why would anyone want to read this?” Knowing me, I may be temporarily silenced by that question, just as I know that the urge to communicate my story will override my doubts. I guess I could say I write, therefore I am. Or more accurately, I write because I can’t think of a good reason not to.
So, tell me what’s on your mind…
Until next time,
Very truly yours,
Cynthia
