DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC?

I am currently in Denver for the RomCom conference, so I'm posting an edited version of a post I did a while back. Enjoy!!

How much do you believe in the supernatural? Do you check your horoscope on a regular basis? Have you ever had your cards thrown? Or had your palm read?

I think everyone has a sense of magic in them. But, by my definition, magic doesn't mean having the power to cast spells or make yourself float in midair...to me magic is about emotion, how strong your heart is, how strong your bond with everyone and everything around you.

I've always had a strong intuition and could always sense when someone or something wasn’t quite right. Of course, I didn’t always trust my gut, but when I did, I managed to get out of some pretty hairy situations.

I never really tried to hone that gift, but I call on it every time I start a new book.  Mainly because, when I write, I see the story as a movie with myself as the main character/s so I can see and feel everything they experience. Adding this sense of realism is what makes my work successful.

When I was researching my novel Dark Obsession I focused my search on Curanderismo, spirituality, and pretty much anything having to do with witchcraft, mysticism, etc. The information I came across was all very interesting. I even had a chance to speak with a man in west Texas who has done years of research on Curanderismo and his insight made for great conflict in my story (and future stories). My research also took me on a road trip with my aunt and cousin, to the Rio Grande Valley, (in Texas). I went to get visuals (since it had been several years since I lived there) and gather stories from the various family members who live there.  As a detective with the Brownsville Police Department stated during an investigation of a ritual killing  “you can't be born or raised near Mexico without believing the possibility that the magic exists.”

While we were in the valley, my aunt's sister-in-law told me about a (healing) incident she witnessed with a (colicky) baby, a raw egg and a glass of salt water. This particular healing (called a limpia) was written into my novel Dark Obsession.  

Now, I wouldn't say I'm a firm believer in what I researched, but I can admit there's something there to consider. I mean, really, don't we all wish we could have just a little bit of magic ala Samantha Stevens?