Ask the Author: Davalynn Spencer
Answered Questions (13)
Davalynn Spencer
How did the trapped raccoon get my door mat into the wire-mesh cage with it?
Davalynn Spencer
Thank you so much, Karen! Voting is open through March 31, so hopefully we'll hear in the next few weeks.
I appreciate your vote!
I appreciate your vote!
Davalynn Spencer
First of all, Cintia, I apologize for just now seeing this question. A definite breakdown somewhere in my notification system! However, your question strikes a chord in many hearts.
My answer in a nutshell: Write anyway.
(And read Allen Arnold's book, The Story of With.)
My long drawn-out answer: If you are driven/called/pulled/inspired to write, then you are a writer. The world will always discourage you. Stop listening to it. Rather than being killed "a little every day," stir up that gift that trembles for release and put pen to paper or fingertips to keyboard "a little every day." Fight back.
The words that form on the paper or screen don't have to be perfect or even imaginative. They just have to be there and then you can start working with them.
Yes, there is a lot of competition. Yes, there are rejections by the minute, but write anyway. Are you writing novels or articles? Big or small? May I suggest that you start small? Find an outlet for a short story or perhaps a creative nonfiction piece. Write a letter to the editor, a column for the newspaper. Take a writing course at a local junior college. Join writers' groups, attend conferences, find a mentor and follow him/her. (I suggest Randy Ingermanson if you want to write fiction.)
Seek and you will find. Knock - and keep knocking until the door opens. Don't quit. Never give up. I know this sounds cliche and platitudinal (now there's a new word!). But cliches become cliches for a reason: they're usually true.
So what if there are a lot of writers. Don't worry about them. Just write.
My answer in a nutshell: Write anyway.
(And read Allen Arnold's book, The Story of With.)
My long drawn-out answer: If you are driven/called/pulled/inspired to write, then you are a writer. The world will always discourage you. Stop listening to it. Rather than being killed "a little every day," stir up that gift that trembles for release and put pen to paper or fingertips to keyboard "a little every day." Fight back.
The words that form on the paper or screen don't have to be perfect or even imaginative. They just have to be there and then you can start working with them.
Yes, there is a lot of competition. Yes, there are rejections by the minute, but write anyway. Are you writing novels or articles? Big or small? May I suggest that you start small? Find an outlet for a short story or perhaps a creative nonfiction piece. Write a letter to the editor, a column for the newspaper. Take a writing course at a local junior college. Join writers' groups, attend conferences, find a mentor and follow him/her. (I suggest Randy Ingermanson if you want to write fiction.)
Seek and you will find. Knock - and keep knocking until the door opens. Don't quit. Never give up. I know this sounds cliche and platitudinal (now there's a new word!). But cliches become cliches for a reason: they're usually true.
So what if there are a lot of writers. Don't worry about them. Just write.
Davalynn Spencer
The police scanner on my desk in the newsroom chattered: "Motorcycle TA on Co. Rd. 100...send ambulance for injured male occupant." Somehow, I knew it was my son.
Davalynn Spencer
Oooooh, this is like asking me to choose my favorite candy or ice cream. There are so many wonderful answers! But honestly, I go to a fictional book world every day that I write - the 1800s in Colorado. Life was not easier then, but it seems simpler in my imagination. Maybe it's the lack of speed in everything - travel, communication, fulfillment - that entices me. A time when sitting on the front porch and listening to the evening slip down against the Rocky Mountains - yes, I would go there. Especially to my novella setting in The Wrangler's Woman (Barbour's Cowboy Brides collection). And I would be Corra - brave, plain Corra. On the other hand, I might step into Joanne Bischof's The Lady and the Lionheart. Oh my, but that story carried me away ... to the circus and the selfless, redemptive arms of the lion tamer.
Davalynn Spencer
This summer I'm looking forward to reading Tamera Alexander's To Wager Her Heart, Laura Frantz's A Moonbow Night, and Liz Johnson's On Love's Gentle Shores.
Davalynn Spencer
I have two favorite fictional couples. The first couple is featured in Laura Frantz's book, Courting Morrow Little. Morrow Little and Red Shirt swept me away into a world of passion, danger, risk, sacrifice, trust, tenderness ... well, I could go on. The second couple is from my own novella, "The Wrangler's Woman" in The Cowboy's Bride collection from Barbour. Corra and Josiah are two lonely souls who find each other in a surprising way--and are surprised at what a perfect fit they are in each other's arms.
Davalynn Spencer
Stories come to me, and when I listen, the Lord tells me how to work them out.
Davalynn Spencer
I don't have writer's block, but rather writer's fatigue. So I go outside and trim trees, or plant flowers, or pull weeds - anything that doesn't require sitting in a chair at my desk. It freshens my spirit.
Davalynn Spencer
I love living vicariously through my characters, enjoying the settings in which they dwell, and learning to trust the Lord for the faith and fresh hope He promises to provide.
Davalynn Spencer
Never give up on your dream. Regardless of what happens - or doesn't - never, ever give up.
Davalynn Spencer
I'm currently doing edits/rewrites on Book 2 of the Front Range Brides series, An Unexpected Redemption. This is Betsy's story. She's Cade's runaway sister from An Improper Proposal, and I love her spunk. However, I can also relate to her problem. These two stories have curled up in a corner of my heart and made their home there. I can't wait to hear what readers think of An Unexpected Redemption! Scheduled release: April 26, 2018.
Davalynn Spencer
My next book, Romancing the Widow, releases in August and is the third in my 3-book historical series with Heartsong Presents. It is the story of Martha Hutton, whom readers met in book 2. She is such a feisty gal, but bears such deeps wounds, that I wanted to give her a story - and hope - of her own.
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