Maggie Thom's Blog, page 4

Journey Across Canada through Captured Lies - Starting with Calgary

In Captured Lies you get to journey across Canada as the story progresses. So I thought I'd showcase some of the places in Canada that you get to visit as you read through the enovel.

The story really starts out in Eastern Canada, in Ontario but you are soon on an airplane flying west. So I decided I'd start your journey in the west, Calgary, where Bailey's mom lives and where a good part of the journey begins. Bailey has just lost her mom, so flies in from Victoria and stays at her mom's house in south Calgary, while she deals with the lawyer, the funeral and discovering that she is being followed.

If you don't know much about Calgary it is a beautiful city that has two rivers running through it - the Bow River and the Elbow River. Sadly this year they were very destructive to the heart of Calgary, flooding and destroying so many homes and creating hardships for so many. (I wrote about some of what was happening, you can check out more here: http://wp.me/p2ydBl-rZ)

Calgary started out as a fort in 1875. As you may know cattle were a big part of their industry in the early days - thus 'cowtown' was born and is something they still live with, even though it has a little over one million residents and no cows in sight except for the Calgary Stampede Days...
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Introducing you to Deceitful Truths

I wanted to introduce you to my latest novel, Deceitful Truths, that I am hoping to have published by December 2013. This novel is kind of a sequel to Captured Lies. I say kind of because there is some follow up from Captured Lies but there is a whole new story as well. Also you can read this novel on it’s own without having read Captured Lies and still understand what is going on. Reading Captured Lies first would enhance reading Deceitful Truths but is not necessary. So without further adieu, here is the basis of what Deceitful Truths is about.

Deceitful Truths

Synopsis

He created a legacy that no one could imagine…

Tarin has lost a week of her life. She doesn’t know what happened but not long after she returns to work she is suspended from her job. Confused and pregnant, she quits her job and agrees to marry Stephen, only to be thrown into a whole new nightmare. Desperate, she grabs her son and moves far, to get away from her abusive husband. Finding a job with Knight’s Associates as their assistant, half way across the country helps her to feel safer and more secure. Thrilled at getting the job, not only because she will be able to help them solve cyber crimes but because she can use their resources to find her own answers, specifically, who tried to destroy her life.

Graham, who owns Knight’s Associates along with Guy, finds himself swamped. As Guy is...
To keep reading, click here: http://wp.me/p2ydBl-DB

The Making of Tainted Waters and Giveaway

Win a free signed ecopy of Tainted Waters but only until September 30, 2013, stop by My Book Addictions and More.
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The Making of Tainted Waters

The title, Tainted Waters, makes you think of something sinister, doesn’t it? Or at least I hope it does. I have to say when I was coming up with this book, I was having some pretty sinister plot ideas and yet it all started so innocently…

I think the thing about being an author is being open to what is around you and combine and twist things together that may not really be meant to go together.

My family and I went camping at a lake. People do that all the time, so nothing new or big deal there. We arrived at this lake that we’d never been to before and really chose it because we wanted to do some canoeing but didn’t want to have the hassle of motorboats. Motorboats and canoes really do not go well together, at least in close proximity. Anyway, so we arrive at this lake which turned out to be a good two hour drive and we were only expecting it to be about an hour and a half. Okay so we can live with that. It is a sunny warm day, there are a few other campers but ultimately it’s quiet. It’s perfect. We find a nice secluded, treed area, close to the water. We immediately unload and hit the lake. We are taking turns going out in the canoe and just playing in some blow-up boats we’d got for the kids. It was a fun day. We only stopped long enough to eat. At about 9:30 that night we crashed, tired and ready for a good night’s sleep.

Well that wasn’t to be. At about 10:30 p.m. I was awakened by the sound of a large truck rumbling by on the gravel road. I didn’t think much of it, just waited for the truck to go by and then nod off. Only then another one came. And then another. And another. All night long big trucks bounced up and down that road. At some point I became aware that there was also a large plant nearby as I could clearly hear it.

What? How had we missed all this during the day? I have no idea... http://bit.ly/1fgUyTs

Read Enough That You Want for Nothing

"Read enough, that you want for nothing." Maggie Thom

This quote "Read enough that you want for nothing" came to me earlier this week and really got me thinking ( a good thing I assure you), 'what do we want from reading?'

There are so many reasons for reading and each person has their own personal ones but it really dawned on me that, okay I'm going to take a leap here, that everyone reads to be taken somewhere else. To be suspended in time so that the physical world really has no meaning and really doesn't exist for that period of time, whatever it might be.

We read to fill ourselves up - with knowledge, with understanding, with emotion, with connection, with love, with answers, with questions, with joy, with excitement... We read so that we can experience whatever it is that we need to or want to in that moment. Reading really fills a lot of holes and allows us to experience whatever our heart and/or mind desires. We can pretend being rich and famous, lost and alone, on an exotic island, in the mind of a psychopath, in the throws of love, struggling with life, on top of the world... we can read to immerse ourselves in every feeling, every journey that there is.

Reading has always been a go to for me. When I was young and couldn't be outside...
To continue reading, click here: http://wp.me/p2ydBl-Cy

Exit 22 by P.M. Terrell

Political strategist Christopher Sandige is driving along Interstate 95 in North Carolina when he is involved in a one-car accident. Stranded for the weekend, he meets a beautiful but mysterious woman and is immediately pulled into a double homicide. Now he’s on the run from law enforcement—and a hired assassin. As he falls deeper for Brenda Carnegie, he begins to wonder if she is the killer. As he pieces everything together and comes closer to the truth—time runs out.

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My Review:

I loved this mystery or I should say mysteries. Exit 22 has a very intriguing start - a double murder. So right away Ms. Terrell has grabbed my attention - who was killed and why? But that's not the only mystery that you get to try and solve. Chris, a man who has been living his political career rather than have a life has no idea what he's in for when he rolls his car. He meets Brenda...

Click here to keep reading http://wp.me/p2ydBl-B7

Today I Mourn

I am sad but don't get teary-eyed on me, it's just that my printer has died. And it's only seven. I guess that's pretty old in the printer world, a hundred or so, maybe? I really can't complain it has printed, I'm sure, at least ten thousand or more pages. Mostly manuscripts, short stories, ideas that I'd run off and take with me to read over, rewrite and edit. Then I'd type all that new stuff in and then print it again. It worked great because every time I had to sit and wait for my kids to finish an activity or a practice for sports - of course I watched, between paragraphs or pages, it depended, sometimes maybe even chapters - I'd be able to have something to do. I also ran a business a few years ago, empowering women to step into their dream, so I printed off many pictures, manuals, training plans, radio show outlines, presentations and so much more.

And for the last year it has been my true companion in helping me get my two novels, Captured Lies and Tainted Waters, edited, rewritten, completed and finally published. I had also used it to make bookmarks, pictures and many other items to help advertise my two books. Sadly though, now that I am at the point of rewriting and editing my third novel, Deceitful Truths, it just didn't have in it to print it for me so that I could have a hard copy to read. I've discovered that I still like to print off my manuscripts and go through and make changes on the paper. I do lots on the computer but I find it helps me to see and read my book differently. Not sure why...

Anyway my printer, a Canon, which I truly loved and felt it was an amazing printer has gone to printer heaven. Well actually the recycling bin is where it will be heading to... but don't tell it that...
To continue reading, click here: http://wp.me/p2ydBl-AC

Writing is Great for My Housework

I have to say I've been writing my whole life but up until about a year ago, that's really all I was doing was writing, really for myself. I mean I did submit some stories to contests, a few novels to traditional publishers but for the most part I just wrote. There was no real sense of urgency, no worry about getting the story done. I'd write when I had free time, more often than not that was with pen to paper because usually I was out chasing or er, driving my kids around to activities and sports. So then I'd have to type up what I'd written. It tended to take quite a bit of time. No big deal because then it also took quite a bit of time to get up the nerve to do the homework and then to send out a query letter to a publisher.

There weren't really any timelines or deadlines. Well now that I'm published that has all changed.

I have self-imposed deadlines. Mainly because I do love writing and the ideas are coming but also because my fans are asking when is the next book coming out. Guess what? Now, I find it difficult to write. Okay that's not true, it's not difficult to write it's difficult to sit my butt in the chair and write my story. With Deceitful Truths it took a few months of next to no writing on it, before...
To continue reading click here: http://wp.me/p2ydBl-zg

Letting Go Changed My Journey

When I wrote Captured Lies five years ago there was a lot going on in my life. And most of it at the time, was not good. I was calling it my year from hell, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. However I can honestly say it is also one of the most amazing years of my life. It is the year that I let go of a lot of limiting beliefs about myself and started the trek to step into my dream. It was by far the most life changing and challenging year of my life.

I don't know if because I changed so much that year that I re-wrote Captured Lies but I can tell you, the story I first wrote is not the story that I ended up with. When I started writing it, I had called it Life of Another and then switched it to Another's Life. Kind of bland but I think it fit the romance that it was originally.

Up to that point I had some notion that if I was going to make it as a writer I had to write romance first. After all, authors that I had really enjoyed did that - Sandra Brown, Nora Roberts, etc. Now here's a little secret, I wrote about eight romance novels before Captured Lies. But I never did anything with them. Well not totally true, I did send out a few queries and entered one in a contest. No response from the queries but I got some really good feedback from the contest. It was encouraging so I kept writing and doing nothing with my manuscripts. At least until Captured Lies. It wouldn't leave me alone. But I couldn't do anything with it as it was because I felt like something was missing from it.

So I started adding in more elements. I realized that the story was really Bailey's. Bailey's search for answers as to who she was. To finding out how her life could be a lie...
To read the full article, click here: http://wp.me/p2ydBl-xq

Captured Lies Book Blog Tour

Rafflecopter Giveaway: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/disp...



Captured Lies is going on a book blog tour this week. There will be giveaways, reviews, interviews, top tens, soundtracks and much more. I hope you'll join me on my tour. Below I've listed the websites I'm to be on for the week. Check back each day for where I'm at and please enter for your chance to win... See you in the Blogoverse (okay that might not be a word but I kind of like it :) )...

I'll share a little secret as well... Deceitful Truths (sequel/companion novel - still working on which category it fits in) is done! Yay! Okay before we go overboard, let me tell you it is in rough draft only. Still a lot of rewriting and editing but it's written. 95,000 words or so (about 290 pages). I'll be sharing more about it in the coming weeks.

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Here is my blog tour for the week:
Captured Lies by Maggie Thom Tour Schedule

July 28th- Girls *Heart* Books Tours; Official Schedule: http://bit.ly/13QN2ag
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To read more, click here: http://wp.me/p2ydBl-wW

Overcoming Writer's Block and Giveaway

Win one of two signed, personalized ecopies of Captured Lies - leave a comment at My Book Addictions and More (see bottom)
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Overcoming Writer's Block

To be a writer is the life… right? Well lots of people think so but the reality, shh don’t tell anyone, but it’s hard work. So hard in fact that some people suffer from writer’s block.

So what exactly is that? Some nefarious disease? Some physical ailment? A crushing blow?

No. It’s not. It’s when a writer can’t write. Not because they don’t know how or because they can’t but then again they can’t. The words won’t flow, the story won’t come, what they do manage to write doesn’t make sense, it’s not going where they want it to, they’re way too distracted by every other thing on earth that needs to be done.

Writer’s block is one of those things that some people believe in and others don’t. The reality though is that if you’re a writer at some point in your career you’re going to struggle with getting your story down on paper. On having it make sense. On having it go the direction that you think it should.

Why does it happen? That’s really a story for another time. The question is how do you overcome it? How do you get beyond being in that checkmate place? How do you get unstuck?

To read the full article and to enter the draw for two signed, personalized ebooks of Captured Lies , click here:
http://bit.ly/15WRW4e