Congratulations!

Congratulations to Cassandra, the very first official follower to the Mysterious Blog! I might just have to name a character after you in one of my upcoming manuscripts as a reward! I even know which character it would be. What do you think? Thanks for coming aboard! Hope you will visit often.

Horse Stories

I swore to myself that I would never write a horse book. EVER. When I was a girl, I read nothing but horse books for so long I grew tired of them. I still LOVE horses, but not horse books. There is a horse in Forbidden Sea, but it is not a horse book. Really. I promise. So what should happen to me the other day? I got the most fabulous idea for a story and it is (you guessed it) a horse story. Although, not in the traditional sense. There is magic involved---and fey—and true love--and, of course, horses. This story seized my imagination so much I wrote the first two chapters without even trying. The problem is, I have too many stories I’m working on already. I’m going to have to put this one on the back burner or I will never get my current stories done. Maybe I can whittle away on it here and there from time to time when I’ve got writer’s block on the other manuscripts. If only there were more hours in a day. *SIGH*

Talking With a Dear Friend

I’ve been in the throes of research for a couple of my upcoming stories lately. In one of these stories I have a character that has dealing with cancer. One of the things I did to learn about cancer was interview a very dear friend of mine who had suffered through a recent battle with leukemia. Listening to her speak candidly of the horrific experience touched me down to my core. She let me read diary entries of her darkest days, gave me a blow by blow account of what treatment was like. I cried all the way home in the car as I realized what a beautiful and strong person my friend is. A true hero was right in front of me, and I didn't even know it. It makes me wonder how many other incredible stories are happening all around me if I only had eyes to see the truth. It has been a very humbling experience.

Research Can be Fun

A friend of mine recently found the book shown to the left at a thrift store and bought it for me knowing how much I love doll collecting. Little did she realize that this book is exactly what I need as research material for one of my current stories.

The book is practically an antique itself, having been written back in 1974, but it has some fantastic information about antique dolls--a subject I am currently needing to know a lot more about.

I even went and had a friend set up an interview for me with a woman who owned a doll museum in the area I live. It was so much fun talking with this woman and finding out all about dolls and their long, romantic history. The museum owner lived in this fantastic old Victorian house which caught my imagination as she gave me a tour of it. It made me want to run right home and get to writing on my story without delay.

I have also taken to reading a couple of Georgette Heyer's novels in an attempt to do some minor research for the book. I have discovered I like Heyer's work very much. I might just have to read a few more of her mystery novels in the future--for pleasure this time.

Who knew research could be so much fun?

Character Sketches

There aren't enough books about centaurs in the world, don't you think?

These are some character sketches I made for an upcoming book I plan to write. I usually work on three manuscripts at any given time. Right now I'm actively working on one story that is almost complete, one story that I'm about half way through the first rough draft, and one book I've started preliminary work and research on, so it's ready to go once I finish the book that is almost complete.

There are lots of other stories that crowd my mind begging to be written (besides these three stories) but they have to wait patiently until it is their turn.

The Stuff that Inspiration is Made of

Years and years ago, I found this picture of a set of Victorian wedding dolls for sale in a Paradise Galleries catalog. That was all it took. My imagination took flight and the beginning of a new story was born. A rather creepy story actually.

You'd never know it to look at them. They look so innocent, don't they?

I now own this set of dolls as part of my collection. How could I possibly resist?

Theme Songs for Characters

Whenever I write a story I like to create soundtracks that help me get into the proper mood as I create. I'll pick songs that fit a certain character or event in a story.

For Forbidden Sea, Adrianne and Denn's theme song was Teardrops on My Guitar by Taylor Swift. Even though this song is modern, I felt it showed Adrianne's feelings for her best friend Denn perfectly. Click here to listen and see if you don't agree. Don't forget to substitute the name Denn for Drew. : )

So the story I'm currently working on also has a soundtrack. The main character's theme song is Pale by Temptation Within. Listen to the song by clicking here and see what you think this song is telling you about this character.