Autumn Murray's Blog: Circlet of Orchids - Blog - Posts Tagged "romance"

A writer on Facebook asked me why I chose to use a pen name. While writers chose to write under a pen name for a myriad of reasons, I did so for a personal one.

My great grandmother won a national award for her writing and my grandma also wrote. If it weren't for reading my first romance novel at her house, I may never have fallen in love with this genre.

My pen name is an ode to her. Circlet of Orchids

Christina asked, "What made you choose such diverse and unique characters, such as Ivy and max?"

The character of Ivy was based off myself. I grew up on a farm and started competing in horse riding events as a child. My husband, who Max is based on, grew up in a city and is as addicted to surfing as I am to horse riding!

I really am dyslexic and really do have a crazy horse that I saved from being euthanized.

My husband can fix anything and really is ruggedly handsome ;)

Just as in the book, we spent over a decade believing that each of us didn't love eachother back.

The diversity of the other characters came from our friends and family. There are some very dynamic personalities in our group of loved ones!

Terry asked, "It is said that all love stories are "partly personal". Is there a personal connection in this one for you?

While the whole novel is personal for me, there are certain details I included that have extra personal meaning for me.

For example, the hospital room number is a combo of my birthday and that of my husband.

There are also more deeply personal threads I included as a way of working through some issues. I'm not sure if any readers will notice Ivy's lack of relationship with her mother but this would be an example of this.

The moments when Ivy contemplates who she really is and if she's capable of reaching her dreams are directly taken from moments in my life when I've doubted myself.

Spending a decade in a relationship, and a short time in a marriage in which I lost myself, fuelled the dynamic between Ivy and Liam. I see people in these kinds of relationships all the time. There is nothing obviously toxic about them (no cheating, violence, substance abuse, etc...) however the soul of one of the partner drains away until their self esteem is non existent. The reason I wrote this novel is a hope that people in relationships like this seek something healthier for themselves and find it.

A lighter example would be the nickname that Ivy and Max use for eachother. This is the one my hubby and I use!

Hi Brea,

I started writing as an outlet for my emotions when I was six years old. I'm dyslexic and we didn't have a computer back then so I wrote in notebooks misspelling most words, then re-writing them correctly later. In my novel, Circlet of Orchids, Ivy also feels compelled to write despite this challenge which helps her face and work through key issues which were blocking her from achieving her happiness.

This was obviously derived from my personal journey and yes I have started a novel featuring another gal with gumption that will also be relatable to readers. Her issues are a little more dangerous than Ivy's however ;)

I will start releasing teasers on here once I get about half way through he book. You never know where the writing will take you.

Hi Alexa,

I have a whole soundtrack prepared in case Circlet of Orchids is ever turned into a movie, which I will post below, but 'their song' is Jumped Right In by Dallas Smith.

Some of others are:

Marry Me by Thomas Rhett

Perfect Storm by Brad Paisley

Back to Life by Rascal Flatts