Although the word ‘blog’ is new to my vocabulary, this is my 1st blog for Goodreads based on what my son wrote to me in a most explicit email:
“Why do people blog, and how can it help you promote your books? By creating blog entries, you create followings of people who like what you are writing, and they'll check back regularly to see what you have to say.
“For example, say you mention Crazy Horse and the word Romance. Someone else is online, curious as to whether Crazy Horse had a lover. They do a search for Crazy Horse and Romance, and then BOOM! They find your blog.”
Oh, I liked that idea because it took me right back to a study of Native Americans & crossing paths with Crazy Horse. Idling a dusty trail, knowing we live many lifetimes, I considered writing a quality contemporary romance novel based on the legendary Sioux warrior & the woman he so loved, and I then asked a friend what kind of cross-country journey she thought a divorced woman could have with a gorgeous man!
Shortly thereafter, I called a local woman who'd just published a book. Of the accumulating notes on my desk, she said, "Put those notes in the drawer and just write. If you have to rewrite the opening text ten times, do it."
So I did, and spotlighting love deeper than romance, ‘The Backside of the Page.’
Dreams, asleep & awake.
And firmly believing that everything we experience as reality is first tried-out in the dream dimension, after rereading my son’s email, yet again I saw the storyline opening on a dream of the leading lady & her son gathering sage in a field of sun; then a certain something else he said triggered recall of the inception of what ultimated as book #2: “Say you write a few paragraphs about a true life story,” Jeb added,” that took place while writing one of your books.”
Already did that, too!
Thus, the nonfiction book also began not with the story that unfolded, for on my son’s many journeys he’d met the editor of a magazine on true dog stories.
Our beloved Golden Retriever, Keeper, had died and I began writing a story for that magazine on the interconnections between pets & owners, submitted it to the magazine, which had subsequently folded.
So I had another story.
At the time, the drama with the man in my life was still ongoing and I thought: Why not tell more? And more? So I organized actual life events, as well as dreams relevant to the saga, and began writing what would become 'Outlaws & Angels’ and included the story about Keeper; and eventually distilled down to its purest essence, the last act of that book became ‘The Universal Casting Studio.’
So dear reader, two questions: Do you dream about strangers familiar? Do you know someone today whom you might have known in a previous life?