My Writing Dream Come True by Lynn Lovegreen

I’ve been lucky enough to have many writing dreams come true. When I first started writing, my dream was to finish a book. Once I did that, thanks to NaNoWriMo (https://nanowrimo.org), then my dream was to write a good book, one people would want to read. After many years of writing, critiquing, and revising, I did write a decent novel, which became Fools Gold.

The next, and in some ways the hardest, step was to reach my dream of being published. After lots of learning and rejections, I entered a blurb contest at savvyauthors.com and found my publisher. Prism Book Group had great editors and helped me polish my novel and several others in my Gold Rush series. My words were released into the world! It was a thrill to see my books in print and have readers enjoy them.

But businesses change, and after a while my publisher was bought by another, and my books went out of print. I’m not crushed by this, any more than I was by all the rejections and setbacks before this. I have a new writing dream, to get my WWII series published. And I’m sure I can make that happen, with the same perseverance and dedication to my craft I’ve had all along.

I love writing, and I will keep at it. My biggest, overall writing dream is for my words to touch readers, to inspire them to keep going and reach their own dreams, whatever they may be. 

First posted at www.lynnlovegreen.com

Lynn Lovegreen has lived in Alaska for almost fifty years. She taught for twenty years before retiring to make more time for writing. She enjoys her friends and family, reading, and volunteering at her local library. Her young adult/new adult historical romances are set in Alaska, a great place for drama, romance, and independent characters. See her website at www.lynnlovegreen.com. You can also find her on Facebook, Goodreads, and Pinterest.

Romance Awareness Month and Dreams

Pre-order now or on sale 08/06/18

Judith Ashley is the author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, romantic fiction that honors spiritual practices that nourish the soul and celebrates the journey from relationship to romance.

August is Romance Awareness Month and the Blog Queens’ topic pick for the Genre-istas? My Writing Dreams Come True! (And we did this a year ago when we didn’t even know August was Romance Awareness Month).

My writing dreams include my reader and fan-base growing because my books “speak” to them. The women in my books are relatable. The challenges they face are familiar if not personally, then because we know people who have tackled them. How my heroines and heroes deal with the obstacles stimulate ideas or provide a blue-print to use in solving my reader’s very real issues.

My writing dreams also include having the time to sit down and write the best story I know how to write. That has certainly changed for me over the years. I took six years to write Lily. Of course that included spending five years writing and rewriting the first three chapters! What I learned during that six year odyssey is how critically important it is for each writer to find her or his own writing process.

And, the more we write and learn the art and craft of putting words on the page to tell a story, the easier it is to write—at least that’s true for me.

Most recently my writing dreams manifested with the publishing of my first box set. The Sacred Women’s Circle series, Books 1 – 3 box set includes Lily, Elizabeth and Diana. To read the behind-the-scenes story of the writing of Lily, Elizabeth and Diana, click on the title. Or your can go to my website “Women” in the left side-bar and click the heroine’s name of your choice.

You can order The Sacred Women’s Circle series Books 1 – 3 at all major e-retailers. And during the month of August, if you are in the Portland, OR area, print copies of my books are on sale at Arte Soleil, 5530 SE 122nd Avenue. These books are regularly $15.00 each or $12.00 if three or more books are purchased. Through Labor Day Weekend, all books in the series are available for $12.00 each or $10.00 if purchased in groups of three or more.

Next month Visions of Happiness will be released. Visions is the story of Dr. Mark Parker (who you meet for the first time in Lily) and Jocelyn Edwards.

Both Mark and Jocelyn’s lives revolve around children who have been literally battered and broken. Parenting traumatized children who are not your biological kids brings Mark and Jocelyn together. They have a lot on their plates as they balance protecting Ethan and Emma and the daily tasks of parenthood with finding the courage to seek their own happily-ever-after.

Learn more about Judith's The Sacred Women’s Circle series at JudithAshleyRomance.com

Follow Judith on Twitter: JudithAshley19

Check out Judith’s Windtree Press author page.

You can also find Judith on FB! 

© 2018 Judith Ashley

As If By Magic

By Robin Weaver

This month's theme--My Writing Dreams Come True--instantly made me think of magic.  Because the fulfillment of any of my dreams: authoring a bestseller, having one of my books scripted for the big screen, or simply having a reader say, "I enjoyed the read," would indeed be magical.


Only... Do I believe in magic?  

Do you?

If you’re geekishly inclined (like moi), you might want to pause before you respond with a resounding “NO.” While we hardcore logical types tend to mistrust anything we can’t reduce to an equation, I ask you to consider the following:

Soundwaves: Most of us have some understanding of the principles of sound. We agree our cellphones can transmit data, voice and images across the country because of science. But exactly why do soundwaves (radio waves, microwaves, etc., etc.) exist? Why do they work the way they do? One could successfully argue that the existence of this phenomenon is, in itself, magical.

The Reproductive Process: An egg is fertilized, cells start to divide and grow. For humans, a new member of our species is delivered nine-plus months later.  Pure science, right? But exactly what drives that cell to divide? For that matter, what drives mankind to reproduce in the first place? We call it the “miracle of birth” for a reason.

Our Habitable Planet: We can explain, in scientific terms, what makes life possible on Earth, but think about the exact combination of factors that must exist for humanoid life:

            **  We must be the right distance from the sun.

            **  A magnet field is required to protect us from deadly radiation.

            **  Water (and carbon, and a host of other stuff) must be in plentiful supply.

            ** An atmosphere is essential.

            ** We need rock; not to mention our planet must be the right size, with a molten core, and tectonic plates.

            ** A moon, rotating at the appropriate distance from the planet.  The big, shiny object in the night sky is directly responsible for the Earth's orbital tilt angle, and thus responsible for our climate and tides.  Without the Moon, the Earth would wander in response to the gravitational pulls of the sun and Jupiter. Translation, no more life as we know it. In other words, we’d be Mars.

            **  Etc., etc., etc. While all the reasons for our planet’s habitability can be explained scientifically, the combination of unique factors that must coexist to constitute our living planet is mind-boggling. Perhaps our uniqueness id the reason we’ve found no other signs of humanoid life in this vast universe.

Falling in Love: Enough said.

Dictionary.com defines magic as:

“the art of producing a desired effect or result through the use of incantation or various other techniques that presumably assure human control of supernatural agencies or the forces of nature.” If you substitute “invention” or “industry” for the word “incantation,” isn’t that also a definition for science?

Until we magically get the answer (to this question and a plethora of other philosophical ones), I will simply "hope" your dreams come true.

Happy reading!

Robin