Maggie Thom's Blog, page 9
January 18, 2013
My Bucket List
I love the idea of a bucket list but it's really not just about creating one it's about doing it too, right? There are a number of things that I want to accomplish in my life, several I've already done and some I truly hope to one day.
Here are three things that I'd like to do in my lifetime:
1. Go on a Safari. I think Africa is an amazing country and I would love to see the place up close and personal - the animals in their natural habitat, the landscape, all the different types of nature, the people... love it. What an adventure it would be. It has been a fascination of mine for a long time, so hopefully...
2. Fly in a Helicopter. To be honest almost anywhere would do but there are a few places I'd really love to fly over - the Rocky Mountains, the Grand Canyon and as close to Mount Everest...
http://authorisabelroman.blogspot.ca/...
Here are three things that I'd like to do in my lifetime:
1. Go on a Safari. I think Africa is an amazing country and I would love to see the place up close and personal - the animals in their natural habitat, the landscape, all the different types of nature, the people... love it. What an adventure it would be. It has been a fascination of mine for a long time, so hopefully...
2. Fly in a Helicopter. To be honest almost anywhere would do but there are a few places I'd really love to fly over - the Rocky Mountains, the Grand Canyon and as close to Mount Everest...
http://authorisabelroman.blogspot.ca/...
January 16, 2013
My Muse
By Maggie Thom
I think I'm like most writers, I have a ton of ideas and not enough time to get them all down. The ones I think I'll remember I don't. I've learned to write down anything that I think I might want to use later on. My muse likes to bombard me with plots and scenes and people until I put the brakes on and choose one to play with for a while. It's not turning it on that's the problem, it's turning it off.
Here's how it works for me. Inspiration for ideas come from anything and everything. Seriously. I see someone flip a page and I'll start the 'what if' game. What if the person had no fingers. What if the person had suction cups on their fingers. What if in turning that page, they are transported to another world. What if they were on the moon doing that. The fun part is to connect things I normally wouldn't link or think of in my everyday life.
I play this game with different things I see until I find something that really intrigues me. So I take a simple thing I see, hear, smell, taste, sense, feel, and take it out of context, put it in some other situation - real or imagined - and then I play with it like a puzzle.
http://wp.me/p2ydBl-7k
I think I'm like most writers, I have a ton of ideas and not enough time to get them all down. The ones I think I'll remember I don't. I've learned to write down anything that I think I might want to use later on. My muse likes to bombard me with plots and scenes and people until I put the brakes on and choose one to play with for a while. It's not turning it on that's the problem, it's turning it off.
Here's how it works for me. Inspiration for ideas come from anything and everything. Seriously. I see someone flip a page and I'll start the 'what if' game. What if the person had no fingers. What if the person had suction cups on their fingers. What if in turning that page, they are transported to another world. What if they were on the moon doing that. The fun part is to connect things I normally wouldn't link or think of in my everyday life.
I play this game with different things I see until I find something that really intrigues me. So I take a simple thing I see, hear, smell, taste, sense, feel, and take it out of context, put it in some other situation - real or imagined - and then I play with it like a puzzle.
http://wp.me/p2ydBl-7k
January 8, 2013
My Writing Journey
Stories have always fascinated me. I love being taken on a journey, it can be real, mythical, outrageous, I don't mind as long as it takes me somewhere. I know when I was a child I read a lot. We always had books in our house and we used the library a number of times. I remember once, I was reading a Dr. Seuss book, Cat in the Hat, I think, I liked it so much I cut the words out of the book. Needless to say my mother wasn't amused.
Reading was a big part of my life and at some point I began to write stories. I never showed them to anyone, they were just for me. When I was about ten, I was going to write the smallest book about a knight who charged in, only to have the princess save him. And when I mean small, I was writing it on yellow paper, which had been a pad that I cut it up to 1 1/2 inch by 1 inch squares. When I was in my twenties I found some of it, I ended up throwing it out. I'm not sure it made much sense.
When I was in University, I started to write poetry. Some I shared which I got really good feedback to, but since I knew the people, I didn't believe that anyone beyond them would be interested in what I wrote. After I graduated, I was too busy with a career for several years. Then one spring we moved, and I found myself unemployed, so I started to write again. I hand wrote a 90,000 word romance. I then typed it up, although somewhere along the way, it has gotten lost. From there I continued to write for myself. At one point though and with encouragement from my husband, I decided to work at improving my writing. I wanted to write for kids, so I wrote some children's stories. Then a couple of young adult novels and...
Click here to read more... http://tinyurl.com/azvgq3b
Reading was a big part of my life and at some point I began to write stories. I never showed them to anyone, they were just for me. When I was about ten, I was going to write the smallest book about a knight who charged in, only to have the princess save him. And when I mean small, I was writing it on yellow paper, which had been a pad that I cut it up to 1 1/2 inch by 1 inch squares. When I was in my twenties I found some of it, I ended up throwing it out. I'm not sure it made much sense.
When I was in University, I started to write poetry. Some I shared which I got really good feedback to, but since I knew the people, I didn't believe that anyone beyond them would be interested in what I wrote. After I graduated, I was too busy with a career for several years. Then one spring we moved, and I found myself unemployed, so I started to write again. I hand wrote a 90,000 word romance. I then typed it up, although somewhere along the way, it has gotten lost. From there I continued to write for myself. At one point though and with encouragement from my husband, I decided to work at improving my writing. I wanted to write for kids, so I wrote some children's stories. Then a couple of young adult novels and...
Click here to read more... http://tinyurl.com/azvgq3b
January 3, 2013
Meet Author Joan Hall Hovey
THE ABDUCTION OF MARY ROSE
A suspense novel interwoven with threads of romance and paranormal.
Imagine discovering everything you believe about yourself to be a lie. And that the truth could stir a killer from his lair.
Following the death of the woman she believed to be her mother, 28-year-old Naomi Waters learns from a malicious aunt that she is not only adopted, but the product of a brutal rape that left her birth mother, Mary Rose Francis, a teenager of Micmac ancestry, in a coma for 8 months.
Dealing with a sense of betrayal and loss, but with new purpose in her life, Naomi vows to track down Mary Rose’s attackers and bring them to justice. She places her story in the local paper, asking for information from residents who might remember something of the case that has been cold for nearly three decades.... click here to read more
http://wp.me/p2ydBl-2S
NIGHT CORRIDOR
At 17, Caroline Hill was torn from the boy she loved by her tyranical father. Then they took her child. Finally, her grasp on reality.
Now, after nine years in Bayshore mental institution, once called The Lunatic Asylum, Caroline is being released.
There will be no one to meet her. Her parents who brought her here are dead.
They have found her a room in a rooming house, a job washing dishes in a restaurant. She will do fine, they said. But no one told her that women in St. Simeon are already dying at the hands of a vicious predator. One, an actress who lived previously in her building.
Click here to read more:
http://wp.me/p2ydBl-2S
A suspense novel interwoven with threads of romance and paranormal.
Imagine discovering everything you believe about yourself to be a lie. And that the truth could stir a killer from his lair.
Following the death of the woman she believed to be her mother, 28-year-old Naomi Waters learns from a malicious aunt that she is not only adopted, but the product of a brutal rape that left her birth mother, Mary Rose Francis, a teenager of Micmac ancestry, in a coma for 8 months.
Dealing with a sense of betrayal and loss, but with new purpose in her life, Naomi vows to track down Mary Rose’s attackers and bring them to justice. She places her story in the local paper, asking for information from residents who might remember something of the case that has been cold for nearly three decades.... click here to read more
http://wp.me/p2ydBl-2S
NIGHT CORRIDOR
At 17, Caroline Hill was torn from the boy she loved by her tyranical father. Then they took her child. Finally, her grasp on reality.
Now, after nine years in Bayshore mental institution, once called The Lunatic Asylum, Caroline is being released.
There will be no one to meet her. Her parents who brought her here are dead.
They have found her a room in a rooming house, a job washing dishes in a restaurant. She will do fine, they said. But no one told her that women in St. Simeon are already dying at the hands of a vicious predator. One, an actress who lived previously in her building.
Click here to read more:
http://wp.me/p2ydBl-2S
January 2, 2013
2012 Life Changing
2012 the year of so many predictions and changes. Although the dramatic end of the world didn’t happen I do think there were some profound changes. For me 2012 was a big leap year. I made a number of changes in my life and I finally made the push to do something with my writing.
It sounds so simple, I did something with my writing. Big deal. Well I can tell you it was a big deal. I have been writing for a very long time. Over the years, I did all the things I needed to, to improve my writing – courses, critique groups, writing and more writing, getting feedback from others – and yet I still felt that it wasn’t good enough. If I put it out there for the public, yikes! What were people going to think? What if they didn’t like it? What was I thinking to even contemplate doing it?
Fear is an interesting thing because we turn it into an almost impossible thing to overcome. We keep coming up with excuses why we can’t do something. I know I did. I had every reason why my writing wasn’t going anywhere.
Click here to read more... http://wp.me/p2ydBl-5U
It sounds so simple, I did something with my writing. Big deal. Well I can tell you it was a big deal. I have been writing for a very long time. Over the years, I did all the things I needed to, to improve my writing – courses, critique groups, writing and more writing, getting feedback from others – and yet I still felt that it wasn’t good enough. If I put it out there for the public, yikes! What were people going to think? What if they didn’t like it? What was I thinking to even contemplate doing it?
Fear is an interesting thing because we turn it into an almost impossible thing to overcome. We keep coming up with excuses why we can’t do something. I know I did. I had every reason why my writing wasn’t going anywhere.
Click here to read more... http://wp.me/p2ydBl-5U
December 21, 2012
Win a $25 gc from Terri L Austin
Check out Terri's latest book, Last Diner Standing - book 2 of Rose Strickland Mystery Series. Stop by and leave a comment on my blog. http://wp.me/p2ydBl-2K
Rose Strickland is having a blue Christmas. Her friend is arrested for attempted murder, her sexy bad guy crush is marked by a hit man, and her boss is locked in an epic smackdown with a rival diner. Determined to save those she loves, Rose embarks on an investigation more tangled than a box of last year's tree lights. With her eclectic gang at the ready, Rose stumbles across dead bodies, ex-cons, chop shops, jealous girlfriends, jilted lovers, and a gaggle of strippers in a battle for freedom she might not survive.
Excerpt:
As I made my way to my father’s study, I dug my phone out of my purse and glanced at the screen.
“Hey, Dane. Any news about Janelle?” I shut the office door behind me, closing out the chatter and the Christmas carols as interpreted by a string quartet.
“Sorry to interrupt your evening,” he said.
I walked past my dad’s enormous desk, to the medical books lining the shelves and let my fingers trail over the spines. “I’m at my parents’ Christmas party. Interruptions are welcome.”
To comment and to read more click here: http://wp.me/p2ydBl-2K Today only!Last Diner Standing
Rose Strickland is having a blue Christmas. Her friend is arrested for attempted murder, her sexy bad guy crush is marked by a hit man, and her boss is locked in an epic smackdown with a rival diner. Determined to save those she loves, Rose embarks on an investigation more tangled than a box of last year's tree lights. With her eclectic gang at the ready, Rose stumbles across dead bodies, ex-cons, chop shops, jealous girlfriends, jilted lovers, and a gaggle of strippers in a battle for freedom she might not survive.
Excerpt:
As I made my way to my father’s study, I dug my phone out of my purse and glanced at the screen.
“Hey, Dane. Any news about Janelle?” I shut the office door behind me, closing out the chatter and the Christmas carols as interpreted by a string quartet.
“Sorry to interrupt your evening,” he said.
I walked past my dad’s enormous desk, to the medical books lining the shelves and let my fingers trail over the spines. “I’m at my parents’ Christmas party. Interruptions are welcome.”
To comment and to read more click here: http://wp.me/p2ydBl-2K Today only!Last Diner Standing
December 5, 2012
Do you get emotional
Interview with Author Quiz:
Do you ever feel yourself becoming quite emotional when writing a particularly intense scene and is there a specific passage in particular where this was the case?
Yes. I often get emotional when writing certain scenes. In Captured Lies, the scene where Bailey is standing at the gravesite of her mom while the minister is doing the service, was very emotional for me. Bailey is berating herself for the poor relationship she had with her mother and questions why she didn't do something to fix their relationship before it was too late. Too often we live with regrets. This was more emotional for me as my father passed away while I was writing Captured Lies.
Where did the inspiration for your first/latest* novel, Captured Lies, come from?
It was as simple as driving down the road and having a plane fly overhead at a really low height (or so it seemed to me) and I began to wonder, what if it crashed? Would anyone survive? What if it was a baby that survived? What would happen to the baby? What if this happened years ago, when babies weren't included on the manifest? What if the baby had been kidnapped? The story built from there.
To read more....http://authorquiz.blogspot.ca/2012/12...
Do you ever feel yourself becoming quite emotional when writing a particularly intense scene and is there a specific passage in particular where this was the case?
Yes. I often get emotional when writing certain scenes. In Captured Lies, the scene where Bailey is standing at the gravesite of her mom while the minister is doing the service, was very emotional for me. Bailey is berating herself for the poor relationship she had with her mother and questions why she didn't do something to fix their relationship before it was too late. Too often we live with regrets. This was more emotional for me as my father passed away while I was writing Captured Lies.
Where did the inspiration for your first/latest* novel, Captured Lies, come from?
It was as simple as driving down the road and having a plane fly overhead at a really low height (or so it seemed to me) and I began to wonder, what if it crashed? Would anyone survive? What if it was a baby that survived? What would happen to the baby? What if this happened years ago, when babies weren't included on the manifest? What if the baby had been kidnapped? The story built from there.
To read more....http://authorquiz.blogspot.ca/2012/12...
November 24, 2012
Are you Ready to be a Writer
A lot of people have the dream of writing a book, a memoir, a story, a poem, "One day... I'll do that." They'd really like to but.... they never get started.
Why not?
Often the lack of follow through is due to a belief deep down that they aren't a writer. They don't know what to write. They don't know how to write. They were never good in English class, they don't know a verb from an adverb, they don't know how to punctuate and their grammar sucks. And they don't think anyone would read it. Or if they do they won't like it.
The neat thing about writing is you can really start doing it at any age. Any time. There are young children who are writing, teenagers, people in their twenties, some in midlife and some well into their 80's. One gentleman was over 100 years old when he started. He published his book at 103 years old. So it's never too late to start. If you really keep saying you'd like to write something.... now is the time.
Writing isn't about following the rules, although many people will tell you it is. It really isn't. Don't get me wrong before you put out your finished product... click here to read more - http://tinyurl.com/ablpkbr .
Why not?
Often the lack of follow through is due to a belief deep down that they aren't a writer. They don't know what to write. They don't know how to write. They were never good in English class, they don't know a verb from an adverb, they don't know how to punctuate and their grammar sucks. And they don't think anyone would read it. Or if they do they won't like it.
The neat thing about writing is you can really start doing it at any age. Any time. There are young children who are writing, teenagers, people in their twenties, some in midlife and some well into their 80's. One gentleman was over 100 years old when he started. He published his book at 103 years old. So it's never too late to start. If you really keep saying you'd like to write something.... now is the time.
Writing isn't about following the rules, although many people will tell you it is. It really isn't. Don't get me wrong before you put out your finished product... click here to read more - http://tinyurl.com/ablpkbr .
November 6, 2012
Not Me
Do not believe that everything I say
is what I believe, think or feel.
Do not believe that every one of my actions,
is the way I want to be.
What you see, is the result of what I’ve been taught,
the result of my reacting not thinking,
I try so hard to hide who I am,
that you don’t get to see the real me.
For I believe I am less than
less than enough…..
read the rest on my website.... http://wp.me/P2ydBl-P
is what I believe, think or feel.
Do not believe that every one of my actions,
is the way I want to be.
What you see, is the result of what I’ve been taught,
the result of my reacting not thinking,
I try so hard to hide who I am,
that you don’t get to see the real me.
For I believe I am less than
less than enough…..
read the rest on my website.... http://wp.me/P2ydBl-P
