Ask the Author: Cynthia Raleigh
Answered Questions (6)
Cynthia Raleigh
A couple of things come to mind right away. As someone who started writing after houses, children, and jobs, I had to learn to battle through doubts and obstacles to writing created by a lifetime of not writing. In my experience, routines needed to be changed and time reallocated before I found what I could make work for me. I quickly realized that instead of plonking my rear end down to write, I was identifying many things that "required" doing first, but they didn't and those things will never be appeased. I worked on knowing what I really did need to do first and moving everything else down the list.
Second is a very valuable piece of advice I took from many other writers. Write even when you don't know what you want to say or how the story will progress. Get something on the page, anything. Spruce it up later. For me, writing a couple of pages would often clarify what I did not want to say and led me in the direction I did want to go. The initial few minutes can be grueling, but stick it out.
Second is a very valuable piece of advice I took from many other writers. Write even when you don't know what you want to say or how the story will progress. Get something on the page, anything. Spruce it up later. For me, writing a couple of pages would often clarify what I did not want to say and led me in the direction I did want to go. The initial few minutes can be grueling, but stick it out.
Cynthia Raleigh
There are so many things I love about it, but probably the top one is that I can work from home and my schedule is flexible.
Cynthia Raleigh
The type of 'writer's block' I have experienced is more of a temporary 'what do I want to happen next' type of thing. I find if I get up and do something that keeps my hands busy but let's me think about it, it helps me work things out. Sometimes I go outside and finish a task there. If it's summer, that might be something simple like dead-heading the flowers. Otherwise, I'll get a household chore done, which has to be done anyway. Walking or running is another good way for me to clear the cobwebs.
Cynthia Raleigh
I find so many ways to be inspired. I truly enjoy history and genealogy and am often inspired simply when reading or doing my own research. And not necessarily by grand events or noble people. Most of the time it is the opposite of those things. Even the most simple story or comment on a census record can touch me or cause me to wonder about the person and their family. I am inspired by the desire to bring those people temporarily to life by acknowledging them, not exactly as themselves, but from ideas that come from their true stories. No matter how mundane someone might think their family tree would turn out to be, there is always something you don't expect.
Cynthia Raleigh
I released Buried Roots just over a week ago. I'm starting the planning process for Perri Seamore #3. I want to write a story that takes place in Southern Illinois, where my father's family was from.
Cynthia Raleigh
My interest in both genealogy and archaeology had me thinking about items that are discovered during excavations and by metal detectorists. I thought about the people who lost items or deliberately placed them in the ground, and what the objects meant to them in life.
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