Merida Johns's Blog: Searching for Merry-Go-Rounds - Posts Tagged "romance"
Why a University Professor Transformed into Novel Author
Why would a retired university professor whose written textbooks in health information systems decide to write a novel? Wow! That is an off-ramp that doesn't make much sense.
A decade ago, I started my practice as a leadership coach. My focus is on helping women break the glass ceiling and fulfill their leadership and economic potential. Consequently, during the past ten years, I transitioned from writing textbooks to motivational books on creating environments where people flourish through better leadership.
About a year ago, I was on a conference call discussing concepts of what makes a fulfilling life with fellow life coaches. Bang! Like a thunderclap, I had an insight. What would it be like to help people understand the concepts of a flourishing life in a story instead of through a motivational book or text? After all, I thought, storytelling has been the most compelling form of communication for thousands of years. As far as I could recall, none of the great Profits fed up learning objectives and multiple-choice questions to their followers. No! They got their message across through stories.
Motivational books and textbooks give frameworks, theories, and ideas, but they don't immerse us in the human experience. They don't show us how others face challenges, embrace their passions, overcome sorrow, celebrate achievement, quash self-doubts, develop positive emotions and relationships, handle betrayal, or act on aspirations.
Storytelling ignites our imagination and emotion. We experience being part of the story rather than being served up a platter of facts, exercises, and information. As Dr. Pamela Rutledge says, with storytelling, "we become participants in the narrative. We can step out of our own shoes, see differently, and increase our empathy for others. Through imagination, we tap into creativity that is the foundation of innovation, self-discovery and change."
This eye-opener was enough for me to take on the challenge of novel writing. My passion is to help people catapult beyond concepts and theories and jump into the wonderment of imagination in designing a flourishing life for themselves. Storytelling does this best.
Happily, as a novel author I have jettisoned learning objectives and test questions and my first novel, 181 Blackhorse Road, is scheduled for launch in early 2020. Ah…the freedom makes me feel as light as a balloon on a summer breeze.
A decade ago, I started my practice as a leadership coach. My focus is on helping women break the glass ceiling and fulfill their leadership and economic potential. Consequently, during the past ten years, I transitioned from writing textbooks to motivational books on creating environments where people flourish through better leadership.
About a year ago, I was on a conference call discussing concepts of what makes a fulfilling life with fellow life coaches. Bang! Like a thunderclap, I had an insight. What would it be like to help people understand the concepts of a flourishing life in a story instead of through a motivational book or text? After all, I thought, storytelling has been the most compelling form of communication for thousands of years. As far as I could recall, none of the great Profits fed up learning objectives and multiple-choice questions to their followers. No! They got their message across through stories.
Motivational books and textbooks give frameworks, theories, and ideas, but they don't immerse us in the human experience. They don't show us how others face challenges, embrace their passions, overcome sorrow, celebrate achievement, quash self-doubts, develop positive emotions and relationships, handle betrayal, or act on aspirations.
Storytelling ignites our imagination and emotion. We experience being part of the story rather than being served up a platter of facts, exercises, and information. As Dr. Pamela Rutledge says, with storytelling, "we become participants in the narrative. We can step out of our own shoes, see differently, and increase our empathy for others. Through imagination, we tap into creativity that is the foundation of innovation, self-discovery and change."
This eye-opener was enough for me to take on the challenge of novel writing. My passion is to help people catapult beyond concepts and theories and jump into the wonderment of imagination in designing a flourishing life for themselves. Storytelling does this best.
Happily, as a novel author I have jettisoned learning objectives and test questions and my first novel, 181 Blackhorse Road, is scheduled for launch in early 2020. Ah…the freedom makes me feel as light as a balloon on a summer breeze.
Small Things That Make an Author Ecstatic
I love my copy editor! Copy editor: A person who corrects written material to ensure that it is free of error, omission, inconsistency, and repetition. In my forthcoming novel, 181 Blackhorse Road, a 1929 D-25 plane and the Aerodrome at Rhinebeck, NY make cameo appearances. My copy editor, Kim Bookless, caught my number transposition of D-25 (yeah!), but beyond that she found a terrific YouTube video of the plane filing today at the Rhinebeck Aerodrome. I was thrilled that the video and the description in my book matched; a confirmation of my research for the novel. See if you agree. An excerpt from my book and the video link follows:
“Connor surprised the boys by arranging a ride for them in a 1929 New Standard D-25 biplane. They were outfitted in a costume of goggles, leather helmets, and colorful scarves that hurled them almost four decades back in time. Strapped into the open passenger compartment in front of the cockpit, Barry felt the ride was as thrilling as the Comet roller-coaster, except without rails. Barnstorming the countryside and soaring above the treetops, the wind was deafening as it rushed across the airplane wings, but the sights were spectacular. Barry could not help wonder what stories the plane could tell and what it would be like to fly a machine like that himself.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wokfN...
“Connor surprised the boys by arranging a ride for them in a 1929 New Standard D-25 biplane. They were outfitted in a costume of goggles, leather helmets, and colorful scarves that hurled them almost four decades back in time. Strapped into the open passenger compartment in front of the cockpit, Barry felt the ride was as thrilling as the Comet roller-coaster, except without rails. Barnstorming the countryside and soaring above the treetops, the wind was deafening as it rushed across the airplane wings, but the sights were spectacular. Barry could not help wonder what stories the plane could tell and what it would be like to fly a machine like that himself.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wokfN...
Pre-publication reviews for Blackhorse Road
Pre-publication reviews for my novel Blackhorse Road are coming in, and I’m over the moon! Midwest Book Review’s Senior Reviewer Diane Donovan has given the novel high praise. The full review will appear on the Midwest Book Review’s website in March, but here’s a peek at a part of it: “Blackhorse Road, a story of romance, coming of age, betrayal, and recovery that moves from personal transformation to personal disaster in the blink of an eye….Novel readers seeking a tale that closely considers deception and forgiveness, love gained and lost, and family ties will welcome the multifaceted Blackhorse Road’s ability to come full circle in a satisfyingly unexpected way.” Publication of Blackhorse Road is scheduled for late March 2020.
Searching for Merry-Go-Rounds
Carousels play a significant scene between two sets of lovers, separated by sixty years, in my novel Blackhorse Road. One of the things I love about writing a novel is where the research takes me in tracking down specific facts—one of these journeys was locating an old carousel that existed on Bob-Lo Island in 1900 and one that existed in Fairmont Park, Riverside CA in 1966. Here is a picture of Mountain Dancer that Luci rode in Fairmont Park—a ride that changes her life. https://carousels.org/psp/CrossroadsV...
Searching for Merry-Go-Rounds
Carousels play a significant scene between two sets of lovers, separated by sixty years, in my novel Blackhorse Road. One of the things I love about writing a novel is where the research takes me in t
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