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A Stop in the Confessional Booth

by

Sharon Struth

"Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way."
E. L. Doctorow

I’m pretty sure my family and friends think I walk around with my head in the clouds. Well, here’s a little confession...

I actually do.

Ever since I started writing full-time, everything that goes on in my mind seems to be about writing. I don’t mean to do it, but sometimes when a noisy child in a public place begins to get under my skin, I think about how I could write that sensation. Or when my eyes well up with tears at a commercial and I try to hide my ridiculous over-emotion from my family, I grab onto each reaction in my body so I can remember it for possible use in a future book scene.

Setting is a constant source of distraction for me, too. On a trip to Seattle, I couldn’t help but notice how the weather was a far cry from the conditions I’d left in my home state of Connecticut. My plane had landed through droplets of cool rain at the Seattle-Tacoma airport. Throughout the week I’d get an occasional peek at the sun, but clouds always quickly reappeared and showers resumed. I admired the stunning, lush landscape of the region, a fact that made the inconvenient weather worthwhile. But then I realized Seattle was the setting for Fifty Shades of Grey. I couldn’t recall once when Christian thought, “Oh dear, I hope Anna closed her car windows in case it starts raining while she’s tied up.” Hmmm, did that author think about setting? Maybe not.

And I hate to tell you where I do my best plotting, but I will. It’s behind the wheel of my car. Don’t worry… I’m paying attention to the road. Yet the fastest way for me to get beyond a stuck plot point is to run an errand or visit the gym. For some reason, on the car ride over, the missing link to my story is usually found.  

Being a writer is an all-consuming affair of the mind. Even off-duty, the brain never quits. As Isacc Asimov is quoted as saying, “Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers.”

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Share the Moon

Sometimes trust is the toughest lesson to learn.

 

Sophie Shaw is days away from signing a contract that will fulfill her dream of owning a vineyard. For her, it’s a chance to restart her life and put past tragedies to rest. But Duncan Jamieson’s counter offer blows hers out to sea.

Duncan still finds Sophie as appealing as he had during boyhood vacations to the lake. Older and wiser now, he has his own reasons for wanting the land. His offer, however, hinges on a zoning change approval.

Bribery rumors threaten the deal and make Sophie wary of Duncan, yet she cannot deny his appeal. When her journalistic research uncovers a Jamieson family secret, trust becomes the hardest lesson for them both.

"Heart-tugging small town romance with real emotion. Struth is an author to watch!" —Laura Drake, author of The Sweet Spot.

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Novelist Sharon Struth believes you’re never too old to pursue a dream. The Hourglass, her debut novel, is a finalist in the National Readers' Choice Awards for Best first Book. Her next release, SHARE THE MOON-Book one in the Blue Moon Lake Novel Series-is published by Kensington Books/Lyrical Press.

She writes from the friendliest place she’s ever lived, Bethel, Connecticut, along with her husband, two daughters and canine companions. For more information, including where to find her published essays, please visit http://www.sharonstruth.com or visit her blog, Musings from the Middle Ages & More atwww.sharonstruth.wordpress.com.

 

Confessions of a Romance Novelist (Or Is She?)

 by

Deborah Nam-Krane 

confess: to tell or make known (as something wrong or damaging to oneself)

Wrong or damaging... Alrighty then. Where do I start?

- I don’t read enough. I read a lot, but not enough. And I read a lot outside the genre I write in.

- I’m really judgemental when I do. How judgemental  When I read a book for review from Amazon’s Vine Program six years ago, I looked at it and said, “Hey, if that got published what have I been waiting for?” (Yeah, I can be full of myself sometimes.)

- I’m a plotter... until I ride by the seat of my pants. I usually stick with the same beginning and end, but then change about half of what's in the middle. Yes, that does mean a bunch of rewriting.

- I don’t hang out with writers enough because I’m too obsessed with current events and I’m afraid of talking about nothing but writing. The good thing is that I don't usually include writing in my stories; the bad thing is that I don't get to talk about writing as much as other writers do.

- The spark of my series occurred when I imagined what Lolita would look like if 1) it were a romance and 2) it had a happy ending. Do I get a little bit of a pass because I was thirteen?

- Corollary to above: I have been working on the same story since I was thirteen. I’m very stubborn.

- My second book was originally supposed to be written in the first person- from the point of view of the character that has since become the villain. Even better: that character was supposed to be the romantic interest.

- The romantic interest of my first book is based on my husband... and Van Williams. (You might know him as the actor who played Britt Reid on the television version of The Green Hornet.)

- … But the romantic interest in my second book has my husband’s first name- and the villain has my husband’s middle name. I swear, I came up with these characters before I met him- I just decided to keep the names anyway.

- I worry all the time that I’m not in the right genre or category. Romance: girl meets boy and eventually they get their Happily Ever After (HEA). Chick Lit: as much as my stories are about romances, the women are the stars and the story is also about how they come into their own- with a little help from their friends. Women's Fiction: because, um, the stories are about women. New Adult: because the stories are about women between the ages of 18 and 26. But if you're writing in all of the above, shouldn't you be able to just say you've written... fiction?

- I don’t include a lot of explicit sex because I don’t want to write about it. I’d embarrass myself by being too explicit or not explicit enough. I also don't want to write about anything I don't, ahem, know about myself, and I have a feeling people wouldn't learn anything new from me. Oh yeah, I also think you’ll be more turned on if you use your imagination. But …

- I'm old school.