Goodreads asked Mandy Haynes:

How do you get inspired to write?

Mandy Haynes I've always been a reader. I started reading before I started kindergarten thanks to having a sister that's two years older than me and a mother who loves to read. I think the hook to write was set when I was in the fourth grade. I'd written a paper on the Civil War - I can't remember which battle I'd written about, but I can still see the young soldier who ended up taking center stage. The story broke my heart and I realized that words have power. That stories can do more than offer an escape when you're bored or lonely - they can make you FEEL. I wanted to be able to do that, I wanted to turn a blank piece of paper into something magical.

Almost thirty years (and three lifetimes) later I stumbled into a small writer's group in Lebanon, TN. I met an English Professor, Elkin Brown, who gave me the courage to give it a try.

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