Sunday, March 25, 2012
As I was flipping through channels one day, I came across a movie starring Jennifer Lopez, called “Enough” and it looked pretty interesting. The story was that she had taken her daughter on the run from her abusive husband and started her life over in a new town far away, but he finally caught up to them. But, by that time, she’d learned self-defense and she traps him in his house and starts a fight with him, killing him in self-defense in the end. At the end of the movie, her song written for the movie “Alive” is playing. The lyrics alone from that song are what the heart of my book is about:
Time goes slowly now in my life.
Fear no more, of what I'm not sure.
Searching to feel your soul,
the strength to stand alone,
the power of not knowing and letting go.
Love, in and out, of my heart,
and though life can be strange,
I can't be afraid.
Searching to feel your soul,
the strength to stand alone,
the power of not knowing and letting go.
I guess I've found my way.
It's simple when it's right.
Feeling lucky just to be here tonight,
and happy just to be me and be alive.
I guess I've found my way.
It's simple when its right.
Feeling lucky just to be here tonight,
and happy just to be me and to be alive.
Throughout most of the writing, I had that song on repeat, playing softly in the background. It helped me “feel” the emotions of what my main character, Lexie, was feeling throughout the story.
The abuse scenes were EXTREMELY hard to write. Fortunately, I’ve never experienced that, so tapping into that emotionally was really hard, plus, the fact that a child was involved in some of the abuse… it was really hard on me emotionally. In the final editing process, I’d almost took those scenes completely out, but felt that they added to the reader’s emotional connection to Lexie and Kaylee, so I kept them in.
In the end, I hope that I’ve given the readers a heartwarming story of hope after turmoil.
Time goes slowly now in my life.
Fear no more, of what I'm not sure.
Searching to feel your soul,
the strength to stand alone,
the power of not knowing and letting go.
Love, in and out, of my heart,
and though life can be strange,
I can't be afraid.
Searching to feel your soul,
the strength to stand alone,
the power of not knowing and letting go.
I guess I've found my way.
It's simple when it's right.
Feeling lucky just to be here tonight,
and happy just to be me and be alive.
I guess I've found my way.
It's simple when its right.
Feeling lucky just to be here tonight,
and happy just to be me and to be alive.
Throughout most of the writing, I had that song on repeat, playing softly in the background. It helped me “feel” the emotions of what my main character, Lexie, was feeling throughout the story.
The abuse scenes were EXTREMELY hard to write. Fortunately, I’ve never experienced that, so tapping into that emotionally was really hard, plus, the fact that a child was involved in some of the abuse… it was really hard on me emotionally. In the final editing process, I’d almost took those scenes completely out, but felt that they added to the reader’s emotional connection to Lexie and Kaylee, so I kept them in.
In the end, I hope that I’ve given the readers a heartwarming story of hope after turmoil.
I thought it would be neat to share some information behind the book "Christmas in July" for everyone. First off, I write some fan fiction and fell in love with this one so much that I decided to make it into a book.
The story was originally about Joey McIntyre of New Kids on the Block. The way the idea came about is somewhat funny. I was going through my old NKOTB stuff and found a NKOTB puzzle book. I was just reading through some of the Madlibs and story starters. I didn't intend to write a story out of it, but one of the story starters was to pretend you were volunteering with Joey McIntyre at a soup kitchen. Well, that got my wheels turning and within a few months, I had written the book.
After I started writing and got further along in the story, the character of Joey took on a whole new identity for me, making Joey McIntyre simply the inspiration behind the book.
I started writing the story in April 2009. I posted it on a New Kids on the Block fan fiction message board, so when people started giving me good reviews on it, I decided it was worth a try to get it published. I finished the actual story in August 2009 and started the publishing process that month. Four months later, in December 2009, we FINALLY had the finished product.
I started writing the first chapter of the sequel, but during the publishing process of Christmas in July, I changed so much of the final chapters, that I had to rewrite the first chapter of the sequel several times. After much deliberation, I have decided to hold off on the sequel, and move on with another (unrelated) novel I am currently writing.
If you have any questions about "Christmas in July" (without me spoiling it), ask them here! :)
The story was originally about Joey McIntyre of New Kids on the Block. The way the idea came about is somewhat funny. I was going through my old NKOTB stuff and found a NKOTB puzzle book. I was just reading through some of the Madlibs and story starters. I didn't intend to write a story out of it, but one of the story starters was to pretend you were volunteering with Joey McIntyre at a soup kitchen. Well, that got my wheels turning and within a few months, I had written the book.
After I started writing and got further along in the story, the character of Joey took on a whole new identity for me, making Joey McIntyre simply the inspiration behind the book.
I started writing the story in April 2009. I posted it on a New Kids on the Block fan fiction message board, so when people started giving me good reviews on it, I decided it was worth a try to get it published. I finished the actual story in August 2009 and started the publishing process that month. Four months later, in December 2009, we FINALLY had the finished product.
I started writing the first chapter of the sequel, but during the publishing process of Christmas in July, I changed so much of the final chapters, that I had to rewrite the first chapter of the sequel several times. After much deliberation, I have decided to hold off on the sequel, and move on with another (unrelated) novel I am currently writing.
If you have any questions about "Christmas in July" (without me spoiling it), ask them here! :)
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